ModernStates Update + Passed my first CLEP!

[MNomadic]

Congrats! My son passed his first CLEP yesterday as well (Biology, got a 53) and also went through Modern States for the voucher. Modern States alone was not nearly enough to pass the Biology CLEP, but the voucher was certainly appreciated.

I don't think Modern States was intended to be a complete course to learn a subject from scratch.  I consider it a CLEP-prep course, and tell anyone I suggest it to, that they should only use it after already knowing the material (which they may know, or need to find another way to learn it).

To me that's contradictory. I assume everybody here is using it as a CLEP prep course. Otherwise, they would use SDC or SL and get credit for the course instead of risking it all on the exam. That's what we're using CLEP prep courses for--to learn subjects from scratch, and then test out of them. Some people know more than others about Principles of Management specifically, but hasn't everybody here has used CLEP prep resources to test out of subjects in which they had no previous experience?

Not trying to argue with you or anything. That's just my take. A lot of it was very technical: "this guy formulated that theory which said this, this, and this in the case of that..." 

If anybody knew that stuff without already taking a course in it (in which case they would have already earned the required credits), I'd be surprised. I've read my share of business books and probably never came across 90% of those details.

It really just depends on the specific CLEP. The Biology CLEP covers 2 semesters of relatively challenging material and the MS course probably doesn't cover nearly enough but can serve as an excellent review to help you with the last leg of your preparation before the test. Other CLEPs like analyzing and interpreting literature or marketing might be significantly more common knowledge and intuitive to certain people so just using basic review courses like MS might be more than enough. 

I've taken 3 CLEPs so far and I always used 3 or more separate sources to ensure I was adequately prepared. With all that being said, one thing that is rarely mentioned is that the MS courses usually include reading materials from a full length text book which would be comparable to what you'd use in an actual class. If people read the full text, they'd probably be much more prepared for the test than if they just watch the videos. Though everyone's learning preferences, abilities and time commitments vary, so textbook based learning isn't necessarily ideal or desirable for many people here.