I just received an email from Excelsaior saying they now accept these exams for credit: http://www.uexceltest.com/exams/
Well they better because they created those tests . Each has been evaluated by ACE for credit, and Excelsior will give you a letter grade for the test. Only slighly more expensive than CLEP and therefore significantly less expensive than ECE tests. I've been told by a UExcel staffer that they will be making new exams next year, one in Spanish and another in Sociology, and there will be a free beta testing period for each (of course, I was a bit impatient to take my Spanish and Sociology CLEP, so I didn't wait). However, they haven't been able to tell me if the Spanish covers 12 credits like CLEP, or more, or less. In any case, although the ACE evaluated and approved them as being worthy of credit, they are a new animal and can only be guaranteed accepted by Excelsior (so contacting your academic advisor beforehand is extremely advisable) . That said, I think its a great opportunity to have all of these new credit-by-exam programs.
Thanks for posting that info, Maniac. Maybe I will take their Spanish (especially if it's free) instead of the CLEP.
I still haven't received any new information on these tests, but if I do, I will post it here. I might not actually end up taking any of them, but it is looking like a REALLY nice new option for people going for non-traditional degrees, especially for Excelsior students.
I've been looking at the Uexcel College Writing test to fulfill my english comp requirement at Excelsior. My other options would be Straighterline (which I wouldn't get a grade by going through ACE) or taking the class at the local CC. I'd rather get the credit done in 2 hours by doing two essays, but the test wants Modern Language Association (MLA) style of citation which I am totally unfamiliar with at this point. I've done some checking up on it, and it seems somewhat alien in a few of its structures. (One space after between in the period and the beginning of new sentences and such.) The other tests they have really don't interest me too much at this time, but I'd love to see them add to their test list for more diverse offerings. One thing I really do like about them is the fact that there's not a 'sitting fee' like the places in my area charge for CLEPs and DSSTs... (Hey, $20 is $20, and I'd rather use it on my family then on tests)
Ah, yeah, nice about no sitting fee. I'm wanting to take their Statistics exam, but I'd want to find some posts about how it is. There's the DSST Principles of Statistics but I hate how it says "Principles of". Plus UExcel is cheaper. I do not mind if UExcel is a bit harder.
One thing to note is that the Statistics Uexcel test is recommended as Lower Level credit. If your school accepts credits from an ACE transcript with ACE recommended guidelines, the three stats courses through ALEKS (www.aleks.com $20/month) are recommended as Upper Level credit. It does take a bit of time to get through the course, depending on your background with the subject, but it may be worthwhile to get the UL credit out of it. I know for the degrees from the Excelsior School of Business that the ALEKS courses still show up most often as LL credits (it seems mostly depending on who there does your review) but they state explicitly in their catalog that core requirements will only be given as lower level credits . (The Business Degrees have a math core requirement of Precalculus and Statististics.) The Liberal Studies degrees through Excelsior do not have this limitation, and people have been awarded UL credit for the ALEKS stats class. Personally, it took me about 75 hours to get through the Intro to Statistics offering in ALEKS, and then I took another 3-4 hours to get through their Statistics for Behavioral Sciences. The course modules are the same through all three of their Statistics courses, but the problem wording is tweaked for the course. (Behaviour Sciences has more scientific/experiment worded problems, and Business Statistics word problems are well, more business-like.) TESC has given credit for multiple of the Stats courses in the past to students (according to the members over at Degreeforum) and Excelsior has been pretty strict about only awarding credit for one of the classes, notating the others as duplicate.
Hm, interesting. Thanks, TMW. I am pursuing a healthcare field and they might not like the "Business" or "Behavioral Sciences" labels. So that's strange, I could go with the "Statistics" lower level exam, or the "Intro to Statistics" upper level. I suppose upper level looks better. I am guessing that it would be a bunch more hours of work, which you implied.
