Test Drive College Online

[laughter]

Found this via the ACE National Guide... Test Drive College Online - College Courses
You fill in an application where they test you on English grammar and Mathematics, then answer several screening questions. If you're not a US citizen, bye-bye. But if you pass the application, you may get accepted into the program. It's worth 3 free credits in one of the 5 Gen Ed courses. Has anyone heard about this or attempted it? Would these credits be available for transfer to the Big Three or is it just to Test Drive's partner colleges?

[NAP]

Found this via the ACE National Guide... Test Drive College Online - College Courses
You fill in an application where they test you on English grammar and Mathematics, then answer several screening questions. If you're not a US citizen, bye-bye. But if you pass the application, you may get accepted into the program. It's worth 3 free credits in one of the 5 Gen Ed courses. Has anyone heard about this or attempted it? Would these credits be available for transfer to the Big Three or is it just to Test Drive's partner colleges?

Yes, a few people have tried it. Here is an older thread, so maybe things have changed some: http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...llege.html

Edit to add: Another thread - http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...nline.html

I thought someone else mentioned earning credits recently, but I don't have time right now to search for that post.
Edit to add: A couple of people have Eng Comp I in their signatures, so that may be what I had seen recently about it.

[Dr John]

I did the Test Drive College thing almost 2 years ago. The test really wasnt that hard, additionally I have a friend from work who just took it and said that half of the answers are already online. He just googled the question and got the answer.....cheating yes, but he isn't going to go for their program anyway, so i guess it washes out.

My thoughts was that the English Comp 1 was a good course, we started with 15 or more students and finished with about 8, so it certainly wasn't a gimme course. The problem came after I completed the course. They wanted to enroll me in one of their Partner Schools which they recommended Kaplan. When I told them I was not interested in Kaplan and that I wanted to transfer them somewhere else for which i was in the process of enrolling they said they would call me back. I never did hear back from them other than to try to get me to enroll in one of their other partner Schools, this time University of the Incarnate Word. I could have fought them and probably had the credits transferred but it wasn't that big of a deal to me, I had already taken the College Comp CLEP exam by this time.

Overall, it is a worthwhile deal if you can get them to transfer the credits for you. They do have a policy that you can not be enrolled in any other University when you are applying with them. Thats pretty simple to get around, just don't tell them. I had already been accepted at COSC and was working on the Cornerstone during this time. Transferability into any of the Big 3 or many other schools shouldn't be a problem as they are ACE approved. Anyway, thats my take on it. The course was worthwhile and probably helped me in both my Cornerstone and the College Comp CLEP.

[Jonathan Whatley]

I took Introduction to Medical Terminology with TDCO when I wasn't enrolled elsewhere. I declined to pursue a degree program with the partner school and we parted ways amiably, no constant phone calls afterwards. (I did choose a partner school that wasn't an aggressive for-profit…) TDCO did send my credits to ACE promptly.

I thought the course was reasonably well-designed, and quite well-facilitated by my instructor, who has also taught directly at RA schools.

[laughter]

Thanks for the feedback!