TESU BA in History Plan - Critiques?

[mysonx3]

Hi all,

I'm pretty new to this, but have been reading the forums and crafting my degree plan. I have no credits to start with but have passed a handful of CLEPs already. Hoping you guys can help give feedback on my degree plan, and hopefully by the time I finish this process I'll be able to help others who are in the position I'm in currently.

So first off, here's my plan (and, for reference, the credit distribution for my desired degree). Bold indicates a test I have already passed. I haven't really planned out my electives because I plan on doing those mostly towards the end (once I've received an official evaluation and know which of the tests that I thought would count towards a requirement are going to have to serve as electives instead), but I did list a couple that I'm pretty sure I'll do either because I think they'll be relatively easy for me (given my specific set of outside knowledge) or because I know I'll need the UL credits.

1. General Education – 60 credits total
   
   1. Written Communication – 6 credits
      
      1. College Composition CLEP (6)
         
   2. Oral Communication – 3 credits
      
      1. Intro to Public Speaking DSST (3)
         
   3. Quantitative Literacy – 3 credits
      
      1. College Algebra CLEP (3)
         
   4. Information Literacy – 3 credits
      
      1. Analyzing and Interpreting Literature CLEP (3)
         
   5. Diversity – 3 credits
      
      1. Introductory Sociology CLEP (3)
         
   6. Ethics – 3 credits
      
      1. Ethics in America DSST (3)
         
   7. Civic Engagement – 3 credits
      
      1. American Government CLEP (3)
         
   8. Knowledge of Human Cultures – 12 credits
      
      1. Intro to World Religions DSST (3)
         
      2. Introductory Psychology CLEP (3)
         
      3. General Anthropology DSST (3)
         
      4. Principles of Microeconomics CLEP (3)
         
   9. Understanding the Physical and Natural World – 4-7 credits
      
      1. Saylor.org General Chemistry I (3)
         
      2. Astronomy DSST (3)
         
   10. General Education Electives – 17-20 credits
       
       1. College Mathematics CLEP (6)
          
       2. Principles of Statistics DSST (3)
          
          
2. Area of Study: History – 33 credits total
   
   1. Western Civilization or World History I & II – 6 credits
      
      1. Western Civilization I CLEP (3)
         
      2. Western Civilization II CLEP (3)
         
   2. American History I & II – 6 credits
      
      1. US History I CLEP (3)
         
      2. US History II CLEP (3)
         
   3. Non-Western History – 3 credits
      
      1. Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union DSST (3)
         
   4. Historical Method/Historiography – 3 credits
      
   5. History Electives – 12 credits
      
      1. Civil War and Reconstruction DSST (3)
         
      2. Intro to the Modern Middle East DSST (3)
         
      3. Western Europe since 1945 DSST (3)
         
      4. History of the Vietnam War DSST (3)
         
   6. Capstone – 3 credits
      
      1. Take through Thomas Edison
         
3. Electives – 27 credits (like I said, not too worried about planning these for the time being - unless y'all think I should be)
   

Now, some specific questions:

1. I've seen some conflicting info on what will/won't count as UL credits, so can anyone tell me approximately where I would be at on that? I'm guessing I'll have to pick up some UL credits on electives, as the only class I've seen consistently listed as UL is the Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union DSST. Any tips on picking up extra UL credits?

2. If I test out of everything but the Capstone (as I would be doing with this plan), will I have a GPA? And will it be based only on the Capstone? How do GPAs work for TESU?

3. Any other problems that you foresee?

4. Any potential spots where it might be faster to do a Study.com/Straighterline/Saylor/etc. course than the CLEP/DSST I've got listed here? I did that for the Saylor chemistry course because I have major science-phobia and would rather take a course with an attached test than a CLEP or DSST that can cover more material, if that makes sense?

Thanks so much!

[MNomadic]

You have a pretty solid plan!
I have a couple recommendations:
A) Take the FREE institutes ethics course for your ethics requirement since it is: free, fast, not too challenging, also... FREE
B) Check out https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/Fr..._of_Credit for some more free courses that can help with free electives. In particular, the NFA course expires 9/30/2018 and you could knock that 1 credit course out in less than a day. The 2 free sophia courses are 1 credit each and can also be done in under a day each.
C) Check out modernstates for courses designed to help you study for CLEPs. Modernstates is also offering vouchers to take the CLEPs free for the time being.
D) Most of those courses can also be done via study.com, straighterline, etc if you wanted. It just comes down to your preference, budget, convenience, learning style, etc.
E) It is recommended that you do at least 2 courses through study.com for the discounted pricing at TESU. 3 of the fastest and (subjectively) easiest courses on study.com that can apply to your degree are: History 108:history of vietnam war, communications 120, and library science 101: information literacy. Each of those is under 50 lessons and many(including myself) have reported completing some of those within a few days each.
F) Hopefully another "science averse" person can guide you the best courses there!

[mysonx3]

Thanks so much for the help and info, MNomadic! A quick follow-up question, for you or anyone else who knows the answer:

What does it mean for a course to "expire"? Does that mean you have to complete it by that date for it to be officially ACE recommended (unless it gets reapproved or something), or do you actually have to submit it to TESU by that day to get credit?

[MNomadic]

You only have to finish the course before it "expires" so it can get onto your ACE transcript. Then you can send it to TESU (or anyone else) whenever you want.

[dfrecore]

OnlineDegree.com has a free LL history course: HS103: Turning Points in Modern History 15th Century to Present

Besides the Soviet Union DSST, the The Civil War and Vietnam War DSST's were UL through ACE if you passed before 7/31, but downgraded on 8/1. I'm not sure what TESU is bringing them in as at this point, you'd have to check first.

UExcel has World Conflicts as UL.

Study.com has some UL History courses, with the possibility of some getting upgraded and more being added in the future. Here are the UL ones:
HIS 306: The American Civil War Era
HIS 308: Causes & Effects of the Vietnam War
HIS 311: The Holocaust and WWII

May get upgraded in the future, but ACE recommended as LL at this time:
HIST 307: American Civil Rights Movement
HIST 309: War & American Society

Not for credit at this time:
HIST 301: Historiography & Historical Methods