My Degree Plan @ TESC and Progress

[Lady Grace of Pemberley]

I was accepted to an accelerated nursing program but they did not accept my AP credits for English 101 and 102 which I had several years ago. I need to take the test in the next few weeks to month because classes start for the program on July 22nd. I already downloaded the peterson exams, the official study guide from clep, and this ic site. I was just curious if someone could give me an idea of what is the best way for me to approach studying for the exam in a short time. I have to pass the clep or I cannot go to the program. I am very nervous.

I posted some of my feedback for College Composition near the bottom of this post: http://www.degreeforum.net/excelsior-tho...post136709 Also, here are some more tips that I've collected since I posted that...

It took just under 4 weeks for me to get my score back. I found this document that has a chart showing the grading dates for the College Composition essays. The chart is just past half-way down the document.

Try to make your essays as long as is reasonably possible - I've heard that the longer the essay, the higher the score. I used examples heavily in my essays -- making up impressive facts to beef it up a bit. You may want to invent some statistics from a fictional (and long-named) organization (i.e. According to the National Institution for the Civil Rights of North-American Experimental Animals, only 10% of all experimental animals are actually placed into an experimental environment where their lives are seriously threatened). The graders are not necessarily looking for truth in your essays, but rather structure, cohesion, and an interesting view on the subject. In fact, you may even wish to include "interviews" from imaginary people (perhaps a "well known" movie star that you actually made up) in both of your essays. Sounds silly, I know, but it may make your work more interesting to the CollegeBoard graders.

If you are looking for a way to finish up your essays without sounding incomplete, try adding a catchy phrase to the end of your essay (i.e. We need to stand up against the unfairness that making performance-enhancing drugs legal would create today!), something that creates an emotional appeal and moves your reader to action. I had a hard time figuring out how to finish my essays without the essays sounding incomplete, and so that phrase (and ones like it) were helpful to have, since they are easily modified to fit the subject.

One thing about the format of the test: once you finish your multiple-choice section, it will bring you to a page (similar to the one that you always see when you begin any CLEP) where you will select "Dismiss Directions" to begin the countdown for the first essay after you have read the directions. After you are done with the first essay, you will be brought to a second screen that will give you the directions for the second essay. Again, once you are done reading the directions, click the "Dismiss Directions" button. There is not time limit between them -- it's a great place to breathe for once in the exam! One other thing: don't skip the tutorial at the beginning of the test (as I usually do now). There will be a place for you to play around with the software you will use on the essay section (cut, paste, and undo are the only buttons available -- no copy!). Hope that made sense.