CLEP Introductory Sociology

Re: CLEP exams

Uh oh!

Personally, I find that just reading a used textbook is kind of like reading the manual for a car without ever actually driving one. Yeah, you might know what an airbag is, but until you have had the hands-on experience of a major traffic accident and actually experienced the airbags deploying, you miss really making friends with the airbag.

Similarly, I find that the best preparation for any CLEP is to actually spend a semester (or even a year) working in that field. No cramming, no just reading a used textbook. Working alongside a professional Sociologist, Psychologist, Lawyer, or CEO is the one true way to fully grasp the subject at hand.

Sure lots of students merely read a textbook, take a class, or do equivalently little studying...but you miss really making friends with the subject at hand.

For my Intro to World Religions exam, I shall be travelling the world to work alongside priests, shamans, rabbis, and gurus....I believe this will best prepare me for this exam. After all, how can one TRULY learn ENOUGH about Buddhism unless one goes to Tibet and spends some quality time working with and living alongside the monks?

I am being EXTREMELY facetious of course. But I believe my point is valid: The depth of learning that any one person considers "enough" is a highly subjective issue.

These are proficiency exams. Those who are sufficiently proficient in a given subject, pass the exam. Those who are not sifficiently proficient, do not pass the exam. It's as simple as that.

Any learning you do beyond what is needed to pass the exam is all well and good. But where do you draw the line?

These exams are simply benchmarks to prove that you are well-grounded enough to pass the test and earn the college credit. My major is Psychology, and in the case of a major, it is the totality of everything you have learned that comes into play. But for a single exam like "Here's to Your Health", I have no need of more in-depth knowledge than that needed to simply pass the test. If medicine were my passion or my career choice, I most assuredly would need to study the subject more intimately than most.

But what would be a sufficent intimacy with the subject? Would reading an REA guide be sufficient? Would reading an actual used textbook? How about taking an actual course in the subject? Or perhaps I should intern at a doctors office? Or even become a doctor? Of course not! For the purposes of this test, studying enough to pass the test is ample depth.

Regardless of how you study for the exam, passing it requires that you know the subject as well as, or better than most of those who studied the subject for a semester in a B&M college. THAT is the benchmark for all the CLEPs, DANTES, ECEs, TECEPS etc.

If you prefer to study from a textbook, I say you go girl...and more power to you. But your post sounded quite snobbish and condescending.

Personally, I study long, I study hard, and I study well for each exam I take. If I don't feel I know enough about the subject to pass the test, I don't take it until I have studied some more. Passing the test is the goal. If one is sufficently intelligent enough to pass it using only REA or Instantcert, great! If you require the aid of a used textbook to achieve the same learning outcome, great! If you must take an actual B&M class to achieve the same learning outcome, great! If you must work in the field to achieve the same learning outcome, fantastic!

Whatever works for you is fine. But to start making negative inferences about those students that merely need REA to pass the exam, well....them's fighting words!

It is entirely possible to thoroughly grasp and understand ALL the key names, terminology, and theories applicable to any given subject, pass the exam with a high score, and prove that you know more than the vast majority of students who took the B&M course equivalent, just by studying REA and Instantcert intensely.

Just as you appear to look down at those who don't read a used textbook ("good preparation", "no cramming", "I actually still know something...long after", "like just reading the Cliff Notes", "equivalently LITTLE studying"), there are many who would look down on you because you didn't sit through a four month B&M course under the wisened tutelage of a seasoned professor.

Is that fair? At the end of the day, what matters is that you studied enough to pass the exam which PROVED that you knew the subject in sufficient depth to earn the college credit. End of story!

Anything you do beyond that to increase your understanding of the subject is great on a personal level, but superfluous for the purposes of earning the college credit.

