Thread: Easiest and Hardest DANTES and/or CLEP Tests

Just out of curiosity, what are the easiest DANTES/CLEP tests to pass and the most difficult? I realize this is a matter of opinion, but by general consensus...

basrsu

The Analyzing and Interpreting Literature CLEP was the easiest one I took. It was a glorified literacy test. The only way I can imagine it would be difficult is maybe for a non-native speaker of English, since it uses poetic terms and so forth that might be new.

I've heard that the Here's To Your Health DSST is very easy also, but I didn't take it myself. I didn't want to take any test where I didn't get the result instantly. :)

-=Steve=-

I looked at the military passing rates. Anything over 50% passing is probably pretty easy.

I second the CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Lit for an easy 6 hours. I found all of the comp. exams pretty easy but the Literatures were a challenge.

The DANTES Intro to Law Enforcement was a bit of a cakewalk too.

DANTES Intro to Computers, Business Math, Intro Business were pretty easy too.

DANTES Money and Banking was HARD.

Trying to get 12 hours for the language CLEP exams (not being a native speaker of those languages) was a challenge for me.

	Ivy Bridge College of Tiffin University - Request More Information Ivy Bridge College of Tiffin University Ivy Bridge offers a variety of associates degrees and degree completion programs including General Studies, Business Administration, Computer Information Technology, and Law Enforcement The school is regionally accredited, the most widely recognized accreditation. Click Here to receive FREE information on this school. [/center]

Originally Posted by SteveFoerster

The Analyzing and Interpreting Literature CLEP was the easiest one I took. It was a glorified literacy test. The only way I can imagine it would be difficult is maybe for a non-native speaker of English, since it uses poetic terms and so forth that might be new.

I've heard that the Here's To Your Health DSST is very easy also, but I didn't take it myself.

I took both, and agree on all points.

That's a really subjective question. I thought that the Humanities CLEP was the easiest test I've ever taken, while others here have said it's one of the hardest. I thought Accounting was one of the harder ones, although I think it's been modified since I took it. Marketing was pretty easy if you've read an introductory marketing text, and the Western Civilization exams were easy for this history buff. Once of the hardest credit-by-exam experiences I ever had was the DSST for Statistics. I did well, but I remember actually taking the exam as a rather torturous process. I think in general, you'll find most CLEP exams to be pretty easy, and the DSST exams to be more difficult. They're all manageable, though, generally a few nights of intense study is enough preparation to get you through.

	Argosy University Argosy University Argosy offers online Bachelor's, Master's and Doctorate in Business Administration, psychology, and HR-related degrees, with many specialty degrees, including organizational psychology, exercise psychology, HR, public administration, higher education administration, and many more. Argosy also offers the same degrees and more from 19 locations across the U.S., and is a leader in the distance/online education field. Argosy has one of the largest graduate student communities in the nation, and is regionally accredited, the most widely recognized accreditation. Click Here to receive FREE information on this school.

	Ashford University Ashford University Ashford offers online MBA, bachelors, and masters in many fields, including Business, Accounting, Business Administration, International Business, Economics, Business Information Systems, Social and Criminal Justice, Communication, Early Childhood Education and Administration, Education and Public Policy, English, Entrepreneurship, Environmental Studies, Finance, Health Care Administration, HC Studies, Health and Human Services, History, Homeland Security and Emergency Mgmt, Human Resource Mgmt, Journalism, Communication, Operations Mgmt, Organizational Mgmt, Political Science, Psychology, Public Admin, Public Relations, Social Sciences, Sociology, Risk Management, Sports, Teacher Certification, Education, Health Care Administration, Organizational Management, Teaching & Learning with Technology, and Public Administration. Click Here to receive FREE information on this school.

Why is everybody always worried about which exams are the "easiest" or the "hardest"? Just go ahead and take those exams that interest you and/or those that fulfill the distribution requirements of your degree!

Why is everybody always worried about which exams are the "easiest" or the "hardest"?

Good question, Ted. I've wondered the same thing. In my original question, I never wrote that I was "worried." I only wrote out of curiosity, as my first post states.

basrsu

Originally Posted by Randell1234

I looked at the military passing rates. Anything over 50% passing is probably pretty easy.

What are you implying sir?

Originally Posted by Delta

What are you implying sir?

The military results could be a good sampling of test takers. Since it is free to the military many people, including myself, can take the exams with little to no knowledge of the subject. If the passing rate is high and you know something about the subject you have a good shot at passing.

I do not know of any other results for the pass/fail percentages for these test. Do you?

Originally Posted by Randell1234

The military results could be a good sampling of test takers. Since it is free to the military many people, including myself, can take the exams with little to no knowledge of the subject. If the passing rate is high and you know something about the subject you have a good shot at passing.

I do not know of any other results for the pass/fail percentages for these test. Do you?

No I do not. Your post came across condescending towards military folk by appearing to tell us that if those in the military have a pass rate of greater than 50%, than the exam should be "pretty easy". Just curious on how you derived such a premise.

Originally Posted by Delta

No I do not. Your post came across condescending towards military folk by appearing to tell us that if those in the military have a pass rate of greater than 50%, than the exam should be "pretty easy". Just curious on how you derived such a premise.

