Does InstantCert Only have flashcards?

[Getiton1]

I don't know what to do now . . . I feel discouraged going into tomorrow. UGH!

First of all, don't panic. I mean if you just ordered InstantCert the day before the test...things are what they are. Just take a breath and try to "show what you do know" today on the test. DSST's are usually 4 answers so you have a good chance of guessing right if you can narrow it down to two answers. Also in your favor is that many people on here are saying it's a logical test. If you need a little reassurance use the search box in the top right corner of this website and see if your exam is one that people pass with very little study or only using the flash cards. Also, are you military? In other words, if the test is going to be free, take it as a learning experience. There is nothing but knowledge to be gained from this experience today...So just do you best and let us know what happened.

In the future, I am sure you already know this, but give yourself a little more time than the day before the exam to learn if a program works. You will be a lot less stressed out and likely test better that way If you still like the forum, but not the flashcards I would recommend the tips below for pretty much any of the testing out exams CLEP or DSST. But don't kill yourself checking out these general refs today before your exam. Stick with the exam specific feedback and take your best guess for todays exam. However, in the future check out these references:

1. An old Official Paper CLEP or Dantes guide for the exam. Taking their practice exam will give you an idea if it's going to be an "easy" or harder exam for you. You can get these at some Library facilities as well as online very cheap. Anything from the last 3-4 years should work fine.
2. FreeClepPrep.com It should come right up. They have CLEP AND Dantes (DSST's) Here's the link: Dantes Exams - Free Study Guides at Free-Clep-Prep.com
3. EducationPortal.com This is for CLEP, but if you have a short attention span and like video learning, this method works, but takes time here's the link: Take Free Online Courses. Earn College Credit. Research Schools, Degrees & Careers
4. Crash Course videos on You Tube, pretty much same as above, but a lot faster the guys are much nerdier and funnier here's the link: CrashCourse - YouTube
5. This site and even though the flash cards take a long time, they pretty much work. As one of the posters said, you can just click the enter button to see the answer and skip through. I get it that it's boring and time consuming, but if you are going for a BS or BA degree people will tell you it's all about learning how to put up with BS! LOL!

Other resources like REA and Peterson's are also favorites on here. I have stuck with the above method and never had a problem, but everyone is different and you will find the recipe that works for you as you go along.

No, seriously. It's probably too late to cancel the test without losing your money. I am not in the military (whole family has been), so I am not sure if you can cancel it without any trouble/cost? But if you can, and it won't cost you time or money you could try that if this is really stressing you out. However, if you have to take this test with minimal background/study, just do you best and chalk it up to a learning experience We have a fabulous family on here, and if you were my brother or sister, I would give you the same advice. Cancel if it won't cost you time or money...or take it and do your best and learn from what happens. Heck you could totally knock this one out of the park! Stranger things have happened. Use common sense when picking your answer, and then move on. Don't dwell, just do you best with what you've got in your tool box. Either way, you are going to have a better set of tools (and probably more time) the next time to test! The point is you are here, and you are going for your degree. Just keep plugging along and you'll be there before you know it

Good Luck! Can't wait to see how your experience goes
T

I signed up for InstantCert tonight, is the only study material they provide the flashcards? I am VERY disappointed. I am taking a test tomorrow, I thought there would be more help than just flash cards.

[sanantone]

For most of the exams I've taken, there were no real study guides in the specific exam feedback forum. However, there were plenty of long lists of what you should study, so you have to spend hours looking things up. With the flashcards, the things are already there for me to study. I can't remember which exam it was, but two people posted their own study guides, and they were almost exactly alike. When I went through the flashcards, I noticed the study guides covered exactly the same material. It made me wonder if these people created their study guides using the flashcards.

[EI2HCB]

For most of the exams I've taken, there were no real study guides in the specific exam feedback forum. However, there were plenty of long lists of what you should study, so you have to spend hours looking things up. With the flashcards, the things are already there for me to study. I can't remember which exam it was, but two people posted their own study guides, and they were almost exactly alike. When I went through the flashcards, I noticed the study guides covered exactly the same material. It made me wonder if these people created their study guides using the flashcards.

I found that you have to mine the exam specific feedback and review the topics you don't understand. Trying to do so the night before isn't always a good use of time but regardless of your score today, you'll have learned that accessing resources at the last moment may work sometimes but it's always better to have trained and effective in your tool of choice before the test. Let us know how you got on. You can retake the test six months later if you didn't pass, make sure you note the date and retain your paperwork if you need to re test. Some people on the forum have had issues with Prometric regarding retests.

[BGSU_Alum_86]

Just to correct the above post, the retest period for DSST is 3 months, not 6 months. CLEP requires 6 months, so these two programs are not the same. One suggestion: if you are in the position needing to retest, please do not schedule your exam exactly 3 months from your first attempt. Why not give an extra week to make sure the computerized system does not void your retake results? Hopefully you will not need to retake!

[bmad86]

I was able to cancel the test and not lose my money. I started a business program three months ago and found out that I needed to get 25 elective hours out of the way. I have gotten 12 of those knocked out. I'm not sure why, but these elective hours are weighing on me. I know the business program is going to get hard as I move along, and it would be great to have these done as quickly as possible. Does anyone have a study guide for this subject? Per the documentation from my counselor, 270 people have taken this exam, and 252 passed. I felt very confident about those odds using very little study until I read the feedback on the forum. I am trying to target easy CLEP and DSST exams. I took the A&I CLEP with very little studying and passed. I was hoping for the same on this one.

