failed a few courses; can I take exams for credit for those courses

[rvm]

Hiya,

I'm posting for a friend. I've encouraged her to join this forum but I don't think she's ready yet. I've just convinced her she can return to college after 30 years and be successful. She's looking at TESU, COSC, EXC and maybe WGU.

She said she read an article which stated if you take a college course and fail it, you cannot take an exam for credit and receive credit for that subject. Is this true?

Here's what she has from the 1980s from a state university:

Western Hist <1500 = pass
Europen Hist >1500 = pass
Research Skills = pass
Phys Ed = pass

I told her I thought these two courses were obsolete and she probably would not receive credit for them.
Data processing systems = pass
Intro to Computer Networks = pass

She became very sick near the end of the following semester. Due to her sudden and debilitating illness, she failed her exams or wasn't able to take final exams for the following courses, each of which she failed.
College Algebra
Health
English Comp 1
Philosphy

Thanks to a post on this forum, both she and I took advantage of the recent DSST sale to buy 2, get 1 free. We each bought 6 and got 3 free for a total of 9. We were told the vouchers must be used by September 30. We can do this! :willynilly::

Anyhow, she plans to take Health & Human Development for her first exam next week as she failed it due to her own health 3 decades back. Since she read that she could not take an exam for credit for a course she has already taken and failed, she's a bit nervous. This seems unreasonable as if you take an exam for credit and fail it, you simply retake it. Why would it be any different if you take a course and fail it than if you take an exam for credit and fail it?

All these courses are on one transcript so she doesn't want credit forgiveness as she wants to apply the credits she passed to her future degree, assuming she cannot pick and choose.

She is scheduled to take the Health & Human Development exam this Thursday, 7/6/17. Can anyone confirm or deny this potential policy for TESU, COSC, WGU & EXC? I've read though the college catalogs for TESU & COSC but I cannot locate anything this specific in either catalog.

Any info would be very helpful. Thank you!

[dfrecore]

The obsolete courses are not obsolete - they just can't be used in the Core/AOS for most degree programs. They can be used for Gen Ed Electives or Free Electives though.
None of the schools she's looking at offer forgiveness, so that won't be an issue. They also don't require that you have more than a 2.0 GPA to apply either, so you might want to have her calculate her GPA.

As for taking exams after failing a course, that's totally dependent on the school policy. I don't think any of the 4 listed have a policy like that.

[SDO]

rvm, contrary to the incorrect information above, there is good news for your friend. Charter Oak has a forgiveness program https://www.charteroak.edu/catalog/curre...policy.cfm and so does Excelsior https://info.excelsior.edu/student-polic...ean-slate/

Thomas Edison State, however, does not have a forgiveness program. I don't know about WGU. You might want to call them for more information.

As for whether pass/fail exam credit can replace courses that were failed, Thomas Edison does have a policy on that with regard to their own courses. I can't find it right now with the quick search that I did, and I can't spare any more time from my Capstone assignment that is due tomorrow, so you might want to do some more research on that. Last time I read the policy, it was not allowed. But again, do research or if you're enrolled, call Learner Services.

[sanantone]

TESU doesn't transfer in failed courses, and they don't include transferred courses in your GPA calculation. It would be pointless for them to have an academic forgiveness policy.

There are schools that have a policy that, if you fail one of their courses, you cannot test out of it. I failed a human resources class many years ago at WIU because I didn't turn in assignments, and TESU accepted the DSST I passed.

[dfrecore]

rvm, contrary to the incorrect information above, there is good news for your friend. Charter Oak has a forgiveness program https://www.charteroak.edu/catalog/curre...policy.cfm and so does Excelsior https://info.excelsior.edu/student-polic...ean-slate/

Thomas Edison State, however, does not have a forgiveness program. I don't know about WGU. You might want to call them for more information.

As for whether pass/fail exam credit can replace courses that were failed, Thomas Edison does have a policy on that with regard to their own courses. I can't find it right now with the quick search that I did, and I can't spare any more time from my Capstone assignment that is due tomorrow, so you might want to do some more research on that. Last time I read the policy, it was not allowed. But again, do research or if you're enrolled, call Learner Services.

That's why I said I THINK they have that policy. But, it looks like EC's policy only counts towards their own courses? Hard to figure that one out.

But as Sanantone said, TESU doesn't need a "fresh start" policy because they don't need one.

I have a couple of failed courses from a million years ago, and tested out later, and TESU accepted them.

[SDO]

[quote=dfrecore]That's why I said I THINK they have that policy. But, it looks like EC's policy only counts towards their own courses? Hard to figure that one out.

But as Sanantone said, TESU doesn't need a "fresh start" policy because they don't need one.
[QUOTE]

What you said was "None of the schools she's looking at offer forgiveness..." as if that was a definitive truth. The words "I think" were not in your response. And your response was wrong for 2 out of the 3 "Big-3" schools. That doesn't mean you're a bad person. We all make mistakes. But people rely on the info on this board, so if you aren't sure of the answer, let somebody else answer, or look it up before answering. And when somebody follows up to give the original poster the correct info, don't tout the 1 out of 3 that you got right. It's not a good look.

[cookderosa]

"She said she read an article which stated if you take a college course and fail it, you cannot take an exam for credit and receive credit for that subject. Is this true?"

That is ALMOST ALWAYS true. But.
When you leave a uni, you leave their policies behind, so it's always up to the school where you plan to finish.

The thing about the big 3, is that it won't matter because she didn't take those failing courses AT any of the big 3. In other words, to qualify for academic forgivenss/blank slate programs, she'd have to be a student at the college - fail THEIR courses, and then ask to take a CLEP. That's not what she's doing. She is going to have transcripts with courses that have F grades (which won't transfer) and she'll ALSO have a CLEP transcript (or ACE,etc.) with PASSING credit (they are ungraded) that they will bring in. This won't be a problem for her - tell her she can start immediately.

*edit to add* the links to the programs above are all specific to courses take in-house (EC) or that you don't want on your transcript (COSC) so she's good.

[CM1999]

I had failed courses at a CC 25 years ago. The transcripts went to TESU and they just ignored those courses and transferred in the courses that I passed. I had a similar situation (got sick and failed a quarter). I took tests to make up for those failed courses and TESU accepted the tests.

I don't think she will have a problem...no one even commented on my failed courses.

[Collegelady2]

You don't even want to know about all the courses I failed your friend will be fine