Tomorrow is the big day

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by GinaStarr, Aug 23, 2004.

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  1. GinaStarr

    GinaStarr New Member

    Tomorrow is the first day of my push to complete my degree through CLEP/DANTES testing. I will be taking the tests in the open test center at University of Phoenix.
    I'm bringing at least 21 hours to the table before testing. (general), and if things go as planned, I hope to earn enough hours for an Excelsior BS in Liberal Studies by August '05.

    The first two tests are:

    CLEP Humanities :eek: Probably not the best test to have picked as the first test.

    CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Literature. ( I picked this one because I've read in a few places that it is fairly easy, looked like a good test to follow Humanities)

    I've got a serious case of Humanities pretest jitters, ugh.
    Gina
     
  2. skidadl

    skidadl Member

    good for you. i started with humanities first and looking back, i should have picked a different test. starting with a test that was hard for me and failing it took some wind out of my sails. i was so fired up when i started and that shocked my confidence a bit.

    i am a test anxiety sufferer myself so i need all the help that i can get. i started taking some of the easieer tests after that and it has helped me to build up to the harder ones.

    it all depends on the person though. some took humanities without studying. it was a hard subject for me because i had 0 prior knowledge or interest in the subject.

    you also can look at dantes tests. there is no time limit on those and that greatly helped me.

    i wish you the best.
     
  3. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    Humanities was one of the first tests that I took, and I didn't study at all. While I didn't exactly tear it up, I did pass with a fairly comfortable margin.

    Stay relaxed, and I'm sure you'll do fine.
     
  4. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Both are (relatively) easy. The first is a survey of arts, literature, etc. The second is a reading test. (Yes, I've taken both and received credit.)
     
  5. GinaStarr

    GinaStarr New Member

    Thank you for the responses. I've tried to prepare for the Humanities test as best I can, and admittedly have Humanities phobia since dropping the class (out of sheer pain) twice when taking traditional college classes.

    One of the big reasons for doing it first was to clear the path for the classes I'm not so afraid of. (and I figure that if I fail this Humanities test, the 6 month retake still falls within the time-window I've projected for obtaining the BS in Liberal Studies from Excsior).

    I'll post my results tomorrow, and hopefully I'll have good news!

    Gina
     
  6. lcgreen

    lcgreen New Member

    Hey Gina...
    I'm doing the BSLS at Excelsior, too. I have 90 semester hours going in...and hope to finish by November through testing.

    I just passed the Analyzing & Interpreting Lit exam, last week and scored a 57 with very little review. I skimmed through REA's Best Test Prep text. But, the only thing I got out of it was a good description of the exam. As one of the other forum members posted, it's basically a reading comprehesion test...lots of "but how doest thou knoweth mine heart? It is the dawn!" And, you have to figure out that the author is really saying he's hungry and his dog needs a bath! Go figure.

    Dantes exams are less challenging and easier to guess your way to a passing score...you have a 1 in 4 chance of getting the answer correct with Dantes, whereas CLEP exams have 5 possible answers instead of 4.

    Good Luck on Humanities! You're a brave soul.:D
     
  7. skidadl

    skidadl Member

    just wonder, did you get your clep tests out of the way?

    i would like to hear about your results.
     
  8. GinaStarr

    GinaStarr New Member

    Woohoo! I passed!

    Humanities Clep score: 68 :D
    study resources: a 1998 Arco general clep book I picked up for about 2 bux on the clearance shelf at a local B&N bookstore, and Instacert.

    Analyzing and Interpreting Literature score: 76
    study resources: none. After reading that this test was a freebie, I took my chances and went in with no preparation.

    I was pretty much a basket case by the time I sat down for the Humanities clep. Even as I took it I had serious doubts about my passing the test.

    So, while I took the test I "marked" each question I wasn't certain of. I figured that with murphy's law, I'd get 10% of them correct (I know it should be 20%, but this is "me vs Humanities" and I was doubtful) At the end of the test I was sure of 40 answers and more unsure than sure of 100. Luckily the unsure responses came back closer to the 20% return than the 10% that I'd predicted.

    The Analyzing and Interpreting Literature was very easy. There were a few poems (old) in the test that had the potential to freak me out a bit, but somehow I managed to deduce nearly all of the correct answers.

    Now I'm going to try to figure out which of the 6-hour Cleps to take next. I also found out that the U of Phoenix testing center is open on some Saturdays which is a huge help, since I don't have many vacation days left.

    ps. A big thank you goes out to Lawrie Miller for his BAin4weeks site, and to everyone on this message board who posted their experiences. Reading about your experiences and successes gave me the courage to try this for myself.

