Why Charter Oak State College is better than Thomas Edison State College

[KittenMittens]

KittensMittens,

Why have you changed your argument to discuss only the upper level options being difficult.. Especially when only 13/37 are upper level, if I counted correctly then that's only 35% of the TECEP options.

Each person will have their strengths and weakness which is why two of us so far on this posting have told you we passed an UL Networking TECEP cold. My spouse on the other hand would never be able to pass that test without A LOT of study, but would absolutely kick my butt on the LL World History TECEP.

And yes, I could pass more than 8 TECEPs without a whole lot of studying needed... no not all of them UL, but that doesn't matter, I don't specifically need UL or LL I just need total 24 credits to get the residency requirement out of the way

But again mute point since I decided a different school was a better option for me

That's a very good question, and good points you've made, and that's the type of questions/discussions I'd hope to expect rather than the diatribe from some other posters.

I have no problem with that if you or anyone else can that - and I'd commend you for being able to do that/doing that without much studying. I don't think most students would be able to do that though not as easily as the other methods I've described and that's my opinion from my own research and feedback from multiple other students. What I'm saying is not out of the ordinary if you think about it because professional test prep companies expound on this methodology of using short, concise review packets. They practically always say to use their reviews books and to eschew textbooks. But let's ignore that for now.

Let's say a student does what you say (in fact I thought about doing that at one point) - why not do 24 random credits in easy electives through TECEP. I probably could even do it if I researched the exams enough. In my particular situation I already fulfilled many of the gen. requirements so most of those LL courses would have been redundant, and been an unnecessary cost, but let's ignore that as well.

That is certainly a viable option if a student can find 8 exams and pass them with relative ease. I would have done something like that but the lack/absence of any review materials, lack of practice exams, and feedback made it too risky and unreliable. The general idea with TECEPs is that you have to typically read a textbook about something and they test you on random details from random chapters. Can you pass without reading a textbook? Certainly if you have enough of a background in it of course. But I'd wager the odds of the typical student being able to complete several TECEP exams with a strong background in many of them to be able to pass is going to be a much smaller group of people. In my opinion, it's safer in general to take an exam, for most people, knowing what dozens of people have said, as well as being able to do practice exams, and having professionally made review guides for them. At least with prep material, practice exams, and good student feedback/data, you can significantly increase your chances of passing/getting credit (an exam can be pretty simple but the absence of information can make it difficult to pass. Difficulty to pass =/= how hard the subject is).

However, in the case where a student feels comfortable about passing 8 random TECEP exams with sufficient ease, comfort, minimal studying, I would say then that that is a superior option. But from what I've personally seen and from what many other students have stated, the TECEPs generally are the biggest pain/head ache of them all - and I think there's a very plausible explanation for that. Like I've said much earlier, if TECEP prep materials become more established, there are practice exams (I don't think they will produce them any time soon, but anything would work), and enough student feedback, then the TESC "per option" program becomes a very attractive option, but for now those materials are not really established - yes there are 3 TECEP flash card sets through instantcert, but they've been overwhelmingly inaccurate and disliked by students. (I looked into the TECEP Strategic Management exam and found that it was a lot more indepth and based on the textbook, so Penn Foster's Strategic Management course for $237 became a more convenient/attractive option), and there are some Saylor courses, but the typical student this guide is geared to doesn't want to take a course if possible, and if they do it would be a quick easy one like Penn Foster or Straighterline.

If it works for you great, if it doesn't more power to you. Discussion and debate is always healthy. Different strokes for different folks and I never claimed that what I've advocated for will work for everyone. That would be arrogant and presumptuous of me. Overall, my objective has been to at least people thinking about their different testing options, and to at least think about the potential pros/cons of each exam style which was a topic that hasn't really been discussed much here before.