[Getiton1]

I was able to cancel the test and not lose my money. I started a business program three months ago and found out that I needed to get 25 elective hours out of the way. I have gotten 12 of those knocked out. I'm not sure why, but these elective hours are weighing on me. I know the business program is going to get hard as I move along, and it would be great to have these done as quickly as possible. Does anyone have a study guide for this subject? Per the documentation from my counselor, 270 people have taken this exam, and 252 passed. I felt very confident about those odds using very little study until I read the feedback on the forum. I am trying to target easy CLEP and DSST exams. I took the A&I CLEP with very little studying and passed. I was hoping for the same on this one.

Okay, the A&I Lit CLEP is consistently ranked in the top two if not easiest test of all on Instantcert. I trust the advice of the folks on here, especially the more experienced people I have come to know as cyber friends over the last year. You can tell who the most senior people are by their ranking in the left, just like the feudal system! LOL! Anyway, oddly the rank for A&I L CLEP has fallen to the second level on Free CLEP prep.com??? Strange. I thought it was easy. Are you taking Principals of Supervision? If yes, that's the easiest DSST according to Free CLEP Prep. Check the exam specific feedback on here and see what people are saying. Pof S DSST, has a pretty easy rating (see ratings below from Free Clep Prep.com to answer your question about easy tests). However "easy" is really relative to the person taking the test. For example I am a nurse and I can tell you every bone of the 206 in your body is and explain how the molecular weight of chemo/radiation drugs affect your body and how long they will still 'live' in your body...so BIO CLEP was a pretty easy exam for me. But it might not be for you. On the other hand, while I am good with concrate and chemical data, I am terrible at abstract math and remembering all the weird rules for zillions of different problems. So you might kick my butt in CLEP College Math. So what people are telling me is going to be easy, I am not feeling it today. The same could be true for you. So here's my very best advice to give you confidence when picking your exams.

1. Go with what you already know/like to study that will could towards your degree first. Check out the exams that you think will be easy for you naturally. Taking the easy tests first will give you confidence as you put test by test behind you and your degree gets closer and closer.
2. Check out the Free Clep Prep take on which exams are the easiest and ask yourself if any of then stand out to you as "yeah, I could do that!"
3. Go to the section on this website and look at the exam "specific feedback" as well as the recent test scores and see what people are passing and giving good (as well as bad) feedback on.
4. Take one of the "Free" tests from Free Clep Prep.com and see how you do. They have DSST's too. If you have a few bucks, I prefer to take my first totally raw test from the actual Official College Board CLEP book and see how I would do. You can pick up an official college CLEP study guide for few dollars on eBay. If you score less than 50%, then you know you are going to have to study, so if speed is your gig, do the exams you score the best on naturally. You will have a good idea if it's the right test for you and spend a hour or hour and a half taking a practice test and come out with a 70 the first time. If you do that...book your test (but not the next day!!!! more like at least a week!). Anyway hitting a 70 on the official CLEP raw, its likely you will pass. Taking that hour and a half as a gauge, could save your self MANY hours of study on a subject you thought might be easy but found it was not at all what you thought.

Here's a list of what Free CLEP prep thinks the difficultly level of the tests are:
DSST Difficulty List - Free-Clep-Prep.com

Clep Difficulty List - Free-Clep-Prep.com

I think it was mentioned the exam you were going to take was Principals of Supervision?

If you want to try to take the quiz on Free CLEP prep and see how you would have done if you took the test, that might make you feel better about taking it again soon In any case, you have a lot of tools in your tackle box to take on any of these exams. Infants don't pop out of the womb running in the NYC marathon. I have never seen a 3 year old run a marathon yet either. It takes time to learn to work with what you have and know which resources will work for you. But you are HERE and that's awesome. You start every great journey with one small step.

Can't wait to read your post when you pass this exam!

;D
-T

[sumjeff]

Is there a way to bring them up without the blanks? I'm studying for a Dante's that I'm taking tomorrow, and this seems like a terrible way to study. To be honest, I'm disappointed.

Bmad86, the last three test that I've taken Here's to your health, Sustance Abuse, and Principles of Supervision (today), I googled "free DSST exam for (whatever subject)" and up comes all the test questions/answers that you find in instantcert, without the blanks. Each time I've printed these out and each time I've passed the exam studying this way. It's a lot of paper and ink from your printer but studying this way is easier for me.

[EI2HCB]

Any links you can provide sumjeff would be appreciated.

[ShotoJuku]

I signed up for InstantCert tonight, is the only study material they provide the flashcards? I am VERY disappointed. I am taking a test tomorrow, I thought there would be more help than just flash cards.

Although there are many study guides, books, videos, and such out there, The InstantCert Flashcard System of exam preparation is certainly a proven method of exam prep, second to none, and one that if given ample time to apply to your study regimen you will also be amazed with just how much IC can lead you to success in passing all of your exams - Good Luck!!

[Daithi]

I used a lot of StraighterLine and ALEKS courses for my degree, and many of the CLEP and DSST exams I took didn't have flashcard sets, so I only used IC on a couple of exams. However, I found it really useful for the courses I did use it on (The DSST MIS exam stands out in my mind).

Personally, I'd like to have a short study guide of around 20 to 25 pages, a set of flash cards, and a practice test. Some of material that is really likely to be on the test can duplicate in those three study sources, but there should also be unique information in each source as well. If I were designing a study resource, that's the way I'd do it.