BA in 4 Weeks Web Site

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Lawrie Miller, Dec 17, 2001.

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  1. Lawrie Miller

    Lawrie Miller New Member

    "BA in 4 Weeks" - the guide to earning a regionally accredited degree by examination - is now available online at
    http://www.geocities.com/BA_in_4_Weeks/

    Learners interested in earning a bachelor's degree from COSC, Excelsior, or TESC, should find this site useful whether or not they intend to garner a major portion of required credit from testing out.

    This is not a commercial site.


    UNDER TWO MONTHS WORK FOR AN ACCREDITED MASTER'S DEGREE?
    Complementing "BA in 4 Weeks" is a new guide series: "7 Weeks work to an Accredited Master's Degree". This series details how traditionally structured and competency exam-based master's degrees,(from institutions both regionally accredited and the foreign equivalent of regionally accredited), can be earned with as little as seven weeks actual study time*, and for as little as $1800 to $3500, in fields as diverse as Management, Education, and Law. This is not a listing of degree programs (we all know where and what they are). As with the "BA in 4 Weeks" series, these guides are designed to take the reader through the process from enrollment to graduation. All the important program decisions and the how-to nitty gritty course details, necessary to successfully complete the degrees are included, based on the author's own experience. These are practical guides. Available 2002


    *(though enrollment would be of near traditional length - 8 months up to 2 years. Institutional requirement, mostly)
     
  2. Tony Schroeder

    Tony Schroeder New Member

     
  3. DaveHayden

    DaveHayden New Member

    Hi Lawrie

    Very nice site for the "BA In Four Weeks" series. One thing you may want to check is the link to "BS CIS" link. It comes up with the links, the introduction and then the body is missing. Again great job with original piece and the new site!

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    Best Regards,
    Dave Hayden
     
  4. Chip

    Chip Administrator

  5. John Piquet

    John Piquet New Member

    Lawrie,

    kudos on your sight!

    Thanks to your information and your inspiration, I have only eight tests to take to complete my degree at COSC. It is great to know that you are still out there. You are a welcome voice of reason in the often unreasonable world of academia.
     
  6. Hille

    Hille Active Member

    Good Morning, Any idea on when the graduate guide will be available? Thanks. Have a great weekend. Hille

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  7. Mike Albrecht

    Mike Albrecht New Member

    Lawrie,

    Interesting site, very well done.

    One question, is the picture [​IMG] in the margin you?




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    M. C. (Mike) Albrecht, PE
     
  8. David H

    David H Member

    I would also like to add...Nicely done. My relatives, friends, and immediate family will be able to use this site. THANKS!
     
  9. ellenDJ

    ellenDJ New Member

    Is anyone else not getting the site? When I get to Lawries main page, it has the heading but not the contents. ???
    I got into it a couple weeks ago, but not for the past week.
     
  10. Danielm7

    Danielm7 New Member

    I can't get to many of the sub catagories as well.
     
  11. tcnixon

    tcnixon Active Member

    I just tried to access it and had no problems. What a great resource, btw, and I can only imagine the time invested in it by Lawrie to produce this quality. Well done!


    Tom Nixon
     
  12. Danielm7

    Danielm7 New Member

    Actually if you go to the BS in CIS section I can't get to any of the sub catagories.
     
  13. mayerz

    mayerz New Member

    Lawrie -

    Thanks for your awesome website! I'm currently beginning my pursuit of a BA in Psychology and after reading your postings, I was inspired to try your program. However, I'd appreciate some clarification.

    In your section on test strategies you say "As a general rule, to be sure of scoring an "A" (Excelsior students only), ensure you're hitting 77% raw score, and you WILL score an "A" every time."

    1. In reviewing Excelsior's new guidelines for grades on CLEPs (http://www.excelsior.edu/exold/xms_clcs.htm) an "A" is equivalent to a scaled score between 58 and 71. On 75% of the tests, an "A" equates to a 58-61. Shouldn't a raw score of 65% be enough to insure an "A" on these exams?

    2. In the case of DANTES exams, a score in the upper 50s is enough for an "A".

    3. Was your recommendation of 77% intended for the ECE tests?

    Thanks again,
    Mayer Zuckerman
     
  14. Lawrie Miller

    Lawrie Miller New Member

    Hi Mayer,

    Best of luck with your studies. On the substance of your note . . .

    Figures provided in the guides are accurate. 77% relates to percentage correct answers in the *practice* CLEP exams. The scores you relate are

    a) in the actual exams,

    and more importantly,

    b) are *scaled* scores, not raw scores, or raw percentage correct-answer scores. A completely different metric.


