Micro, this time. I'm ashamed to say that I spent even less time preparing for this one (6 hours) than for macro (7 hours) but I felt like I learned a whole lot more and found it to be much more interesting. My score was only slightly higher, 63, but that is mostly due to the fact that I was not as efficient with my timing as I usually am. I had to click a random answer for at least 20 questions (horrible, yeah, I know, but it felt like time FLEW by as I was takng the test). I do feel like I got nearly every question correct that I thoughtfully answered. Of course I can't know that, but I didn't find myself guessing much at all, maybe four questions in all. Long story short, I am 5% closer to my first degree than I was 8 days ago. My next CLEP will be financial accounting, which will happen sometime during my coursework shuffle over the next two months.
Good job. Most people have a tough time with learning Economics. I did Micro and Micro for undergrad and then Managerial Econ for my MBA. It's not that easy of a subject.
I wonder how much more difficult a course would be than to take the CLEP. The CLEP doesn't require you to make any graphs, equations or charts, only bubble in an answer. However there is a heaping dose of questions that require you to make graphs, equations and charts on your scratch paper in order to find the answer. I'd say I'm glad that I didn't have to take Macro in a live course, but I can see that I very much would have enjoyed taking a live Micro course.
To me, micro is the real economics, and most stuff in macro belongs in the philosophy department. There are just too many assumptions in macro about how society should be organized. When I took macro (in a traditional classroom many years ago), I asked my instructor what the supply curve for money would look like in a free banking system. She just looked at me blankly like I'd asked her in Japanese or something -- central banking was all she could envision.
It's much easier to take the course. You can ask questions, read and re-read (which you have to do because as Steve alluded to, there is quite a bit of vodoo in economics) and take more time. I'd much rather take a course then go blind into a CLEP type situation.
