Ready to Test?

[zapproximator]

I can argue that a 54 is better than a 74. A 74 indicates far more time than was necessary was spent preparing. A 54 indicates just enough time was spent freeing up time to be spent studying for another test. Of course, if you really need to know the material, a 74 is better. If it is a general education requirement in a subject that you have no interest in, a pass is a pass.

Let's discuss guessing. If you have no idea which answer is correct on a real test, guess. You might get lucky. It could make the difference between passing and not passing. For a practice test, don't guess. If you have no idea what the answer is, don't answer. If you're not highly confident of the answer on a practice test, you should leave it blank. The purpose of a practice test isn't the ego gratification of how smart you are. The real value of a practice test is identifying what you don't know. I personally take it a step further. If I know the answer on a practice test, but can't explain why one of the wrong answers is wrong, I leave the question unanswered. Use the practice tests to identify gaps in your knowledge.

I mostly agree, except I think since both of us (ajbags' son and I) are high-school age, this is probably the first time we're exposed to a CLEP subject (at least at high school or college level). For example, I'm studying CLEP Psychology more like a normal (homsechool) student would (I'm going through a full-sized textbook, listening to opencourseware lectures etc) since before starting to study for this CLEP, I knew exactly 0 psychology and this (I think) is something I ought to actually know and not JUST cram for the CLEP.
I think oscar06 phrased this pretty well when he left some specific exam feedback: Because I had never taken a US History course, my dad helped me put together a roadmap that included full courses so I could thoroughly LEARN US History I, and not just study to pass an exam.

Any thoughts?

[dfrecore]

I can argue that a 54 is better than a 74. A 74 indicates far more time than was necessary was spent preparing.

Not necessarily - I did not spend more than a hour studying for the Management and Marketing CLEP's, but scored decently on them because I knew the material from prior courses/work experience. So no assumptions can be made that a higher score indicates more study time.

Also, some schools won't accept the pass rate, but want a higher score. So you need to know the passing score for your school, not just for ACE.

[cookderosa]

I can argue that a 54 is better than a 74. A 74 indicates far more time than was necessary was spent preparing. A 54 indicates just enough time was spent freeing up time to be spent studying for another test. Of course, if you really need to know the material, a 74 is better. If it is a general education requirement in a subject that you have no interest in, a pass is a pass.

Let's discuss guessing. If you have no idea which answer is correct on a real test, guess. You might get lucky. It could make the difference between passing and not passing. For a practice test, don't guess. If you have no idea what the answer is, don't answer. If you're not highly confident of the answer on a practice test, you should leave it blank. The purpose of a practice test isn't the ego gratification of how smart you are. The real value of a practice test is identifying what you don't know. I personally take it a step further. If I know the answer on a practice test, but can't explain why one of the wrong answers is wrong, I leave the question unanswered. Use the practice tests to identify gaps in your knowledge.

that's good advice- leave it blank and mark it wrong. A better represention for sure.