>>

Delta, I'm not trying to butt in, but I think it's ONLY the military that posts the pass rates (not College Board) so one is simply suggesting to check the pass rate- and to do that you must check the "military pass rate." You can google it. I didn't find it condescending- but I can see where someone might not have understood what the poster meant.

For the record- I'd add a vote for Analyzing and Interpreting literature as "easiest" because there isn't anything to study. There is no exam content to study (you could google a few literary vocab words if you feel that you MUST study something) Just comprehend what you read- the passages are on the exam and numbered. My husband found this test horrid since his reading comprehension isn't his strength. Questions are like this:

What did the author mean by 'fire' in the 3rd stanza? a) passion b) death c) confrontation d) fear

There were 3 exams I didn't study for: DANTES Technical Writing (easy and fast), CLEP Information Systems (should have studied), and Analyzing and Interpreting Literature (easy but took every second of the time allowed).

I think the "easy" exams are ones that you can give your attention to. Get some SPARKS notes, an REA book, the CLEP official exam outline and go to work. Use google and wikipedia to answer your questions. You can also join Instantcert if you are looking for additional help. Their message boards are free, but the study cards cost $. I love the site for it's forums, but don't use the study cards. Consider it an "Independant Study" course that you are designing for yourself. Learn all the basics of the topic and a few of the more complex topics; and you'll earn the credit.

	Ashford University Ashford University Ashford offers online MBA, bachelors, and masters in many fields, including Business, Accounting, Business Administration, International Business, Economics, Business Information Systems, Social and Criminal Justice, Communication, Early Childhood Education and Administration, Education and Public Policy, English, Entrepreneurship, Environmental Studies, Finance, Health Care Administration, HC Studies, Health and Human Services, History, Homeland Security and Emergency Mgmt, Human Resource Mgmt, Journalism, Communication, Operations Mgmt, Organizational Mgmt, Political Science, Psychology, Public Admin, Public Relations, Social Sciences, Sociology, Risk Management, Sports, Teacher Certification, Education, Health Care Administration, Organizational Management, Teaching & Learning with Technology, and Public Administration. Click Here to receive FREE information on this school.

	New Jersey Institute of Technology New Jersey Institute of Technology NJIT offers online Certificates in Emergency Management and Venture & Innovation Mgmt; Graduate Certificates in Business & Computing, Business Info Systems, Construction Mgmt, Data Mining, Environmental Sustainability, Finance for Managers, International Commerce, Management Essentials, Management Technology, Project Management, Engineering Soft Skills, IT Administration, Web Systems Development, and Technical Communications; and Master’s Degrees in Computer Science, Engineering Mgmt, Information Systems, Management, Professional & Technical Communication, Business & Information Systems, and Emergency Mgmt & Business Continuity. The school is regionally accredited, the most widely recognized accreditation. Click Here to receive FREE information on this school.

Originally Posted by Delta

No I do not. Your post came across condescending towards military folk by appearing to tell us that if those in the military have a pass rate of greater than 50%, than the exam should be "pretty easy". Just curious on how you derived such a premise.

I share that opinion - here's why: Those of us who are/were military testers, because the tests are completely free, often take these with no prep whatsoever since there's no disadvantage to failing a test. I did this for three years and failed more than a couple but passed some with ease. It's not about "military people are dumber" but that military people tend not to have the same motivation ($125+ test fee) to heavily prepare for the exams.

Therefor, if the military pass rate on the test is over 50% (assuming that some testers took the exam without any study) then the pass rate for those who have studied will be much better.

Further, it can be assumed that if the pass rate of any population (such as military takers) is higher on some tests than others - then the tests which have a higher pass rate must be easier than those with a low pass rate. What we often don't know though is how many testers were in each sample. An exam with 75% pass rate of 4 testers tells us much less about the exam's relative ease than one with a 75% pass rate and 100 testers. True, it's a generalization and not completely valid premise, but there is some level of validity to the idea.

Since absolute equality of difficulty is impossible for any number of reasons, it is factual that some tests must be easier than some other tests. Even if we correct for individual ability - there still must be some difference in the inherent ease of some exams. This means that there is such a thing as "the easiest test" and "the hardest test" and that we can identify which among the DANTES exams may meet this by using pass rates of some population.

Given the limited number of hours in a day, it only makes sense to take those tests which present the highest potential for a passing score before taking those with a low potential when there is no other reason to distinguish one from the other. If someone needs "six hours in anything", then the best plan would be to take the easiest possible exam - and therefor the basis of the original question.

just some thoughts...

By far the easiest for me was DANTES Principles of Supervision. My hardest (not being as well read as some) and the one that required the most preparation was the CLEP Humanities. With that said, I agree with Fortunato, the question is very subjective and it depends largely on one's background and experience.

Brian

Originally Posted by basrsu

Why is everybody always worried about which exams are the "easiest" or the "hardest"?

Good question, Ted. I've wondered the same thing. In my original question, I never wrote that I was "worried." I only wrote out of curiosity, as my first post states.

basrsu

At the same time, you never wrote that you weren't "worried." But those who have to ask which are "easiest" and which are "hardest" run the risk of appearing to be intellectually lazy.

Ted: At the same time, you never wrote that you weren't "worried." But those who have to ask which are "easiest" and which are "hardest" run the risk of appearing to be intellectually lazy.


Or just curious, as my first post stipulates. :)

basrsu