newb here with some questions you havent answered 100 times!

[Ericmcdonald]

I recently came across your forum and am very intrigued by this "degree hacking". Here's the background. I'm currently a student attending my local community college in an accelerated program. these are hybrid online/campus classes. I work full-time like all of you and don't have the luxury of choice in degrees because I have to find programs that work around my schedule. I'm a business student, currently sitting at 51 units and enrolled for 15 more this fall semester. now here where things get tricky, I'm building a new home out in the country where I am not going to have access to high speed internet without a data cap. I will have satellite connection so I can browse but with the cap I wont be able to watch a lot of videos or upload a lot. I'm interested in information systems management business degree offered by both Excelsior and Thomas Edison. So to get to the point I'm worried about the CLEP tests. I am a 4.0 student but one 80 question test seems difficult. Also, what is required in the other ways of getting credits and capstone as far as internet capability? like the courses the colleges offer themselves and straighterline, DSST, ALEKS etc?

[Ericmcdonald]

if it makes any difference here is what I've completed:

BUAD-66
CMST-60
HUM-2
ECON-1A
ENGL-1A
BUAD-10
CIS-1 S2981
STU-1
ADJU-23
AGNR-60
CMST-10
MUS-14
MUS-11
ENGL-190
HLTH-2
MATH-101

[Zachcleigh]

If you are a 4.0 student in college CLEP's would probably be relatively easy for you, especially if you have a good memory/ prior knowledge in the topic.

As far as data use for credit options. I'd say most would be fine except for study.com. Their courses are mostly video lessons and can contain anywhere from a few dozen to almost 200 5-8 minute videos per class.

[dfrecore]

if it makes any difference here is what I've completed:

BUAD-66
CMST-60
HUM-2
ECON-1A
ENGL-1A
BUAD-10
CIS-1 S2981
STU-1
ADJU-23
AGNR-60
CMST-10
MUS-14
MUS-11
ENGL-190
HLTH-2
MATH-101

This is not helpful, as we have no idea what any of these mean. You would need to put the course name on there.

[dfrecore]

I recently came across your forum and am very intrigued by this "degree hacking". Here's the background. I'm currently a student attending my local community college in an accelerated program. these are hybrid online/campus classes. I work full-time like all of you and don't have the luxury of choice in degrees because I have to find programs that work around my schedule. I'm a business student, currently sitting at 51 units and enrolled for 15 more this fall semester. now here where things get tricky, I'm building a new home out in the country where I am not going to have access to high speed internet without a data cap. I will have satellite connection so I can browse but with the cap I wont be able to watch a lot of videos or upload a lot. I'm interested in information systems management business degree offered by both Excelsior and Thomas Edison. So to get to the point I'm worried about the CLEP tests. I am a 4.0 student but one 80 question test seems difficult. Also, what is required in the other ways of getting credits and capstone as far as internet capability? like the courses the colleges offer themselves and straighterline, DSST, ALEKS etc?

My advice would be to take anything that needs internet now, and save the non-internet CLEP/DSST options for later.

Also, you might be able to do some at work, during your lunch hour, and also find some other options (like a hotspot off of your phone, working at Starbucks, etc.).

[Zachcleigh]

If you have any interest in ALEKS, you may want to get on it ASAP. To my knowledge, their ACE approval runs out on the 30th and we seem to be unsure of what their enxt step will be.

[Notgodot]

For study.com, you don't need to watch the videos, you can just read the transcripts. You won't miss anything except for some bad but at times amusing animation.

Where data caps could be a problem is during your proctored exams. The last place I lived at had no wifi, so I studied using my phone as a hotspot for my laptop (bigger screen). But when it came test time, I booked a cheap hotel with good wireless and did four tests over a weekend there.

[rlw74]

What about a library? Some of them have private rooms that can be used for testing / studying and free Wifi. I've heard of some people using them for the proctored exams. I think SL now has all their textbooks online as part of the course price but if you could get the actual textbooks you could read them at home without the internet then sign up for SL after you have finished reading and take all the tests back-to-back at a place that has Wifi.

[bjcheung77]

I recently came across your forum and am very intrigued by this "degree hacking". Here's the background. I'm currently a student attending my local community college in an accelerated program. these are hybrid online/campus classes. I work full-time like all of you and don't have the luxury of choice in degrees because I have to find programs that work around my schedule. I'm a business student, currently sitting at 51 units and enrolled for 15 more this fall semester. now here where things get tricky, I'm building a new home out in the country where I am not going to have access to high speed internet without a data cap. I will have satellite connection so I can browse but with the cap I wont be able to watch a lot of videos or upload a lot. I'm interested in information systems management business degree offered by both Excelsior and Thomas Edison. So to get to the point I'm worried about the CLEP tests. I am a 4.0 student but one 80 question test seems difficult. Also, what is required in the other ways of getting credits and capstone as far as internet capability? like the courses the colleges offer themselves and straighterline, DSST, ALEKS etc?

What's the internet cap? Most of the courses don't have videos from ALEKS, Straighterline, there are transcripts for Study.com
My suggestion is to get most of the things done with regards to needing an internet connection (and videos) now when you have it.
When you're building, you can use the cell data for important usage, or for testing go to a library/internet cafe.

[Ericmcdonald]

You guys are awesome! I'm going to have a 20GB limit so reading online texts wont be a problem, I can even watch a few short videos but nothing crazy, what I was afraid of was originally I was looking at WGU but all the exams are live on webcam and that would burn up my data quick. Starbucks is a great idea, I don't really have access to a library its a small town and I work a 9-5 but Starbucks could be a life saver. thanks for talking me off the ledge!