    In a prior paragraph to the statement you quote from "BA in 4 Weeks", "Testing out", I say about the CLEP subject exams, "Bottom line, look for 40% to 45% raw score for a standardized score of 50 (out of 80) in the subject exams."

    And immediately prior to the statement you quote from the same section, I say, " As a general rule, to be sure of passing a CLEP exam, ensure you're hitting 50% raw score, and you WILL pass each and every one. Raw score is the net result of correct answers minus one quarter incorrect answers." [Giving a 5% or 10% cushion in raw practice percentage score]

    Again, raw score is not scaled score. Raw percentage score is not scaled score. And without a doubt, practice exam percentage-raw-scores do not bear a numerical one to one relationship with actual exam scaled scores. In fact, they do not even bear a linear relationship to scaled scores at all.

    I thought I had distinguished the two well enough for the purposes of their use in the guide, but perhaps not.


    Note also the update in the guides vis-a-vis the CLEP transition to CBT. This is referenced at various strategic points on the "BA in 4 Weeks" website (though not, I notice, on the page you cite - will have to correct that). At this time Excelsior College will not letter grade CLEP subject exams until enough data are accumulated to accurately grade the curve (they will award pass/fail meantime). Additionally, CLEP questions no longer carry a penalty for wrong answers. Not the advantage it may seem since presumably there will be (or has been) a commensurate upward shift in the required passing score. A link to the relevant Excelsior College source material on the change, is provided on the BA in 4 Weeks site via the update link previously mentioned.


     
  15. Lawrie Miller

    Lawrie Miller New Member

    Hi Hille

    Graduate guides (more than one or two) should start to become available in 2002. Besides individual program academic overviews, walk though of admission requirements and procedures, program costs special and incidental, estimation of program difficulty, and program utility, there will be eight to twelve chapters devoted to the courses comprising each of the individual programs. Initial guide offerings the series will comprise popular trade degrees in Education (M.Ed.), Business (MBA), and Law (LLM).
     
  16. Lawrie Miller

    Lawrie Miller New Member

    My thanks to all who have written here and in related threads, to those who have signed the "BA in 4 Weeks" website guest book, and to those who have written to me privately, to offer constructive criticism and/or words of encouragement about the site. I am grateful to all of you for the consideration you have shown.

    Lawrie
     
  17. Hille

    Hille Active Member

    Good Morning, Your site is wonderful. I have posed this question on other sites but have not come to a solid answer. My husband needs GPA repair to get into a NJ State teaching program. He has a 2.67, loads of business experience, a real-estate license, and substitutes long term for algebra in a high school setting. He will be taking his Praxis this week. Any ideas? The state is not negotiable on the 2.75. Thanks. Hille Baldyga

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  18. Lawrie Miller

    Lawrie Miller New Member

    Hi Hille,

    No quick solution, I'm afraid. But here's a way of doing it for $1600 by this coming May. Go for a second degree at Excelsior. Sit one GRE in the April 2002 exam diet for $130, garnering 30 credits. Apply this to the new degree's concentration. Since only 120 semester hours are required, he can have 30 old credits removed from his transcript. Unless his existing grades are near perfectly uniform, he should be able to discard enough old "C"s to raise his total GPA the necessary 10th of a point, and he will still have more than enough letter credits left for a solid (and new and improved) GPA to be tabulated. Submit the Excelsior transcript to the
    jobsworths at NJ State, as the most current degree. Enter Teacher's College, get certified, get job ministering to the uninterested and ungrateful.
     
  19. Hille

    Hille Active Member

    Dear Lawrie, Thanks for the new information.My husband is currently trying to have the poor grades forgiven and expunged from his record. He would then retake them via Dantes, Clep, Excelsior, TECEP or life credit experience. This idea came from a advisor I talked to at Mountain State University. WV. She said there was a growing trend in universities to do this. Hopefully, Marshall University will be flexible about classes from 1970. Hille

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  20. dlkereluk

    dlkereluk New Member

    I have certainly found it to be a very helpful site. It's given me pause to reconsider the concepts of "credit by special examination" and "credit for prior learning (or, prior learning assessment and recognition). While the bulk of my current undergraduate degree studies will be done by "conventional" distance education methods (ie: correspondence/email/eClass), the "BA in 4 weeks" site will be especially helpful for me when I decide to obtain a second baccalaureate in the humanities.

    Darren.
     

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