barcotta Wrote:ECE and DSST Ethics

I decided two weeks ago that I would take today (Wednesday) off of work and take the DSST and ECE Ethics exams. I began studying last Monday and did at least some studying each day--which totaled about a week and a half. I also had my first of four proctored exams in my on-line Accounting II class yesterday (Tuesday). That class is kicking my butt in a big way.

Well, between trying to keep up in Accounting and a few of life's unanticipated surprises--I didn't have a lot of time for Ethics study. I considered several times cancelling one or both exams--but I decided that I would take my own advice and just get through as much as I could using IC and a little Wikipedia and see what happened.

I did schedule a half-day off of work on Tuesday so I could focus for several hours on Accounting and get at least a pass on that exam. No multiple choice there--at least not much--and you needed to know the answer for all of them. Then there was the short essay and the "blank page" problems. This Accounting II is for the birds--but it's 5 credits so, combined with Accounting I, a total of 10, so--it seemed like a good idea at the time...

Anyway, I had ordered the ECE practice exams but didn't even try the first one until two nights before the test. It was about one in the morning and I was exhausted and the computer started acting up and... I finally made it through the whole thing half asleep although I didn't finish the last 20 problems. My score was a 57. Undeterred, I soldiered on aided by JoAnne's notes courtesy of mjno (thanks!).

I was seriously sleep deprived going into Tuesday's Acctg exam. Did well enough on that--finishing around 10 p.m. Then I had to decide if it was better to do some more Ethics review or get more sleep. I ended up doing a little review--never got back to the ECE practice test, and went to bed around midnight.

By 8 a.m. the next day I was at a parent teacher conference (my third grade son had written a short story called, "The Transmogrification of Keith--in which he transmogrified into a reticulated python, of all things...)--cut out of there at 8:30 a.m. and by 9:30 I was taking the DSST Ethics in America test. I finished that around 11:15 a.m. and drove about an hour across town for the ECE Ethics exam.

Ever been to a Pearson testing center? It's intense. You have to empty your pockets into your locker--no water or scratch paper (they give you some plastic paper and a marker) and you get photographed and fingerprinted before you even enter the testing center. To enter the testing center, they fingerprint you again and warn you that you are being videotaped.

It's a lot like going into the hospital for surgery.

For me, the test was excruciatingly long and I took the whole 180 minutes with only a couple remaining at the end. It was 135 questions and I truly had no idea if I was doing well or not. Like those who have gone before me said--get the practice tests and use them. Even the little review I did helped--but I'm sure I would have been a lot more confident if I had taken both tests and spent some time with them.

So, how did I do? I scored a 58 on the DSST (52 was required for an A at EC) and I got an A on the ECE Ethics. Interestingly, the ECE gave you a breakdown of your percentage correct in each of the six sections of the test. My highest was 80% and my lowest was 56%. That got me an A. Crazy, huh?

There is ample feedback already for both exams and it is accurate. I would emphasize knowing the most popular concepts thoroughly (Kantianism, universalism, the Original Position, consequentialism...) as well as the major players (Mill, Kant, Bentham, Hobbes, Socrates, Aristotle and a lot of Locke and Rawls on the ECE). You have to be able to recognize them in action. On the DSST exam, you frequently had to know if a bit of information "was morally relevent" given a certain perspective or set of circumstances. Many of those questions were easy and you didn't have to know anything about parentalism, existentialism (although a lot of that was on there) or Kant--but on many you did need specific knowledge.

The ECE test definitely required specific knowledge in most cases and I think practicing with practice tests is the way to go. Obviously, I did well enough using IC almost exclusively--but I did a lot of figuring on the fly in that test and it was unnerving. I found the ECE test frustrating in that whenever they asked about a concept for which I felt prepared, the obvious clear answers weren't there. Instead, you had to really extrapolate which was best from a list of close options. I must've picked enough correct ones.

That's it for now. I'm thinking of trying the CLEP Macroeconomics test next--maybe some time in October.

Kiwi Lover Wrote:CONGRATULATIONS Michael - you did very well. And yes, I know EXACTLY what you're talking about with the Pearson testing centers. With my perverse sense of humor, I was tempted to start picking my nose while taking the exam, knowing they were watching my every move. hilarious