My DANTES Experience (A Rave for NYIT!)

With apologies to Randy_Excelsior...

After realizing that after next Wednesday I have no more exams in December I decided to give Jill at NYIT in Central Islip a call to see if she could order in some DANTES exams, with the idea that maybe I can still take one in December for more credit (it's getting fun! )

I have to say that she was probably the MOST ACCOMMODATING PERSON at an educational institution I have ever dealt with.

Not only would she order the exams in, but she said that she still had a Here's To Your Health in stock (someone had not shown up for a recent exam) and she could fit me into the next session. I am now taking it tomorrow morning @ 9am!

Registration form filled out over the phone...just bring in a $45 money order for DANTES.

That, plus only a $5 fee to NYIT and the ability to take 2 DSSTs per day, group settings on selected Saturdays or individual testing during the week M-F during her office hours (Tue until 7pm) makes this an absolutely incredible experience. A month or so ago I was worried about a good test site...now I can fit exams in on my lunch breaks.

It's amazing that I called off the cuff and arranged to sit an exam with only 1 business hour's notice! It'll probably take me longer to shop for #2 pencils and erasers...

(now if they can proctor my TECEP exam for me I'll feel really good about the process )

I encourage everyone else to publish their rave test sites.

Cheers,
Mark

 

I had very good experiences with both UMass-Boston (CLEP) and Eastern Nazarene College (DANTES).

 

La Sierra University has been my primary testing center. It is a Liberal-Arts Seventh-Day Adventist university, which I am in no way affiliated, that has been accommodating and very positive experience every time I have used them. The quality of the testing center is outstanding and the staff are gracious, efficient, and professional. I have frequently taken 3 exams in one day there and they are open late 5 days a week. The price is reasonable and they will proctor any exam for you. After about 30 exams through them I can say I have not had a single bad experience.

 

The King's College, Empire State Bldg

I took a DANTES exam at the King's College, which is in the sublevel of the Empire State Bldg in NYC, and overall thought the experience very positive.

 

hey, I took two DANTES test at King's College about 6 weeks ago.

Introduction To Modern Middle East = Very hard

I'd say a good 40% of the test was was Turkey and the Ottoman empire during and prior to World War I to the early 1800's. That was not what I studied. 25% was Egypt from World War II to the early 1800's. Almost nothing on Israel, Palestine, Iraq and Iran conflicts.

World Religions = not too hard

hardest part was remembering which leaders names were Buddhist and which were Hindu, they were so much alike

scored A on both, like the facility, very nice people, but a $35 administration fee per exam was expensive.

Erianna Khusainova was very cool.

I've heard that there is a jewish college in Brooklyn that offers deals for the DANTES and CLEPS. If you're sure going to take a few tests close together, then just let them know and they will order them all at once, but hold them for grading. Instead of sending them in one at a time, they will hold them until you've taken 3 or 4 tests and send them in all together. That saves them the registered mail costs. So you won't have to pay $35 per exam. I don't know which college this is, but these are the possibilities I see on the DANTES site.
http://www.getcollegecredit.com/Individual_States/new_york.htm

DARKEI NOAM RABBINICAL COLLEGE
2822 AVENUE J
BROOKLYN, NY 11201
718-338-6464

GAMLA COLLEGE
1213 ELM AVENUE
BROOKLYN, NY 11230
718-339-4747, X122

MA'A LOT - NEW YORK
A DIVISION OF THE ZAIDNER INSTITUTE
1066 EAST 23RD STREET
BROOKLYN, NY 11210-3638
718-377-0222

 

After I thought about it, I should mention that Eastern Nazarene College was especially helpful with DANTES exams. Their staff could not have been more nice and helpful. The testing center is easy to find, and has plenty of free parking.

Anyone in MA that needs some DANTES exams, look into Eastern Nazarene...you won't be disappointed.

 

I like the thread title Mark. ^_~

I'm actually heading up to take 4 Dantes test this next week, at a University of Phoenix nearby. They've been extremely accomodating and helpful. I've heard good things from others who have taken them there as well. The only UoP problem is that not all UoPs will let you test if you are not a currently enrolled student. From what I can tell, each campus has their own policy on this.

 

Exam prep query

James -

Two questions regarding your DANTES Intro to the Modern Middle East exam prep.

First, how did you prepare? Second, in hindsight, how would you prepare differently?

Thanks!

--Orson

 

sorry to take so long to reply.

I barely prepared at all. I read

The Middle East for Dummies
by Jr. Davis Craig

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0764554832/qid=1074388026/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-8822550-4772655?v=glance&s=books

I spent about a week reading this book the way someone would read a novel for pleasure.

I thought the test would be pretty easy becasue I watch the news every night and read the paper. I thought I was pretty knowledgable about the 'modern' middle east.

But the test was more concerned with 1800 - 1948 that it was with 1940 through now.

It had multiple choice questions something like
When was the first newspaper published in the Ottoman Empire?

What is xyz (some turkish name I had never heard of)
a: a sub division of the fgh (some turkish name I had never heard of) Ottoman political system
b: a caste of the jkl (some turkish name I had never heard of) Ottoman educational system
so on and so on

So I would definetely read that book more carefully. It really helped me with the Saudi, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, WWI, WWII questions, but I spent a lot of time thinking about those questions during the test and trying to eliminate wrong answers. It would have been so much easier if I had studied.

I would also go to the library and look at the Ottoman empire entries in a few encyclopedias and maybe even in a world history book.

I did get an A, but I had to go to the last second of the exam and I was really pressured and stressed. Not at all like the religion exam.