Excelsior College Exams: Statistics and Organizational Behavior

First of all I have to thank Lawrie Miller for the BA in 4 Weeks series. While I did not follow the template, the information did help me realize the value of testing out of examiniations towards a degree, as well as the potential difficulty of a particular examination I may have been interested in. As a result, I have completed 63 credits via test during the past year, and that, combined with my 42 credit hours earned from Brick and Mortar Schools during my late teens, puts me within a hair's length of my degree in Psychology. I would be done by now, but I did not do too well on the GRE Pyschology exam. But, we live and learn!

Anyway, have any of you taken the Excelsior College Statistics and Organizational Behavior Exams?

Does anyone have any "heads up info" about either exam?

Thanks.

 

No..but...

No--but I;m preparing for the DANTES stats exam. I guess I think if it's shorter, it will be easier....

I admit to my inumeracy--how 'bout you?

--Orson

 

Yes, not too fond of math, either

Yes, Orson, I find myself in the same problem.

I did some minor practice work a few weeks ago. It wasn't too bad. It's just a matter of knowin which formulas to apply where.

I heard that the Excelsior College Exam for Statistics provides you with the formulas you need. I am not sure how big a help it is, though.

 

The Excelsior exam's text...?

Although I'd love to take the time to absorb David Freedman's classic text--or even a briefer treatment, "Practical Statistics for Environmental and Biological Scientists," John Townend-- I've chosen to prep with a very short book, Steve (Stephen Slavin, "Chances Are: The Only Statistics Book You'll Ever Need."

I chose based upon this promising recommendation:

"I am an adult college student in an independent degree program [NEVER heard of THAT!!]. One of my required courses was Statistics. Not having done math in many years, I found it extremely difficult to learn from the standard textbooks available on the subject. This [Slavin's] book made learning (and understanding) statistics a snap. The only drawback I found were several typographical errors within the mathematical problems, causing my own calculations to differ from the ones in the book, something that at times was frustrating for a person trying to learn and working out every problem step by step. All in all though, I would highly recommend this book for a person with little or no mathematical experience to learn the art of statistics."

Since it doesn't help much with exactly when and how to evaluate data, I'm supplementing it with another short intro,
"How To Think About Statistics,"by John L. Phillips.

James, how about Excelsior's recommended textbook; have you evaluated it?

--Orson

 

No standard texts for me

I have nevver used standard texts for my exam prep...

I am using Harper Collins Statistics outline. It's pretty good, I think.

I've looked at the book you mentioned, and did not like it. It seemed to oversimplify things.

 

Well, James...

Well, James, it's true I've only lined up my study resources; I've yet to "dig in" for this exam.

If what you say is true, I shall hunker down with , "Practical Statistics..." by John Townend. Although the HarperCollins book comes well-recommended, my inspection of it found it too confusing, too theoretical for me!

--Orson
PS If you've examined "Statistics Made Easy," which I've not examined, but also is recommended, do tell...

 

WELL...

Haven't tried that book, but...

Do try (if your local library has it) "Statistics for the utterly confused" by Lloyd Jaisingh, PhD. He does a good job of "graphically explaining" the material without being too ridiculous about it. It's clearly written, and best of all, the end of each chapter has many practice problems (True/False, Multiple Choice and Computation) that help to increase your confidence.

Some of the "watered" down Statistics books I've seen are odd...one sticks in mind as being a Comic book sort of thing. But I digress...

As for the Harper Collins Outline, it wouldn't hurt to have that as well. But, I think I would refer to Lloyd Jasingh book first, and then move on to Harper Collins. You might feel more confident if you go about it in this order.

Just my poorly-typed two cents!

James