Not sure where to start...

[dfrecore]

For the past year or more on this forum, I think there has been an excessive amount of aversion to 100% proctored credit-by-exam (CLEP, DSST, CSU-Global, TECEP) when the exam itself can be passed cold by many folks. I like SL just like most folks and can complete SL courses VERY FAST, but it is more work vs a test than can be taken cold.
Each person will have a different list of tests they can pass without studying, but there are a bunch of easy ones for most like CLEP A&I Lit, TECEP Applied Liberal Arts Math, and many more. I'm not claiming testing is cheaper (especially after factoring in transportation) except in oddball situations like CLEP A&I Lit (6 credits at TESU) and UL credits, but it is way faster and less effort when you don't have to study. In addition, CSU-Global and TECEPs can be taken at home. When you can't pass the test cold, then I can see it being worthwhile to take SL and other options instead of the exam.

I agree that testing is a good option, as well as online courses.

One thing to keep in mind is that testing can be a hassle for many people (distance, limited times to take exams, cost if you have to pay more than $20 for testing center fees, etc.). Not only was my testing center fairly far away and inconvenient to get to (including paying for parking and walking quite a distance across campus), they had very inconvenient hours and limited availability to administer tests (I couldn't sign up for a DSST AND CLEP exam on the same day, I couldn't sign up for more than 1 exam per day even if I had the time to take one in my time slot, and they only had 1 computer they allowed for CLEP/DSST testing in a very large, empty computer lab with 100% computers in it). It was not really worth it for me to test out of much with the barriers they threw up. I was very glad when I got the opportunity to take TECEP exams though, because I'm a pretty decent tester, and a night owl, which was great since I had homeschooled kids at home when I was testing and could schedule them after everyone went to bed.

Then, there are plenty of people who are not good testers - so when you say that a test is very easy and can easily taken cold, that really applies to YOU, but not to everyone. If you have a testing anxiety, then this is definitely easier said than done.

I have also found that people that contact me privately are pretty test-averse. They are really busy at work during the day, and can't get away to test. But they all manage to fit in some courses at night via SL, Study.com, Saylor, etc. That's just been my personal experience though, I'm sure others have people who just want to test out completely.

I like the fact that we have MANY options open to people, and you are not stuck with just 1 way to take most courses. If you want to test, great. If you want to take SL courses, go for it. Saylor - have at it. Each person gets to choose the option that works best for THEM. It's a pretty great system.