Western Civilization II CLEP - How helpful is InstantCert?

[jkfuss]

I have finished my bachelor's but need to fulfill a deficit in Western Civilization to move forward with my next degree program. They will accept the Western Civ CLEPs. I only need one, and I have decided to take Western Civ II as I am more familiar with the material, although I am far from an expert.

I had great success with InstantCert and will gladly sign up again, but since I just need one exam, I would like to know how helpful the material is. I would check the Exam Specific feedback, but I would have to subscribe just to look at it (even though I contributed a lot to it when I was a member in the past -- but that's another story).

I did a search and found mixed reviews of the flashcards, but no real indication of the value of the material in the Exam Specific feedback. So I have two questions:

1. How helpful are the InstantCert flashcards for Western Civ II?
2. Is there any really helpful information in the Exam Specific feedback?

Like I said, I'll re-subscribe in a heartbeat if there's enough there to make it worth the money.

Thanks very much.

[dfb8084]

I have finished my bachelor's but need to fulfill a deficit in Western Civilization to move forward with my next degree program. They will accept the Western Civ CLEPs. I only need one, and I have decided to take Western Civ II as I am more familiar with the material, although I am far from an expert.

I had great success with InstantCert and will gladly sign up again, but since I just need one exam, I would like to know how helpful the material is. I would check the Exam Specific feedback, but I would have to subscribe just to look at it (even though I contributed a lot to it when I was a member in the past -- but that's another story).

I did a search and found mixed reviews of the flashcards, but no real indication of the value of the material in the Exam Specific feedback. So I have two questions:

1. How helpful are the InstantCert flashcards for Western Civ II?
2. Is there any really helpful information in the Exam Specific feedback?

Like I said, I'll re-subscribe in a heartbeat if there's enough there to make it worth the money.

Thanks very much.

1) It is helpful. the thing with instantcert is that you are basically reading passages that you have to be able to apply to differently worded questions.

I passed with a 67, and I used only instantcert and the REA book.

2) The exam specific forum is pretty helpful if you ask me. They provide a link to a college professor's online classes that teach this subject as well.

Civ I is much, much easier than Civ II.

[jkfuss]

Thanks very much for your reply. I will re-subscirbe.

When you say Civ I is much, much easier than Civ II, can you clarify in what way it's easier? I would have thought it would be much harder with the longer time period involved and, seemingly, more cultures to remember details about.

Thanks again.

[Scholar Interrupted]

You didn't ask me, but I've taken both and also, ironically, found II harder than I. You'd think WC I would be harder because it covers so much more time. II is harder because the questions go into much more detail. It seems that WC I is just providing a foundation for what the test designers consider the more important knowledge about recent history, which is WC II. I was quite surprised by my 69 in WC II. It's the only CLEP test I scored under 70 on other than Natural Sciences.

[jkfuss]

Thanks so much for the insight. I'm going to take another look at Civ I and see if I can put a study program together for that, including, of course, IC!

[MISin08]

Good to hear from you again JK --

I took W Civ I in a classroom and I suspect II is harder simply because we know more about the history of the more recent period. There's a good Collins Outline for W Civ I. These are good study resources for CLEP.

Phillip

[dfb8084]

the other responders hit the nail on the head.

Civ I is a longer time, but the "large" events are spread out. Things changed more gradually, and many societies histories are a bit similar.

In Civ II, you have a lot happening between 1648 to 2000.

You have to learn individual history of Spain, England, Netherlands, France, Germany (Austria, Prussia, etc), Italy, Russia, the colonies, etc.

A lot, a lot, a lot of stuff, and the short amount of time makes it easy to confuse overlapping facts, dates, wars.

Civ I is easy. There are kings, they use religion to subject peasants. Oh, and the plague was really, really, deadly. End of story.

[jkfuss]

Wow, what great information from all of you. Without this forum, I would have gone the Civ II route and ended up overcomplicating my life. I'm glad to be a part of this community.