Help with my schedule??

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by PonyGirl93, Oct 7, 2009.

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  1. PonyGirl93

    PonyGirl93 Member

    Hey, I'm Julie, and I'm sort of new to the DL thing... not to the concept, just to carrying it out.

    I'm a junior in high school (homeschooled), and I'm trying to CLEP/TECEP/whatever else out of as much as I can, then I will take my other stuff online. I was thinking about CollegePlus, but I decided to do it on my own and save that couple thousand dollars. Now, my plan is to get a Communications bachelor degree from TESC (but I'm open to other colleges), and I would LOVE to get this in two years. Here's the gen-ed requirements for the Communications Degree.

    English Comp (6)
    Humanities (12)
    -In two subject areas
    Social Sciences (12)
    -In two...
    Natural Sciences/Math (12)
    -one college level math (3)
    -one computer science recommended (3)
    -other natural science/math (it says 3, but i think it must mean 6?)
    Gen Ed Electives (18)

    So, I'm about to take my Us History 1 CLEP, and I'm studying for Analyzing Lit. Will those fit in Humanities or Social Sciences? What CLEP tests would you recommend I take for each of those categories? I love Psych and Lit, so as much of those type of things as possible would be fab. I hate math, but I'm much better at algebra than geometry if that helps any.

    I'd appreciate any help I can get. I've been getting 65 on my practice tests, is that good?

    Thanks!
     
  2. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    Hi Julie - welcome to degreeinfo. I'm not the best one to answer your question but I thought I'd bump your thread so that others might take their best shot at answering. Be sure to look at Lawrie Miller's site

    http://www.bain4weeks.com/

    Good luck
     
  3. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    Hi Julie,

    Another source for college credit via exam is DSST
    http://www.getcollegecredit.com/resources.html#factsheets

    Charter Oak and Excelsior also offer a communications degrees and may be a lower cost option
    http://www.charteroak.edu/Prospective/Programs/Concentrations/Communication.cfm
    https://www.excelsior.edu/Excelsior_College/School_of_Liberal_Arts/Bachelors_Degrees_in_Liberal_Arts

    All these colleges require some upper division courses which generally are not available by challenge exam. But members of degreeinfo.com usually can suggest great UD courses should the need arise.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 8, 2009
  4. lawrenceq

    lawrenceq Member

    I feel like all young people should go the face-to-face route if possible. Going off to college is a great experience for a young adult.
     
  5. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    >>

    Julie, I'm a homeschool mom and I also completed a BA degree through TESC. I used CLEP/DSST exams to test out of my gen eds, then I took classes at TESC and other schools to complete my major (social science).
    If you have not yet found it, Instantcert is a great forum for specific CLEP/DSST testing out info. This forum is also great, especially when looking beyond your bachelor's degree or finding online classes.
    http://www.degreeforum.net/

    You were correct about CollegePlus by the way :)

    You are scoring 65 on practice tests, to know if that's good, you have to say which tests you are practicing on. Peterson? REA? Is that a raw score or a %? If you are scoring 65% on Petersons, you were ready yesterday LOL. If you are using REA, those scores are very good but be sure to take all three practice tests. Also, don't count scores on a re-take.

    A & I Lit is humanities. US History is social science.
    If you don't have them, here are the web sites for CLEP and DSST:

    www.collegeboard.com
    www.getcollegecredit.com

    TESC's college catalog lists every exam and what you get credit for. Example- if you take CLEP English Comp with Essay, you will earn credit for both:
    ENG101, 3 credits
    ENG102, 3 credits
     
  6. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    >>

    I think you'll have a hard time selling that to a homeschooler, especially one that didn't ask the question about F2F vs DL.
     
  7. excel

    excel Member

    See StraighterLine courses too.
     
  8. lawrenceq

    lawrenceq Member

    Just trying!
     
  9. PonyGirl93

    PonyGirl93 Member

    lol yeah, I'm totally sold on DL. If I could have gone away to school I would have in a heartbeat, but our financial situation can really only take this expense or a community college. Besides, I'm good at school, but I really hate it, so I want to get done asap ;)

    Oh and that's a 65 raw score from a first attempt at an REA test. I've taken all 3, but I've studied a looot since I took the last one, I know I could do at least 5 questions better now.

    So, I was working on this yesterday. Are these all in the right places, etc? I couldn't find what you were talking about in their catalog, cookderosa?

    English Comp- Do I have to take it with essay?

    Humanities: Humanities, German I

    Social Sciences: History I, Sociology, Psychology, Ed. Psych.

    Natural Sciences/Math: College Math., Info systems & comp. apps., Biology

    Gen. Ed. Electives: Analyzing Lit, English Lit, Natural Sciences
     
  10. sentinel

    sentinel New Member

    In addition to CLEP examinations another low-cost credit-earning option are individual ACE-approved courses from Penn Foster.

    Yes, the "other natural science/math" should read 6 credit hours.

    US History I is a social science course. Analyzing Literature is a humanities course.

    CLEP College Mathematics satisfies the "one college level math" requirement (3 credit hours).

