Questions re "BA in 4 weeks" and DANTES

I'm interested in the "BA in 4 Weeks" process of testing out for a BSc from Excelsior and was curious as to whether anyone here had actually done this?
I have no college credits currently (well, not counting the 5 or so from FEMA online courses) and would like to know how feasible this is.

Secondly, in researching the DANTES exams for this process I have run into 2 questions - what is the cost to take a DANTES exam, and are they open to civilians?

Thank you

 

My 16 year old daughter is working on an AA from Charter Oak. She has 27 credits from CLEP/DSST and plans to sit one more DSST (Personal finance). DSST exams are available for civilians:

http://www.getcollegecredit.com/

Good luck!

Shawn

 

So DSST and DANTES are the same thing?

 

Yes they are. (at least for testing purposes).

Shawn

 

I believe DSST is simply an acronym for DANTES Subject Standardized Test.

 

Actually completing a BA in 4 weeks is unrealistic if you are starting off with no credit. You would either need a lot of credit from portfolio assessment (which is plausible if you work in a highly specialized field and really know what you are doing), or, would need to take and get above an 80th percentile on 3, maybe 4 GREs in addition to getting your English and Hummanities requirement from CLEP.

However, even for the portfolio assessment, you would need to take a 3-credit p/f class on how to put your portfolio together, and, wait several weeks or even months while they evaluate your portfolio.

So, 4 weeks isn't likely, but since most people's programs with Excelsior are self-paced and independent, if you are a fast learner and study hard, you can suceed in (figuratively and relatively) no time.

 

From the BA in 4 Weeks website:


"WHY, “BA IN 4 WEEKS”?

Four weeks is the practical minimum amount of time in which this process can reasonably be completed. The title, BA in 4 Weeks, was purposely chosen as a vehicle to convey that possibility and to provide a convenient platform for exposition of methods and techniques. It acts as a framework upon which these latter elements may be hung.

WHO CAN COMPLETE A BA DEGREE IN 4 WEEKS?

Those learners who already possess the full compliment of required competencies, require no new learning, and only need demonstrate those competencies so that they may be properly validated and officially recognized by way of conferral of an accredited bachelor’s degree."

 

I thionk it can be really close. I did 51 in 6 weeks plus worked full time. Imagine if I had more to to test. I really could have done 51 credits in a week or two.

 

Thank you all for your answers and comments.
I should have been clear that I'm really looking to do it in "4 weeks."
I'm just interested in the process.

 

Well then, WELCOME to the club! I have 3 exams left before I get my Associate's (will probably take my 2 ECE exams within a month of today, but may need a bit more time for my French CLEP). After that, probably 5 more exams (including GRE) and 1 online class before I get my BA w/an impressive double major, all while using The Hope Tax Credit to make me break near even on the costs. It's quite an exciting journey!!!

Keep us updated... this site is a tremendous resource for encouragement and advice.

 

$85 + some places charge a sitting fee of $10+... The only place I have local to me charges $20, so its $105 total per DSST for me.

 

I have not checked but I suspect that you could not obtain the requisite amount of upper division credit via CLEP & DSST. GRE is another method of obtaining credit attempted by a couple of posters to this board. Excelsior also requires that students take a one unit course through them unless students have an acceptable equivalent course. I also understand that Excelsior will not accept CLEP english to satisfy their english requirement.

 

You'll likely need a mixture of CLEP, DSST, ECE and TECEP exams to complete the degree.

While the BA in 4 Weeks site was my major inspiration (I took about a year to get 120 credits via exam) please note that it's significantly out of date as a connect-the-dots plan, at least with respect to the General Business degree. Exams like ECE Business Policy and Strategy were discontinued in September 2004 and Excelsior now requires a 1 credit information literacy course which isn't mentioned. I also ended up having to take the TECEP Production/Operations Management exam because it was discontinued before I started.

Having said this, if you're enterprising you can still use the plan as a template to be updated with newer courses or TECEP exams to fill in the gaps. By strategically selecting your exams you can also end up with a 4.0 GPA. Logistically, however, I don't think all of the exams/courses can be completed in 4 weeks now.

 

I asked this question in another thread but i guess this one is more appropriate. I have completed all lower divsion courses in computers. I just upper division courses to complete my degree in IT or CS. Is it possible to apply to any online degree but satisfy all upper division courses using CLEP, DANTES ect. Aim is to get graduated by spending a little a possbile. I thought you could do upper level courses from the university only.

 

Instead of saying "the university" I would say "one or more universities".

CLEP does not offer upper division credit, while DSST (aka DANTES) are limited, especially for IT or CS - only MIS would give UL for this area if my memory is correct, although there are other UL electives.

However, if you're talking about Excelsior, COSC or TESC you can probably take many courses from other colleges and transfer the credit - there are probably many options in the $100 per credit hour range which isn't too bad.

The other option, if you are considering a masters degree in IS (not CS) is to do an individual studies type of undergrad, which could conceivably be completed with more DSST and/or Excelsior exams rather than needing many more courses.

 

I did....but not in four weeks.

I finished a B.A from Charter Oak back in 2006 using these exams.

I started with 38 semester hours of 20 year old college credit, took a whole slew of exams both CLEP and DSST and got my degree in about 11 months.

 

BAin4weeks (Lawrie) was the person who motivated me to get my own degree following that plan. It took me about a year to reach 120, but I picked up at least 60 credits in two months time. Gotta love those general ed CLEP's and DANTES.

These days, they've changed up enough requirements to make many of the old degree paths no longer possible solely by testing. Many of the capstone courses now need to be taken through Excelsior and Thomas Edison. Not so sure about Charter Oaks.

That being said, you can still receive a BS/BA in Liberal Studies through Excelsior solely by testing. There are some majors that are also still available, but most have at least one "required" course that must either be portfolio'd or taken as a class. I don't count the Info Literacy requirement as an actual "course". Anything that you can finish in an hour doesn't qualify.

 

I nearly did it and I never had a goal of "4 weeks" (I had pressing responsibilities elsewhere). If my motivation had been to complete it within 4 weeks, I wasn't working multiple jobs at the time, and my testing center had a more flexible schedule then it would not have been overly difficult to complete it within 4 weeks.

That was a couple of years ago and I'm not sure what the policies are now with the Big 3 (I noticed some of the exams have changed); however, one thing has not changed: where there is a will, there is a way.

I suspect you would need to plan your 4 weeks out well in advance. I know one of the obstacles I had was scheduling exams quickly enough. I don't think the "4 weeks" is including the time it takes to process that degree once the exams have been completed.

 

I've been poking around for several days now, trying to figure out: which degrees (except a general Liberal Studies) can you get solely by examination or mostly by examination from those three colleges? Preferably with 5 or less "real" courses being required to finish. Does anyone know any offhand? Trying to figure it all out is dang confusing.

 

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The list of which majors can not be completed by testing with <5 classes is a shorter list. The thing to remember, is that if you are only using testing as your criteria- you can end up studying for some really crappy or uninteresting stuff. For example, I'd rather take 100 classes than study for the Civil War DSST....but that's just me.

Also, many of the tests are not $100 like CLEP or DSST, so sometimes it can be more expensive than taking a course.

In any event, my suggestion is to pick your degree based loosely around the test out option. The difference in time to completion between a) all tests or b) tests with a few classes amounts to less than 1 year. A 4 year degree in 1 year is pretty amazing.

Be smart. Get the degree that you want and can use, and within that context, play the game.