What would you do in this situation?

[lexiiam]

I am 17 and presently home schooled. Back when I was 16, last year, I took the English SAT with Critical Reading, Writing, and Essay. I scored a 690 on the CR/Writing part and a 10 on my essay. Because of this high score I am exempt from taking Freshman English at my goal 4-year prestigious state U, which I intend to enter next fall of 2011. So I have a year, more or less, to get some other, advance credits under my belt.

Already I have a CLEP exam date for Intro to Sociology. By July I will be fully ready to CLEP College Mathematics.

Here is my predicament: within the next academic year I will be allowed to take 4 classes, free and all for credit, as a dual-enrollment student at my local community college. HOWEVER, unlike my state U, the community college will NOT exempt me from taking Freshman English (despite my high score) in order to proceed onwards to any other courses, such as American Literature, Art History, Humanities, etc etc. They (the CC) says I have to CLEP Freshman Comp w/Essay to be exempt. That's okay with me (though it will cost me $87) because I am sure I will pass, but here's the big question:

Is it actually worth it for me to take the Freshman Comp w/Essay, and then spend the additional time driving to- and from- campus 2x a week for an entire 16 week period, just to earn 3 credits for American Literature or Humanities? That's a 4-month period! Could I not just as easily study for the American Lit or Humanities CLEP during that same time? Or are those exams so difficult that it would be easier to just take the Freshman Comp exam and also drive to the CC?

Which CLEP exams would you say take less than 4 months to prepare for? I average about 1 to 1.5 hours of continual study per day, per subject.

[cookderosa]

I am 17 and presently home schooled. Back when I was 16, last year, I took the English SAT with Critical Reading, Writing, and Essay. I scored a 690 on the CR/Writing part and a 10 on my essay. Because of this high score I am exempt from taking Freshman English at my goal 4-year prestigious state U, which I intend to enter next fall of 2011. So I have a year, more or less, to get some other, advance credits under my belt.

Already I have a CLEP exam date for Intro to Sociology. By July I will be fully ready to CLEP College Mathematics.

Here is my predicament: within the next academic year I will be allowed to take 4 classes, free and all for credit, as a dual-enrollment student at my local community college. HOWEVER, unlike my state U, the community college will NOT exempt me from taking Freshman English (despite my high score) in order to proceed onwards to any other courses, such as American Literature, Art History, Humanities, etc etc. They (the CC) says I have to CLEP Freshman Comp w/Essay to be exempt. That's okay with me (though it will cost me $87) because I am sure I will pass, but here's the big question:

Is it actually worth it for me to take the Freshman Comp w/Essay, and then spend the additional time driving to- and from- campus 2x a week for an entire 16 week period, just to earn 3 credits for American Literature or Humanities? That's a 4-month period! Could I not just as easily study for the American Lit or Humanities CLEP during that same time? Or are those exams so difficult that it would be easier to just take the Freshman Comp exam and also drive to the CC?

Which CLEP exams would you say take less than 4 months to prepare for? I average about 1 to 1.5 hours of continual study per day, per subject.

>>


First off, great job! Your hard work is paying off. I'm a homeschool mom, so stories like yours make me proud of my peeps High school to college questions must be answered carefully.
May I ask you some questions before offering my suggestions?

1. What degree will you seek from your university?
2. What is that university's CLEP policy?
3. Does your community college have a placement exam, if so have you taken it/is it waived due to your SAT score? (Asset, Compass, etc?)
4. Do you live close enough to a high school where taking an AP exam *not course* would be an option?
5. Are you receiving a freshman scholarship of any kind that will be lost in the event that you come in with X number of credits?

[MissCLEP]

First of all, congrats on your decision to do dual-enrollment and CLEP! I was also home schooled and basically spent my last year of high school just doing dual-enrollment and CLEP (I was also 17), and it really paid off in many ways! Regarding your particular situation, I found that gaining credit through both CLEP and community college (CC) is very valuable. Personally, I used the CC to get credit for things I couldn't test out of, and used CLEP for most of the other gen ed courses. It all depends on you 4 yr. university's CLEP and transfer policy, whether you're a good test taker (which it seems like you are), what subjects you feel confident studying on your own, etc, but if you can do both CLEP and CC, I would. Will the CC let you taken anything at all without testing out of Freshman Comp (e.g. math, science, etc), or do have to have it for any class? If they will let you certain classes, I would see if any of these courses are applicable to your transfer plan and take those (hopefully they'll also be something you can't or wouldn't want to test out of, which would make your time spent in class more worthwhile). Then, I would test out of the other courses, such as lit or humanities. However, if they won't let you take anything at all it might be worth it to take Freshman Comp, take some CC course you can't test out of, and still try to do some CLEPs as well. Again, it all depends on your particular needs and goals.

