I'm attending Fayetteville Technical Community College via EarmyU, and it seems they have a fairly good policy regarding CLEP, DANTES and other exams. I am going to be taking about an exam a week, depending on how long I can get through the REA books. I took the Information Systems and Computer Applications exam with no book study, just based off of my knowledge in the field. I test well, and retain information from just one reading, so I'm hoping I can max what they'll accept for transfer credits before I finish my first semester. My exams are all free, so if I fail, no real loss other than that I have to wait 6 months to retest. Hell, I should take all the ones I never intend to take all over the course of one week. At my test center, its all pencil and paper, and it'd take me maybe an hour per test..... hehe. Anyway, what have those of you who are test whizzes found to be adequate study time on subjects which you have more knowledge than a layperson, but not as much as a person who has taken the class? A week is enough? Let me know, and I'll keep posting my test results, book reviews as I take them.
Hi tgrusso78, The answer to any question like this HAS to be purely subjective. From my own experience however, I would say that if you have some level of basic understanding of a subject beforehand AND you are good at retaining knowledge, memorizing key information, and taking multiple-choice tests, then I don't think it is outrageous to suggest that a week of concentrated study would be enough to pass each exam. Having said that, if you begin studying for a test and you realise that you will need additional study time, then you should absolutely take the extra time to make sure you don't fail. Six months is a long time to wait to retake a test if just a few extra days would have enabled you to pass first time. The longest I have studied for an exam so far was five days for the Humanities exam. The shortest I have studied for an exam so far was one evening for the following exams: English Composition w/ Essay, Analyzing Literature, Intro to Computing, Information Systems & Computer Applications, and Information Literacy (ECE). I am fully aware that I suck at math, so you can bet your life I will take as long as necessary to prepare for the College Algebra exam...a week, two weeks, a month, two months. The bottom line is: I refuse to schedule an exam until I feel confident I will pass it. I would say, pick an exam and start studying for it without ANY time frame in mind. Only when you feel comfortable and confident should you schedule the exam. If it takes a week...great! If it takes two weeks...fine! Whatever it takes! Whatever works for YOU! Hope that helps, Beholdweb
One other thing I had thought about was just using a brute force approach and taking every available test CLEP and DSST within a few weeks with minimal studying. Being free, thats no real immediate loss to me. However, how do insitutions look upon granting credit based on the fact that you would likely have several failed exams on the transcripts?
tgrusso78, When you request CLEP or DANTES to send an official transcript to your school, you can supress any individual exam results that you wish. If you pass ten exams but fail three, you would supress the three failing results. Your school would therefore only see the ten exams you passed. Similarly, if you passed ten exams with a grade "A" or "B" but passed three others with only a grade "C", you could supress the three "C" grades (if doing so would benefit your GPA). Hope that helps, Beholdweb
tgrusso78, Here's a thought for you to consider...I seem to remember reading that military personnel are not allowed to supress scores. I could be wrong though. Maybe somebody else here can confirm this. Just check to make sure though, k? I would hate to see you take 60 exams and end up with a GPA of -3.2 Good Luck, Beholdweb
I just looked at their applications for transcripts for both civilians and Soldiers, I can also only send select scores, or all scores that are at or above ACE guidlines for credit, or all scores. Too easy. CLEP exams I never intended to take, here I come!
Hi tgrusso78, It will be VERY interesting to see which exams you are able to pass. I am sure a lot of other people would be intrigued by this too. I think many people encounter at least a couple of exams that they could pass without much study at all (depending on their background). But most of us have to pay for each exam we take and so we don't have the luxury of taking a lot of tests "just to see". If possible, please try and keep this thread updated as you go through the exams to let us know how you go on with each. Good luck...I'll be rooting for ya! Beholdweb