    Gina
     
  9. Awesome scores! I took Humanities as one of my first exams and I was nervous about it as well...

    Depending on what you're planning on taking later, either the Social Science & History or Natural Science exams will give you 6 credits and are pretty broad. Or, if you have any Spanish, French or German ability then you can get 6 or 12 credits for the CLEP Language exam.

    Cheers,
    Mark
     
  10. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    Congratulations, Gina!
     
  11. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    Great Job!

    The Social Science & History exam was pretty easy. For an easy 3 credits, go for Intro to Sociology , DANTES Ethics, DANTES Here’s to you Health, DANTES Tech Writing, DANTES Intro to Law Enforcement, and DANTES Intro to Criminal Justice.
     
  12. lcgreen

    lcgreen New Member

    Great News, Gina!

    The Social Sciences and History exam should be a piece of cake for you. I scored 50 something with NO study. Just walked in off the street, cold. Testing has become an obsession for me at this point. I get a rush when get to the end of a CLEP and click "Proceed" and a passing score pops up ....whooooohooooo Yeahhhh. So far, I have taken the following and passed all of them:

    CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Literature 6
    CLEP College Mathematics 6
    CLEP American Government 3
    CLEP Social Sciences and History 6

    DANTES Intro to Criminal Justice 3

    Scheduled to take DANTES Intro to Business on Tuesday 8/31

    Imagine that, a year of college credit in 7.5 hours!!

    Now, I can't believe I sat through the first 60 hours of my college education in boring classrooms when I could have actually been studying for exams in the morning and going to the beach in the afternoon .

    You're doing EC, right? Have you enrolled, yet?
     
  13. GinaStarr

    GinaStarr New Member

    Thanks for the congrats and advice. After spending the evening basking in the bliss of knowing I'll NEVER EVER EVER again have to worry about the nara period of Japanese art, finish learning how to spell gouasche, or caring whether O'Keeffe took exceptional (and in my opinion) perverted pleasure in painting the sex organs of flowers , I'm ready to start thinking about the next tests I will take.

    I think right now I'm leaning toward Social Science & History or College Math. Clep has several 6-hour tests that I'll ultimately take. I fear the Math more, so that's what I'll proably do to get it out of the way.

    Thanks for all of the motivation!

    Gina

    degree plan: Excelsior college, most likely BSLS
     
  14. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    As Randell mention, don't forget the DANTES exams. The exams for Here's To Your Health, Intro to Law Enforcement, and Intro to Criminal Justice can all be navigated without too much preparation.
     
  15. GinaStarr

    GinaStarr New Member

    I definitely won't forget those DANTES tests. In fact, when I drafted my degree plan I've included 8 DANTES tests. I'm going to take them a little later, once I have become more familiar with testing for credit. Right now I don't know if I could handle waiting three weeks to receive a grade without becoming discouraged.

    One of the things I did when drafting the degree plan was peek on the DANTES test site at the pass/fail rates for the tests. Originally I thought I would take Business Law and Business Law 2, but after looking at the abysmal pass rates, I'm worried about Business Law 2.

    I'll enroll at Excelsior once I've arrived at 80 hours. (Late spring '05) That is also the time when I'll attempt the GRE in Literature. (after absorbing recently Ebay purchased Norton Anthologies in the interim).

    Gina
     
  16. I just took Business Law II last week, so I'm at least a week or so away from my results (which I'll post on my forum). However, I found it to actually be a subset of the CLEP Business Law test - heavy on commercial paper, contracts and the other topics listed in the guide but nowhere near as broad as the CLEP (which included some Constitutional Law questions for example).

    I wouldn't worry about the military pass rate - as the military don't have to pay for the exam (and if they're on active duty may find it hard to find the time to study!) this may not actually be a true indicator of it's "passability".

    Besides, it's one exam amongst many - I've taken something like 26 exams in the past 8 months so perhaps after a few more under your belt you'll become guardedly optimistic like myself ;)

    Cheers,
    Mark
     
  17. bceagles

    bceagles Member

    How did Bus Law 2 go? Any Advice for would be testers?
     
  18. rinri

    rinri New Member

    Funny, others really want to graduate quickly, so they can get that high-paying job and, then, have that worriless retirement, so that they can spend more time studying none other than...

    Nara period of Japanese art :D

    Nara jidai no bijitsu no utsukushisa mieru yoni (toward an understanding of the beauty of Nara period art) ...






    One man's bread is another man's dread.
     

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