Anyway, just my 2 cents! Hope this helps! Let us know what you decide!

[lexiiam]

There are a few comm coll courses which do not require Freshman Comp: College Math (2nd semester--I am intending to CLEP the first semester); Science with lab; Intro to Computers; and Spanish 1st and 2nd year.

I WAS going to CLEP Spanish 1 and part of 2 but now my mom is suggesting I take Spanish through the college for 2 reasons: first, because I already have a decent Spanish background it would be a way for me to get an easy A (and balance out the CLEPs with no GPA) and 2nd, to fill in all the gaps in Spanish that I am missing--there are some, due to bad teachers, change in public school curriculum, etc.

She is suggesting that I now CLEP the Lit courses (which require Freshman Comp) and do Spanish, Math, and Science lab at the comm college.

--Can I take an AP exam and NOT take the course at a high school? I can certainly study the subject matter and learn it; also, both the 4 year and 2 year universities allow for CLEP credit, up to 30 credits, but they don't give the "6" for anything, they only give 3 per subject, EXCEPT Biology, Chemistry, and some advanced math. Can't I get 6 credits through AP? vs. 3 through CLEP?

--My comm college does have a placement exam for math but not for English.

--Right now the state is paying for my 2 Dual Enrollment courses, per semester. I COULD graduate (since I am home schooled) right now and move on to a state scholarship, which would pay for 75% of my tuition, but there are some drawbacks to that, which makes it a better decision to be a high school student for one more year and continue with dual- enrollment and CLEP.

In any event, I know I will be ahead of my peers. I have friends in public school who take full year AP classes and get a hgih school grade, but few of them actually end up passing the AP test and getting college credit for their courses. And those who do end up end up with fewer credits than I will achieve by CLEPping.

[rmroberts]

Hello. I am also homeschooled (at least until I graduate in two weeks ) and 16. I would test out of as many credits as you can. How many you can depends on your degree and your college. For me at TESC with a degree in Psychology, I only need to take one online course from them, and that's just so I have a GPA. I have taken two dual enrollment courses from Liberty University. For me, it is soooo much quiker to take CLEPs/DSSTs than to take dual-enrollment courses. On average it takes me a week to two weeks to study for an exam (I study pretty much all day).

[okiemom]

My sons were also homeschooled and involved in concurrent enrollment. My youngest son took the ACT, scoring very high on the English/writing portion. He then took Comp 1 and Comp 2 at a community college. When he completed highschool, he enrolled in a four year Christian university. Here's the kicker. The school he chose gave credit for Comp 1, based on that section of his ACT score. They then listed the Comp 1 class he had taken at the community college as an elective. So, it might be worth checking with the university you plan on attending to see how they would deal with you taking the class in addition to your score. On the other hand, it sounds like you could easily test out of Comp 1.

Another option is to take the writing and lit classes you want to take through independent study. They wouldn't be free like at the community college you're talking about but you could take the classes you want, online and self paced. That way you could bypass the Comp 1 issue.

BYU offers several English and Lit classes. I know for a fact their classes are high quality. It's an RA school so transferring in the hours shouldn't be an issue.

BYU - Brigham Young University Home

Click on the online classes link.

[lexiiam]

Thanks for all the info.

I just got off the 'phone with my "goal" 4 year college transcript evaluator and she gave me some good advice--to CLEP Freshman Comp w/Essay, so it not only counts as a real, bona fide English class, but also credits me towards my writing quota (here in Florida we have a law that says X number of words have to be written in order to graduate). Also by CLEPping the FreshComp w/ Essay I can move on to fulfill a state-mandated Speech Class (which, surprisingly, can be taken online!).

Also the advisor told me to NOT TAKE the Computer Class at the comm coll because although it works within the community college system it doesn't transfer to this particular state college. She said to either CLEP Information Systems, take the AP course/exam, or just wait until I get to the university. [ICK about the Information Systems CLEP, I think it's hard...]

It is a good thing I am asking so many questions in advance!

By the way, about Brigham Young, what does RA mean?

[MissCLEP]

Lexiiam,

IMO, your plan sounds like a good one! Personally, I would go for CLEP over AP, just because I think CLEP is easier for multiple reasons (easier to study for, more testing centers available to homeschoolers, etc). Keep doing what you're doing, check in regularly with your advisors, and milk CLEP and CC for all they're worth, and you'll be way ahead of the game!

Keep us updated!

[doghouse42]

If the college you want to graduate from will take cleps, just take lots of cleps. Use instantcert flashcards and the test-specific forum and you'll be fine. They are not so hard, just a lot of memorization.