Questions from a novice. How to fulfill degree requirements with CLEP?

Hi,

I'm new to the Site and a bit overwhelmed by all this great information.

I have about 30 traditional credits from a Brick and Motar School and need about 90 credits to finish my BA Business. In my Google quest for "how to finish a degree quickly" I stumbled across BA in 4 Weeks. I would like to get started right away but I am having some issues identifying what CLEP Exams are taken to fulfill degree requirements.

I have not checked with my local University yet to find out what the CLEP policy is but alternatively I was looking at Charter Oak. If I did choose Charter Oak would I need to enroll or should I take all the CLEP exams and then transfer them over?

I would prefer to test out on everything due to my Job being very demanding.

Does anyone have any advice on how they got started?

Thanks.

 

I have not studied at CHOK, but they published their "master list of exams" here:
List of Exams at Charter Oak State College

This should give you a fair idea of what CLEP credits can be transferred.

 

Homerun response.

I would only add that the credits from exams have to fit into the degree plan of your choice; for example, a ton of computer science credits aren't going to be much good in a business degree plan, other than as free electives or part of the general education core.

 

Also, CLEPs are all in the lower-level or lower division, ie. at the levels of years 1 or 2 of a four-year college education. You'll need a certain number of upper-level or upper division courses, ie. at the levels of years 3 or 4, in your concentration or major in particular, and you'll need to meet specific requirements in general education and in your concentration or major.

The DSST (DANTES), ECE, and TECEP testing programs include tests with upper-level credit, and are accepted by all the Big Three schools listed here.

Charter Oak, Thomas Edison State College, and Excelsior College all have their own particular requirements, and Charter Oak and Excelsior are moving to expect their graduates to take at least one or two of their own "cornerstone" orientation and/or "capstone" round-up courses. They'll still almost certainly take much more and be much more flexible than your local B&M.

And at any of these schools, yes, you can accumulate as much credit as possible before enrolling.

 

Your college probably accepts CLEP, about half of all US colleges do. CLEP exams are 100/200 level general education (mostly) so it's possible that there are only a handful that may apply to your degree-you'll need to cross that against your college's written policy. (notice I didn't say to ask, get the actual written policy from your college catalog/website or advisor).
CLEPs are fantastic and save a fortune. There are study guides for every subject, and the test itself is a multiple choice computer exam that takes 90 minutes or less and you get an instant score. It's pass/fail. The cost is $77 plus any fee your testing center charges. Most exams are worth 3 credits, but many are worth 6 and foreign languages are worth 12! Thats a HUGE HUGE HUGE cost incentive.
I used CLEP to the fullest - 51 of my gen eds- and highly suggest it.

(there is nothing wrong with Charter Oak, know a few people who went there, but don't be so quick to jump ship. You can likely get the exact degree you want from the exact college you want and still use CLEP. Even if your college only accepts 15 credits - the norm at many- that cuts 6 months off your degree and likely several thousand dollars in tuition/books)

 

To get started I suggest you contact a target school (like Charter Oak) and understand where your credits fit. Identify gaps and see what CLEPs fill those gaps. Get those knocked out. See what CLEPs you are interested in and know a lot about and see if they would count as an elective. Do not forget that some/many DANTES and ECE exams count as upper level credit. You really can test out of the entire degree. If you are considering grad school be certain you complete the pre-req's required for admission. Does that help?

 

Thanks everyone for the great advice.

I took sometime this morning working with the Master Exam List and the degree requirements from my local University. I believe what I will do at first is request the written "Exams for Credit" policies from the Universities that I plan to attend and start with the Exams that have similarities across the board to get my feet wet.

I took a few practice Exams last night and did well on a few subjects. I currently am employed as VP of Information Technology, and CIO for a large Company. I believe my real life experience will play a big factor in these Exams. My Job is very demanding. I would like to finish my Degree as fast as possible.

Thanks.

 

I was in a similar boat as you back in 2003 when I started my CLEP journey with BA in 4 Weeks. With a demanding career and other personal commitments I was able to do 120 credit hours and graduate from Excelsior from scratch in a little more than a year, which isn't incredibly difficult if you have prior knowledge and focus.

I then went on to get a MBA from Indiana University, showing that you can leverage a "no nonsense" credit by examination degree into something more substantial.

Just a note - the BA in 4 Weeks site is very much out of date (I'd say 7 years out of date) so while the concepts are accurate each school will have different requirements. For example, it's no longer possible at Excelsior to totally "test out" of a business degree, but you can still come pretty close.

Ultimately, the best way to start is to start - don't spend too much time pondering what option you should take....make a decision and get it done.