    CLEP Natural Science and CLEP College Algebra satisfy the "other natural science/math" requirement (6 credit hours).

    CLEP Introduction to Psychology and CLEP Introduction to Sociology and CLEP American Government and CLEP History of the United States
    I satisfy the "Social Sciences in two areas" requirement (12 credit hours).

    CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Literature and CLEP American Literature and CLEP English Literature and CLEP Humanities satisfy the "Humanities in two areas" requirement (12 credit hours).

    CLEP Freshman College Composition and CLEP English Composition satisfy the "English Composition" requirement (6 credit hours).

    Penn Foster probably offers a computer science course that meets the recommended 3 credit hours. Try an introductory type computer science course. Alternatively, take a computer science from Thomas Edison State College.

    For the free electives (18 credit hours) you can select from the remaining CLEP subject examinations.

    Given most of the material covered by these CLEPs has likely been covered or will be covered through home-schooling coursework the CLEPs should not pose a barrier to you.

    Despite the higher fees at Thomas Edison State College the greatest advantage for many students is the absence of any upper division credit hours, that is, all credit hours can come from 100-level and 200-level courses. Also, many lower division courses map to upper division courses. However, I recommend you enroll in LIB-495 Liberal Arts Capstone.
     
  11. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    Distance learning shouldn't be confused with testing out of everything as quickly as possible. I realize that this board does confuse those things, but the fact remains that many people seek out distance-learning precisely because it gives them the opportunity to take classes and study subjects that they love.

    Why do you want to do that? Why not go slower and deeper, and actually involve yourself with the subjects that you want to accumulate credit for? Go to an academic library and start reading introductory level books that appeal to you. Do it slowly, read closely, thinking about the ideas as you go, relating them to what you already know and discovering patterns and interconnections as you go.

    Don't just blow your education off, don't just treat it as something to get behind you as quickly as possible, you'll only be short-changing yourself if you do that.

    Again, why? If you attend college on campus, you will have the opportunity to get to know your professors, to interact with them and to be mentored by them. You will have laboratories and hands-on practical experiences. And if you attend a reasonably selective school, you will enjoy the stimulation and comradeship of a very smart group of fellow students. It's electrifying and you will remember it all your life.
     
  12. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    A TESC graduate and frequent contributor to degreeinfo says it is no longer true.
    Also TESC only accepts a certain quantity of credits from two year colleges.
     
  13. lawrenceq

    lawrenceq Member

    I agree 100%! I did one face-to-face semester at a four-year college and loved it.
     
  14. scaredrain

    scaredrain Member

    I tried the same argument with my brother, but after he graduated high school, he was sold on online learning, now hes 19 and about to finish 2 bachelor degrees at Southern New Hampshire University. I think this is a trend we will see more of, especially since school districts and states are pushing online learning at the high school level, in fact we have some students in my district, who go to high school and spend all day in the online course room, taking online courses from universities all day long, and never having to interact with teachers. I just finished a survey with some of the students and most are saying they would rather attend university this way also.

    The only reason why they even go to high school, is because here in NC any student who is part of some of the online university classes, have to take exams and have access to the courses in a school setting. We even have some students who do not come to the high school at all, those students are taking online courses that do not have the same public school setting requirement.
     
  15. sentinel

    sentinel New Member

    Yes, sorry I did not explicitly make the distinction between credit transfer for 2-year colleges and 4-year universities or colleges. Are you saying TESC now requires upper division credit hours?
     
  16. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    I was referring to posts #4 and #6 in this thread:
    http://www.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?t=32002
     
  17. PonyGirl93

    PonyGirl93 Member

    I know the difference between "Distance Learning" and what I'm trying to do.

    Please don't try to convince me otherwise, because I know what I want and how I'm going to get it. I read and study what interests me ALL the time. And those things are equestrian stuff of all kinds, film-making, and psychology. I looove education, I just hate school. If I want to learn about something, I'll take a class, I'll read a million books, I'll research it to no end. But I can see no possible reason to waste away at least 3 years of my life sitting in a university learning things I have no interest in, like math, science, business, etc. I know that they're necessary, but I just want to get through as fast as possible.

    So yeah, my mind is made up. To be quite frank (and a little obnoxious :p), I didn't post on here to get people arguing with me about F2F vs. DL. I posted on here to get helpful advice about DL.
     
  18. PonyGirl93

    PonyGirl93 Member

    Hmmm... I posted a message earlier with my list of chosen CLEPs for you guys to look at and it said a moderator had to approve it, but then reply I just did showed up right away... Do you have to have 4 posts to post freely?? Sorry, just a newbie q. :)
     
  19. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    There is a magic number but it's a tiny bit more complicated than that. We have to look and see if Mercury is in retrograde. Then we have to check to correlate the barometric readings in Boston with the price of gold on the Hong Kong market (ingots, not coins) and then we need to cross reference with Bobby Flay (don't you love his cooking?). We are a very exclusive board.
    ;)
     
  20. PonyGirl93

    PonyGirl93 Member

    I applaud your talents :)
     

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