Testing out - Bachelor of Psychology

My study with NCU is going fine. It is a lot of work. I normally take a break from my studies by reading articles on psychology. My curiosity with psychology has led me to contemplate completing a bachelor of psychology by testing out. Can I have my transcripts be evaluated by the big three then complete the balance of credits by testing out, then asked for revaluation. I am not familiar with ECE, CLEP, GRE etc, with these tests. Do I need to go to a testing center or can I have the exams proctor locally? I live in the Canadian Arctic so travelling is not an option. Thanks.

 

One big test might get you there

Excelsior will give you up to 30 semester hours for the GRE Psych exam, which is offered around the world. Maybe there's a place near you:

http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/GRE/pdf/gre_0910_tclist.pdf

Otherwise, it's most likely that Excelsior will allow you to finish much sooner than NCU by mixing credit options...testing, correspondence and online.

 

Thank you Tony
Once to twice a year I travel to Southern Canada. I suppose I can schedule the 30 credits in two sittings. Thanks

 

I think you may have misunderstood him. Excelsior will grant up to 30 credits by taking the Psychology GRE Subject test (offered 3 times a year, April, October & November) dependant on your score. To get the whole 30 credits from the test, you need to score in the 80+ percentile. The credits awarded drop 3 for about every 4-6% under the 80% that you achieve on the test (Dependant on the subject test). The first 12 credits awarded from the test are Lower Level credits, and the remaining 18 are upper level credits.

Alissa has posted this scale for the Literature in English subject test. While the Psych scale is slightly different, it should give you an idea of how the credits for score work.

The GRE Psych subject test will fullfill all but 1 course component for the Psychology major at EC, and that is a 1 credit 8 week class called Research and Writing in Social Sciences. (I just started this class Monday, with Jennifer Kozar, and she seems to be a pretty cool teacher. Very responsive.)

You should be able to transfer up to about 90 credits from your B.Admin degree into a LS Degree program at EC, but you may need to fullfill a few prerequisites. The LS Degree program is the 'framework' for the Psych Major... Once you fulfill the 31 credits for the Psych major, the Diploma will read Bachelor of (Arts/Sciences) in Pyschology.

If you miss the 81% for the whole amount of credits, then it becomes goofy, because EC doesn't have a chart of what you need to take to get the credits to finish the major like they do for the Lit in English above. Those who have experienced this say that there doesn't seem to be rhyme or reason as far as what classes they assign to finish out the degree. One student related that they told him that he had to take a class that they didn't even offer. YMMV

 

“I am totally amazed. A 20 year old individual, without any prior course work scores a 500 on the Graduate Record Exam, multiple choice exam, and the Regents College is prepared to give him 24 credits for it. That is the equivalent of 8 courses in the subject area and in most schools, equal to the number of courses that are required to complete a major”.
http://bain4weeks.com/peterglaeser.html

-
Please pardon my ignorance. Does the above quote means if I pass one GRE exam in Psychology I can receive up to 24 credits from Excelsior? I had the impression I had to do 8 exams. Thanks

 

It's a single exam, about 205 questions. You can get up to 30 credits for it. (See my previous post for the chart that Alissa had for the Literature in
English exam. It's not exactly the same for the Psychology subject test, but gives a decent idea about the credit outlay for it.)

Also, these days, a scaled score of 500 on the Psychology exam won't even get you credit, due to the large amount of people that take the test, the lower range scaled scores end up being in a very low percentile compared to the other subject tests. I think that itis like 5x as many people take the Psych subject test compared to the other available subject tests.

 

Hi,

I am not sure whether the degree title is important to you. Last time when I checked with EC, the response was that this is a Bachelors of Science in Liberal Arts with a major in Psychology.

Hence, strictly speaking, EC is not exactly offering a Bsc in Psy

FYI, the main part of the response is as followed :


Good morning,

Thank you for your inquiry.

The degree would be a Bachelors of Science in Liberal Arts with a major in Psychology.

The Bachelor of Science in Liberal Studies breaks down as follows:

Written English Requirement: 3 credits

Arts and Sciences: 60 credits
You must meet a core requirement of 24 credits divided between Humanities, Social Sciences/History and Natural Science/Mathematics (6 credits in one, and 9 credits in each of the others)
Plus 33 credits of additional Arts and Science Electives.

Other Requirements: 60 credits
59 credits in Applied Professional credits or additional Arts and Science. (At least 9 credits must be upper level)
Plus 1 credit of Information Literacy.

For the Major you would need to complete 30-33 credits in Psychology (with at least 15 upper level credits).....................

 

I appreciate Alissa's chart above and it is of course accurate, FOR THE ENGLISH LIT EXAM. I got a 540 on the Psych GRE and it was 26th percentile!! That's right, 26th %!! i.e no credit at Excelsior.

My guess is that anyone with a bachelors in Psych needs to get at least a masters to get a half way decent job so the competition is MUCH higher for grad slots and so the GRE is extremely important and the field of test takers is wide. Whereas English Lit is a less popular pathway and a 540 gets you right around the 50th percentile mark.

Just my 2 cents. It's a tough exam but a magnificent way to obtain inexpensive credits if you have an interest in the subject.

 

Sorry TMW, I didn't see your post and you pretty much said it all...way before I chimed in! LOL I agree with you 100% and got 3 months studying for 0 credits on my resume to prove it!!

 

Am I on the right track? I have been interested in doing a program in Psychology. I started preparing for the GRE in Psychology but two things happened. Excelsior stop accepting GRE and because I have the US equivalent of two undergraduates degrees and an Associate Excelsior denied my application but I can appeal to the Dean. Excelsior is out for the time.
CSC accepted my application but I have to do all the specialist courses plus about 25 other credits, about 60 credits in total. I was told that there was a better way to maximize my exemptions but I would have to pay year tuition. The degree is an individualized program where I work with someone to maximize my exemptions. I think I can pass the GRE to get the 21 credit for CSC but that is still leaving me with a bunch of undergraduate courses to do. At present I am doing 6 credits at Clovis, my first real psychology courses, and I am bored. My knowledge from the GRE guides makes my reading feel like a review.
My plan is to abandon pursuing an undergraduate degree and do a master. My first preference is Western New Mexico MAIS Psychology/Politics, my second preference is Aspen. I will earned a master, less individual courses, may be less costly, and should satisfied my curiosity with psychology. What do you think?

 

American Public University and Nova Southeastern University have recently established (separate) online MS in Psychology degree programs.

 

Does anyone have any recommendation on how to prepare for the Excelsior’s psychology exams, i.e study guides? Excelsior has numerous texts for one exam. My plan to prepare for an exam using only one study guide, instead of a text or texts.
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Just throwing this out here, but another option is SUNY Empire State College. They still take GRE exams for credit, they take most standardized exams including Excelsiors, and allow you to do credit by portfolio. They do require you to take 32 credits through them, although you're allowed to do half of that via cross-registration(cross-registered courses count as in-school credits.) Still better than CSC it would seem. I've enjoyed my classes through them so far, although I'm mainly taking math and cs courses, I don't know anything about their psych offerings.

In case you're wondering about their GRE policy, I asked my mentor awhile back, and got this: