TESC COSC or Excelsior to complete BA? Comparison?

I think Excelsior is a littler cheaper than COSC and TESC and they have a payment program for their enrollment fee. They also award letter grades for some of the CLEPs/DSSTs. If you are using VA GIbill benefits (according to an email from Excelsior I received a while back), you can use Excelsior examinations to fill in your full/half/part-time status (which is very good, considering they are not that expensive compared to some college courses). I am assuming you could do the same w/ TESC and COSC courses, but, I am not sure about TESC exams...

Hope thise helps,
Bill

 

I had the same fear as you, but I really would not worry about it. Take one exam and see how you do. You don't have to use the credit if you do poorly. I have taken 48 credits in the past 7 weeks and have only gotten A's according to Excelsior's scale. I spend, on average, two days studying for each exam (some exams I don't study for).

If you are really worried, then you can always take the mock exams in the official CLEP book to see how you will do.

 

TESC v.COSC v EC

Stale credit? In 1993 TESC accepted my credits which I had earned as much as **36 years** earlier. They did have a DOD (Demonstration of Currency) test for subjects in the major, but I understand that this has now been discontinued.

In a world of dubious colleges, dubious names and dubious accreditations, the word "State" has a very reassuring ring. So COSC or TESC.

TESC tends to be thought of as "Thomas Edison State College, New Jersey," which means people know where it is. In a world of virtual everything, this is a very big plus.

TESC is very closely integrated with the NJ State Administration, providing its "Think Tank" and administering the NJ State Library. A little research will pay dividends and provide ammunition to defend your TESC degree, should you ever need to.

COSC is smaller and seemingly not as closely identified with its State.

Thomas Edison (the man) is better known than Charter Oak (the tree).

If you have a particular grad school in mind, ask TESC and COSC if any of their grads have gone there ? Sound out the Grad Admissions Office and find out their reaction to your possible choices. See what prequisites the Grad School require and how they will marry up to the courses which will be transcripted.

Then make your choice. In the long run, the costs between them will prove insignificant.

Martin Spillane

 

I think this is only applied to "technology" related courses and not general education courses.

Best Regards,
Bill

 

"Generally, there is no time limit on the use of credit from proficiency examinations or college courses to satisfy the requirements of Excelsior College liberal arts degree programs or the general education component of our business, nursing, and technology degree programs. There are, however, time restrictions on the acceptability of courses or examinations used to satisfy the professional component of our business, nursing, and technology degree programs."
http://www.excelsior.edu/pdf/Liberal_Arts_Catalog.pdf

"In general, the time limits are: 20 years for business, 10 years for electronics/computer technology and 5 years for nursing."
-- http://www.excelsior.edu/pdf/app_crrv.pdf

 

So, what are the best books to use to prepare for exams that would involve a lot of new learning in order to pass or pass with a good grade?

 

As of yesterday, this is what I have done since mid June and what I used to study. I am married and work full time, so I don't sit at home and study all day. Before these exams, I had never been introduced to psychology, sociology, cultural geography, etc.

CLEP:
English Comp. - none
Analyzing & Interpreting Lit. - none
Info. Sys. & Comp. App. - none
Natural Sciences - REA The Best Review, General Exams
Social Sciences & History - REA The Best Review, General Exams
Intro. Psych. - Barron's EZ 101 Psychology
Intro. Sociology - Barron's EZ 101 Sociology
US History 1 - Barron's EZ 101 American History to 1877

DANTES:
Here’s to Your Health - none
Drug & Alcohol Abuse - none
Criminal Justice - Cliff Notes Criminal Justice
Intro. Law Enforcement - Cliff Notes Criminal Justice
Human/Cultural Geography - Barron's AP Human Geography
Environment & Humanity - Barron's AP Environmental Science
The Civil War Reconstruction - The Everything Civil War Book

So far, my two lowest grades are a 58 and a 59. Everything else is 67-71.

One suggestion I would make is to take the social science subject exams before the social science general exam. This way you don't need to study at all for the general exam. Same goes for the natural sciences.

 

Some schools (COSC?) care about order of courses. I think.

 

True, COSC is the only one of the Big 3 that does though. What they care about is that you do not take a 200 before a 100 or 300 before a 200. If you do, they will award both exams at the lower level. That being said, taking Intro. Psych, Intro. Sociology, US History 1, etc. before taking the Social Sciences and History general exam does not matter since they are all 100 level anyway.