Excelsior College or similar programs

Hi everyone,

I am considering the Excelsior College BS/CIS program or similar programs to complete my degree. Since I have about 45 traditional credits and have passed 8 Microsoft certification tests it seems like a good match. With my work schedule I really like the idea of self paced study. I took a class at the University of Phoenix but it was very difficult keeping up with the weekly deadlines.

Does anyone have any suggestions of other programs or any feedback on the Excelsior program.

Thanks in advance,

Kevin Bachelder

 

If you go the "traditional" Excelsior route you will be taking a lot of ICCP exams. One thing I would note about the ICCP exams is that they are geared more towards traditional mainframe application development than PC development. What I mean by this is you will need to have a solid understanding of the stages of the waterfall methodology. It would also be useful to understand how business IT planning occurs. If your a PC programmer or network engineer, you may not have been previously exposed to this stuff. That said, it's all learnable. It's just not very technical in nature.

The ICCP exams are the fast way to complete an Excelsior degree. It is not necessarily an easy way unless you have a very broad background in IT.

Jeff Walker
current BSCIS Excelsior student

 

Thanks very much for the feedback Jeff.

I do have a broad background having worked in small business roles as well as IT roles over the years. I was a Cobol programmer back in the early 80's and have spent most of my time recently as an IT Manager and IT Director.

How have you found the Excelsior model so far? Are you preparing for the tests thru book study only or are you using other preparation methods?

Thanks again,

Kevin

 

I have primarily used two methods. First, I read the Excelsior recommended books. These are of mixed value. In a few cases (such as the Stallings books), the books were absolutely essential. In other cases only about 10% of the book applied to the test. The good news is, the ICCP tests tend to repeat a lot of material across tests so if you can nail down networking, for example, it can add a few percentage points to other ICCP tests (data resource management, systems development, etc).

Second, I have purchased the Q&A drill software from Bird Publications for each test. Sometimes the Q&A drill stuff is wrong (rarely), but it has been a big help to get a feel for what will really be on the test. I would guess that this software alone has increased my score on each test by anywhere from 10 to 20%. I am almost certain that it has helped me pass at least 2 tests that I probably would not have passed otherwise (of 6 I have taken).
http://www.birdpublications.com

 

So have you focused on the technical tests first or have you done any of the general education topics yet?

What would you say on average you have spent on materials (books, test prep software, etc.) to prepare for each test?

Thanks,

Kevin Bachelder

 

Actually I didn't need much in the way of general education - I went in with 84 credit hours including all of the general stuff except for 2 hours of humanities. FOr that I am taking the Ethics:Theory and Practice Excelsior exam and will be using their study pack ($80 or so cost).

Otherwise I needed 7 "applied professional" (essentially free electives which I covered with 2 community college courses) and 27 IT credits all of which I'm covering with 8 ICCP exams and 1 Ohio exam (which I haven't taken and have no idea how to prepare for it - but it's the only way to take care of the assembly language requirement via test).

I would say that one average I have purchased 1 book per test, often at a cost of $60-$90. That along with the $45 for the Q&A software puts my average expense at around $125 per 3 credit hours.

Here's a rundown of the books that Excelsior recommends:

Garcia-Molina H, Ullman J and Widom J: Database System Implementation - excellent book on the theory of programming DBMS's. Unfortunately it has almost nothing to do with the test. I would say it covers only about 5% of actual material from the Data Resource Management test.

Elmasri RA and Shamkant BN, Fundamentals of Database Systems - not as good a book, but it does cover the test better. Not well, but better (maybe 25% of the test material).

Stallings W: Data and Computer Communications - excellent book for the Communications test. Worth reading every word. Probably covers 50% or so of the ICCP exam.

Stallings W: Operating Systems - good book. Decent coverage (35% or so) of the Systems Programming test.

Stallings W: Computer Organization and Architecture (not on the Excelsior list, but purchased anyway because it covered some assembly language concepts). This fills in a 10-15% gap on the Systems Programming test (assembly, linkers, loaders, etc). It also covers a small (15-20%) of the Microcomputing and Networks test.

Bregge B and Dutoit A: Object-oriented Software Engineering: conquering complex and changing systems - bleh. Avoid this one. An ok book, but you need a more classic non-OO software engineering book for the test.

Laudon K and Laudon J: Management Information Systems: organization and technology in the networked enterprise - really a book for non-IT people. What it does well is provide chapters on various concepts (data communications, databases, PC applications, IT planning, etc) that cover aspects of each non-language ICCP test. Worth getting just to read the relevant chapter before each test.

Otherwise I have been winging it. I have a programming (java/OO), networking (primarily Novell and Microsoft), and database (Microsoft SQL server) background which so far has given me enough knowledge to pass every test I've taken first try. The only truly technical test I've taken so far has been the COmmunications test. There you have to know a lot of details about things like which encoding scheme ISDN uses or what the bit rate of a particular type of transmission line is. The Stallings book is great for covering this stuff.

 

Well I can't thank you enough for all the feedback Jeff!!

It sounds like the Excelsior program will be a good match for me and also something I can afford on my own. On a per credit cost it is half of its nearest competitor.

I really appreciate all your help!

Take care,

Kevin Bachelder

 

Hi Jeff

i am a foreign student with more than 12 years in the IT Industry. i wish to enroll in Excelsior leading to a Bsc CS or IT. i had tried many ways to request information from the admission office but to no distinctive answers.

Could you be kind enough to provide me the distinctive steps how to enroll, earn the necessary credits couple with Life Experience ( ELA, PALR )to complete my degree at the lowest cost possible considering the exchange rate of USD and SGD.

My job is at stake as i need a degree to sustain. i would not mind taking as many exams as possible each month so that i can finish my degree ASAP, and most importantly online.

Jeff, wish you can help me as you are a member of Excelsior.

Good day

Regards

 

TH Quek,

I chose not to pursue credits through life experience. I needed something like 37 credits when I enrolled and I have received 6 through traditional classroom learning at a local junior college and will be getting 31 through testing (8 to go...). I could have easily received all 37 through testing.

I enrolled via their website http://www/itdegree.com If I remember correctly, I filled out the application form, and used my credit card to pay the application fee. I then began sending them transcripts from colleges and professional certification organizations (Microsoft and Novell). Once they received all of these, it took them about 4 months to do their evaluation. With this they sent the final enrollment forms. I filled these out and sent in a $3500 check at that time. All in all, it was about 8 or 10 weeks between applying and actually being enrolled. Once enrolled you can start taking tests immediately.

If you have 60 credit hours already, you can do the remaining classes all through testing. I don't know what additional struggles you will have testing internationally.

Hope this helps some,
Jeff

 

Hi Jeff

Thanks for the reponse. You have provide much details. As advised, i will contact Excelsior directly with the URL you have given.

Once again, Jeff, thank you very much.

Regards

 

Could you tell me how the Microsoft, Novell etc exams map onto the required core credits. Is it possible to fulfill the core requirements by these exams without taking the ICCP tests (they aren't available at the local Prometric testing center)?

 

I don't think any certification exams except for ICCP map to any of the core requirements. Send Excelsior email though. It may take a couple weeks to answer, but they will probably give you an answer.

You also discivered that most Prometric test centers don't offer the Excelsior tests (the ICCP exams are registered under Excelsior numbers).

The GRE comp sci test supposedly can get you 4 or 5 of the core reqs knocked out. I would ask the Excelsior people for details on this as well.