As youve noticed I have been poking around here trying to figure out what route I want to go. I just picked up a copy of Bears guide and started reading that yesterday. Havent got to the part yet about exams so this might be a silly question. I was just wondering if it is generally better to do CLEP or other exams before you enroll in a school? Or is it better to join the school of your choice and then do the exams? Any other advice/links/direction would be great. Thanks
I knew the subjects that were missing for me - English, History, Humanities, etc- so I took the exams before I enrolled.
It depends. If you're planning on getting your degree through one of the Big Three, i.e., Charter Oak, Excelsior, or TESC, then it makes sense to take them before you matriculate, because there's an annual change for being a student there and that way you minimize that to once. I took a few CLEPs before matriculating at Charter Oak for this purpose, and my wife hasn't signed up with anyone but has already gotten several credits from CLEP. If you're going to a more conventional university, then you probably want to do it after you sign up, or at least until after you've spoken with them to confirm which ones they'll accept and whether there's any required order in which to take them. -=Steve=-
Honestly I havent made up my mind yet. It will definately be one of the schools that have the best reviews /overall opions I have found on this website. I guess I just have to evaluate them now myself and figure out which one will fit me best.
i did better before i was enrolled becasue i had more time to study for test and not on my current courses.
Got another question that may be silly. If a school says they accept CLEP subject for example: "American Government 3 LL PS credit 50 & above ACE required passing score" What exactly is a 50 and above? Is CLEP graded by a traditional system?
That's not a silly question. You get a score between 20 and 80. I think it's a bell curve, but am not entirely sure, although I do know that there's not a one to one correspondence between how many you get right and what your score is. A score of 50 is the cutoff point for getting credit at most schools, although schools are the ones who decide who gets credit. ACE refers to the American Council on Education, which is the main body that evaluates non-academic tests and recommends academic credit equivalence. -=Steve=-
