What is difference between a TECEP exam and a TESC PLA course?

[Can219]

What is differnece between a TECEP exam and a TESC PLA course?

[cookderosa]

What is differnece between a TECEP exam and a TESC PLA course?

I've taken a TECEP for Nutrition. You buy the book and then find a proctor and take their test with your proctor. In my case, the text was absolutely essential- questions directly taken from it. It's pass/fail. You have no mentor or homework or feedback.

PLA, I've not done, however it's assembling a portfolio that demonstrates you've met the course competencies. Your mentor can guide you, but they'll evaluate if you've demonstrated the competency. If yes, pass.

[Ubuntu_user]

PLA's are super expensive compared to TECEPs.

[cooperalex2004]

What is differnece between a TECEP exam and a TESC PLA course?

Before everyone trashes the PLA for being too pricey (which I already see was done), the difference is that a PLA is a great tool for matching your experience to an almost infinite source of courses. For many areas (like Communications in my case), PLA's can provide credit you can't get from CLEP, DSST, Straighterline, ALEKS, TECEP Exams, or elsewhere. I will agree that the price is high ($206 per credit), but when you can propose almost any course (upper or lower level) for credit it is a useful tool which allows for credit cheaper and easier than a normal TESC course (if you have the skills to showcase for that subject).

You'll want to look at this:
Thomas Edison State College: PLA Self-Assessment Guide

And you can search for PLA courses using this tool:
Thomas Edison State College: Course Offerings

For the one I completed, I did Intermediate TV Production to utilize my job experience into an upper level course you can't get from any test, exam, or online course anywhere. I wrote a paper, provided documentation of my experience, and was matched up with a mentor to go over it. After a few weeks I had my three credits.

Intermediate TV Production (RTV-354) 3.00 s.h.
Intensive hands-on broadcast and corporate television production course with concentration on the acquisition of studio directorial skills.

What I will say, is that many of the PLA courses can be completed in much cheaper ways. My advice is to consider it for those areas where nothing else fits. In my case I either would have had to take the PLA or take an upper level course through TESC.

[af2012]

I've done 2 PLAs (Advanced Fiction Writing and Science Fiction) and am on my last one now (Proofreading/Editing), they are intense and the mentors *should* guide you but some do and some don't. One mentor was great in that she was very specific about what she expected to see. The other mentor, not so much. I felt like I was flying blind the whole time. I did pass both of them but having a good mentor who you can talk to makes the process that much easier. Like someone else said above, it's a great way of getting some upper level credits for your major out of the way if they dovetail with your experience. That being said, if you don't like writing papers in the 10-20 page range, then this may not be the way to go. Another thing you want to keep in mind is that PLA's don't count toward the courses you have to take each semester. What I mean is if you have to take 2 courses in order to keep your financial aid the PLAs don't count towards that total. That being said, if you pay for the year like I did, you don't have to pay any extra to do a PLA. You DO have to get it approved with the PLA department and then they will let you know when you can register for it. You register for PLAs in the same place as your regular courses.