I am studying hard for my degree...but I am also studying wisely. As are most others on this board. There will always be somebody who feels it necessary to belittle your own efforts, no matter how much you have studied. Many B&M students would mock you for only using ONE used textbook, or for not taking the actual B&M class....but you have your 3 credits just as they do and your 3 credits cost about $55 and took 90 minutes to earn...so who is the wiser between the two of you? You are of course!

Thanks for listening,
Beholdweb

 

You know, one of the things I like about this forum is the willingness of paticipants to share their personal recipes for success with complete strangers. One thing really can inhibit that sharing is the fear that if I share about what has worked for me, anonymous readers may take offense! I for one did not feel that there was anything condescending about the suggestion made above that reading a textbook could be a better preparation for a CLEP test. (That's what I'm planning to do for my Lifespan Development CLEP, mostly because I found a free textbook at the local library being given away; "how cool for me" I thought.)
It might be just the person's own experience being shared!

Adoncia, I took the CLEP Intro to Psychology last year so the questions can always be different, I think. But I recall more than a few questions like "Who developed the Theory/Concept of..."

So my "tip" is: pay attention to names and historic developments in the field of psychology. That's all I really remember about it but I passed with a 67, without having studied any textbook, just years of reading the literature.

You are doing great so far, I've enjoyed watching your progress!

 

Hi Longwaytogo,

I certainly don't want to come across as attempting to stifle opinion or the freedom to discuss. This is a Discussion Forum when all is said and done.

I am wholeheartedly FOR the sharing of particular methods that have worked for each individual. It is extremely useful information for all of us.

I also do not have a problem with someone studying from a used textbook. I have done the same for several of my exams, and am doing the same right now as I prepare for Intro to World Religions. In that respect I agree with the poster.

My argument was not that one approach is better than any other, rather the opposite, that what works for one person may not work for another. It's purely subjective.

The wording of the post however is what drew my attention, not the subject of the post.

The inference was made that those who study using REA and Instantcert:

- Are merely "Cramming"
- Won't "actually still know something long after sitting the CLEP"
- Are "Just reading the CliffNotes"
- Do "little studying" (as do some B&M students).
- Do not "really make friends with the subject at hand".

That is what, in my view, gave the post a somewhat condescending tone.

I mean no offense to the poster, we are only talking about the choice of words and they may or may not have accurately communicated her true viewpoint.

It is one thing, however, to say "this is the method that I use", it is another to say "this is the method I use because your method results in inferior learning."

That is, after all, what the above quotes from her original post seem to infer, do they not?

I also included a caution that, no matter how in-depth you study a subject, there will always be someone else to come along and infer that YOU didn't study enough to grasp the subject adequately either. What is "enough" after all?

Or maybe I just got out of bed on the wrong side this morning!

I am more than willing to accept either explanation for my response.

If was overly harsh or misinterpreted her inferences, I do apologise!

 

Thanks Beholdweb for suggesting this website.The notes on American Government and even Algebra are very good. I am very weak in math and i'll need lots of material when i get there.
Thanks Longwaytogo for encouraging me and for the advice on Intro to Psychology.I received my REA today from amazon.The other book i have is also excellent.I hope i can take the exam by next week.
Thanks again,
Adoncia

 

Adoncia,

I am in the same boat as you for the Algebra exam. Math is just not in line with the way my mind works. So I am dreading it.

I have started studying for it now even though I don't plan on taking it for a while yet. I have ordered several books to make sure I can get plenty of practise and several different explanations for each topic. I also have a software learning CD and links to various Algebra web sites. By hook or by crook I WILL pass this exam!

Eesh!

I bought the REA Intro to Psychology book too and have read it twice. It is excellent. I haven't taken the exam yet though so I can't offer you any specific advice.

Good luck as always....and let us know how you do,
Beholdweb

 

1. Understand descriptive statistics.

2. Watch a lot of TV. Years of it. That's how I did it, passing that exam while still a teenager. (I used the same strategy to pass the GRE Subject Exam in Sociology, too.) Of course, we had cable....