Achieving a BS in Business or Finance, ASAP

Finguy, I'm in a similar position. I'm a management/technology consultant up for a Senior Management promotion this year.

My timeline is 4-6 months to complete a BS in Business Administration. I recently applied to COSC and have taken two CLEP exams and PASSED, Analyzing and Interpreting Literature and Information Systems and Computer Applications.

Here is the degree plan I put together. IT HAS NOT BEEN APPROVED BY COSC. I am planning on testing out completely with CLEP/DANTES/ECE/TECEP Exams at the rate of about 18-20 credits a month. I am starting with 0 Credits, but plenty of life/work experience. 9 Credits in the bag so far.

Examination Credits Required
-------------------------------------------
CLEP General Eng Comp w/Essay 6
CLEP General Natural Sciences 6
CLEP General Humanities 6
CLEP General Social Sciences and History 6
CLEP College Mathematics 6
CLEP Microeconomics 3
CLEP Introductory Sociology 3
CLEP Western Civilization I: Ancient Near East to 1648 3
CLEP Macroeconomics 3
CLEP Introductory Psychology 3
CLEP US History I 3
CLEP Human Growth & Development 3
CLEP American Government 3
CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Literature 6 (COMPLETE)
CLEP Information Systems/Computer Applications 3 (COMPLETE)
CLEP Principles of Management 3
CLEP Introductory Business Law 3
CLEP Intro Educational Phsycology 3
DANTES Here's to Your Health 3
DANTES Ethics in America 3
ECE World Population 3
CLEP Principles of Marketing 3
CLEP Principles of Accounting 6
DANTES Business Law II 3
DANTES MIS 3
DANTES Principles of Finance 3
DANTES Money and Banking 3
ECE Business Policy & Strategy 3
ECE Organizational Behavior 3
ECE Human Resource Management 3
ECE Production/Operations Mgt 3
COSC Statistics 3
TECEP Financial Insitutions/Markets 3

Liberal Arts 60
General Education 39
Business Concentration 39
Total Credits for BS 120

Hope this helps....

Regards,
mba_bound

 

MBA Mound -

I think we're in very similar situations. Send me a private message with your email and let's talk some more and see if somehow our coordination and desire to get our degree quickly can't benefit with of us.

Best,
Joshua

 

MBA bound, good luck, mate - that's a helluva lotta crammin'.

Check the thread in my sig line for some help on some of the exams in your list ... I was in a similar boat to you 1.5-2 years ago.

Cheers, and good luck!

 

Thanks unixman. I've been following your posts for the past few months. They've been a real inspiration and are very informative.

Some of the test information you posted is extremely helpful.

I see your down to the last stretch...good luck on those last few credits.

Regards,
mba_bound

 

I was able to earn 51 credits in six weeks (54 in 3 months). The last one took a while to schedule. Here are the ones I took-
August
08-14-2002 DANTES Intro to Criminal Justice
08-14-2002 DANTES Intro to Law Enforcement

September
09-04-2002 DANTES Intro to Computing
09-04-2002 DANTES Organizational Behav
09-04-2002 DANTES Envir and Humanity
09-09-2002 DANTES – HR Management
09-09-2002 DANTES Tech Writing
09-09-2002 DANTES Intro to Business
09-12-2002 DANTES Here’s to you Health
09-17-2002 CLEP History and Social Science
09-19-2002 ECE Labor relations
09-22-2002 DANTES Ethics
09-22-2002 DANTES MIS
09-26-2002 ECE Production/Operation Mgt
09-30-2002 CLEP English w/essay

November
11-11-2002 ECE Research Methods in Psy

Additional exams are

CLEP Humanities 03-01-02
CLEP Englishw/o essay 01-05-00
CLEP Analy and Interp Lit 07-25-00
CLEP History I 01-16-00
CLEP General Math 10-05-00
CLEP Sociology 06-27-00

 

Randell, did you do a concentration in Business at COSC? What exams did you take to satisfy the upper level requirements?

I'm hoping to have at last 3-4 ECE exams completed so a GPA can be calculated to meet grad school requirements.

Thanks,
mba_bound

 

I did the Individualized Studies and I focused on Business & Technology.

For upper level I used
UoP Class - MGT410 Project Planning and Implementation
DANTES - Organization Behavior
DANTES - Human Resource Management
DANTES - Technical Writing
ECE - Labor Relations

The Mid and Lower level were alot of computer/electronics classes, Microsoft and CompTIA exams, and military credits.

 

Just to keep this thread updated. I passed my Business Law I CLEP exam this morning.

I'd say that you think you are going to do extremely well on this exam you better be a law school student in his second or third year.

As for study aids I used the Barrons Business Law Review and an Emmanuel Law CrunchTime on contracts to brush up on contracts. I felt that the Emmanuel CrunchTime was very helpful but definitely overkill unless you limit your studies to what is actaully on the test outline.

The actual test contained I would say 70% scenarios where you had to apply your knowledge to a specific situation, usually in contract law area.

This is a test where if you can get a basic grasp on information and then be able to rule out the ridiculous answers you should be able to pass easily.

Business Law II DANTES on Wednesday!

 

Congrats, and good luck on the rest, mate!

 

Ouch!

The Business Law II DANTES is a much more difficult exam than the Business Law I CLEP. There isn't even a comparison.

The breadth of knowledge that the Business Law II DANTES expects you to know is enormous. After studying and cramming (20+ hours of cramming) I still felt very lost.

The very difficult sections are ones involving scenarios and contract disputes. Very technical details relating to HIDCs were also tricky. If you do your studying on the Business Organizations section you shouldn't have too much trouble on that section. There were more agency law questions than I had anticipated.

To study I used: Barrons Review Series Business Law (definitely not enough to pass the test without some major luck), some older college textbook for Business Law which is fairly comprehensive and CrunchTime Contracts by Emmanuel (I found a lot of the detail contained in the capsule to be very helpful in examing scenarios).

I still have a week or so until I get my score but I'm crossing my fingers on this one.

I'm going to try and get in two or three CLEPs and a DANTES next week.

Cheers!

 

Chugging along here.

Knocked out two CLEPs today; Principles of Management and Social Sciences.

So my reviews...

Principles of Management was not very broad and very easily passed with just the COMEX study guide for the exam. I spent a total of 4-5 hours reviewing the book and doing the sample questions at the end of the chapter. I scored a 70 and think that even with a cursory review of the material and memorization of the important names and their associated theories you can pass this easily.

Social Sciences was very broad but not necessarily a difficult test. I didn't really have any study plan but did take the practice test in the Princeton Review Cracking the CLEP book. I scored a 75 out of 125 on my practice so I decided to take the test. The test ranges from sociology to American History over to Asian History and back around to stuff covered in the Principles of Management test. While this may sound like a lot, do NOT be afraid to take this test if you know lots of useless things. For example, when Jeopardy is on, you do well most of the time, take this test right away! I scored a 66 without any real studying and I barely reviewed my practice test from the Cracking the CLEP Book.

Another point to note, at the test center I am going to for CLEPs the administrator mentioned to me that she admires my determination and persistence. When I asked her why she said that she told me about all the people that register for the exams but get too scared to take them at the last minute. So my point in all this is, if you are considering taking an exam, spend a short time studying a review guide and JUST DO IT!

Thanks everyone who has offered advice on degree plans, specific test strategies and all the other help I've gotten from this board.

I still haven't gotten my Business Law II DANTES scores back but if so I'm batting 4 for 4 in two weeks and have completed 15 credits in that time.

Thanks everyone for your help and encouragement!

-Joshua

 

Congrats, Joshua - 2 tests down! Keep on keeping on, mate.

Cheers.

 

Western Governors University www.wgu.edu has a good competency-based BS in Finance.

 

Business Law II DANTES exam scores just came back.

I was so nervous opening the envelope but after seeing the 70 I was thrilled.

Let me reiterate to people wanting to take this test. It is NOT an easy test and it took lots of studying to get past this.

If anyone needs any study tips just let me know.

 

Congrats, mate! I know you are breathing a sigh of relief on this one. All that studying paid off ...

 

What did u study for Business Law II?

 

Two things that I would recommend are the Business Law book by Barrons Business Review series. I would focus on knowing the Contracts and Commercial Paper sections like the back of your hand. Know the definitions of EVERYTHING in those sections and know how to apply it to a scenario.

The application of the concepts to a scenario is key. There are many questions that would be easy if they asked you to identify a concept but instead they put it to use and ask you the "most likely outcome" or something similar. It is a VERY tricky test.

I also used the Emanuel book called "Crunchtime: Contracts." This book is normally used for Law School students studying for finals but I found it to be incredibly helpful in understading the contracts section. I'd really recommend studying and knowing most of the flow charts in this book. Also the capsule is an incredibly summary of Contracts and was very helpful.

If you have any more questions or anything specific to ask, just shoot me a private message and I'll gladly help out.

Good luck!

Joshua

 

Finguy,

I have the Barrons Microecon study guide. I scored a 76 on the CLEP using nothing but this.

I'll be happy to send it to you in exchange for the secret to trading eminis.

Well... I'll send it even if you don't know the secret

PM me your mailing address.

 

Just came back from the Analyzing and Interpreting Literature CLEP and then the English Composition with Essay.

I can say that the A&I test was difficult but I used the REA study guide and crushed the exam.

The ECE was a much easier exam but unfortunately the scores don't come immediately. I would say that if you pick up the Cracking the CLEP review book and have a basic working knowledge of the English language this is definitely an easy 6 credits. I'd have to have to bite my tongue if the scores come back and I fail but I'm fairly confident in my essay and the multiple choice section.

If anyone has any specific questions about either of these tests just send me a PM.

Oh yeah, I'm a junior! In something like 4 weeks I'm up to 60 credits.

I've only got 3 more "gimme" tests left on my plan and about 16 that I'm going to have to really study hard for. These next two months should be fun ;-)

Cheers!

 

In the past week and a half I've finished:
CLEPs-
Analyzing and Interpreting Literature
English Composition with Essay (still waiting for scores)
Macroeconomics
Microeconomics
DANTES-
Introduction to Business
MIS

I'm taking Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior tomorrow. I'm not too scared of either of these after reading the feedback about the tests here.

I'm going to try and squeeze in Principles of Finance and Money and Banking DANTES next Tuesday. I have read that people have had problems with both of them in the past but I'm going to hope that an intense weekend of study and my finance background will let me do well on those two tests.

Since July 17th (just about a month) I've unofficially acquired 72 credits. Tomorrow should be 6 more. If everything goes the way it has been by the time I leave for vacation in a week I should be up to 84 credits.

Thanks for the help everyone!