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Originally Posted by Freddie
Is it difficult to find the readings to study for the tests?
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No. That's one of the benefits of being a College Plus student.
They recommend study resources for you for every test.
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Programs such as College Plus have students taking a CLEP test every 4 weeks. Do you really feel that you know the subject matter?
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Yes. In fact, my sister and I chose to test more oftern than that. What we found worked for us was to do a test a week for three weeks and then take a two-week break.
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If you aren't very good at being a self starter, would you recommend instead, just taking the class through a community college where the book list and readings are scheduled out for you?
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No, I'd still stick with the CLEPs and DSSTs (faster, cheaper, easier), but I
would go ahead and schedule them out in advance so that you have a deadline looming over you that you have to stick to.
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Do you miss the learning through discussion?
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No. I bounce ideas off my family now and then for discussion, but most of the material is very self-explanatory and doesn't really need a group discussion.
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It seems like I would get the basics of a topic, but I might miss out on topics that aren't covered by tests. That there might not be room for exploration. Is that the case?
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My philosophy is that I'd rather get the basics and just get the degree out of my hair. Then I am free to explore all I want to on topics that interest me. The classes have been a great way to expose me to new topics but I'd rather check into them in detail later on my own time and concentrate on the degree now.
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Is it lonesome? Do you go stir-crazy?
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LOL, NO!!!! A primary reason I chose this route is that I'm already so busy with so many things that I don't have time for a traditional college route! Studying is just one more thing that I've added to my schedule of teaching music students, performing in a harp duo, writing for a local paper, volunteering at a local museum, participating in an English Country Dance group, doing Civil War reenacting, and other stuff like that.
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If you've done College Plus, what are the 5 things you wish you'd known before you'd started? If you've done College Plus, what are the 5 things you would have done differently?
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I've been very happy with College Plus. Yes, they are doing something that an advisor could do for free. However, I've been unimpressed by the advisor system at TESC. They approved my degree audit and I found out LATER by MYSELF that two of the courses overlapped and I couldn't take one that I had initially planned on. Sheesh. To be fair, College Plus didn't catch it either, but then they weren't the ones
officially approving my course plan! If you e-mail an advisor at TESC it can take several days to get a response. If you call them, you get a different person every time. There's no personalization to it whatsoever. Whereas, with CP, your coach knows you and you can get in touch with them whenever you need to and you're not just lost in the shuffle somewhere.
Plus, structuring your entire course outline is just kind of overwhelming when it's all new--at least, it was for me. It was helpful to have someone like College Plus do all the legwork for me. They sent me a proposed template and I just tweaked a couple of things here and there.
My coach had gotten her degree through TESC as well and had taken many of the tests that I took. So it was helpful just to be able to talk to someone who had already been there, done that and could answer questions and settle my nervousness.
And, as I said, CP provides a good resource list for the courses. I didn't have to do my own digging to come up with the materials I needed.
Incidentally, don't feel tied to what CP recommends in terms of schedules, "Life Purpose" analysis or the worldview essays they suggest. Those are suggestions and our coach was happy to let us skip that stuff. Not that it's bad stuff--I just didn't need it. I'm not a 17-year-old that's never thought about what I want to do with my life. I've already studied worldviews extensively and know how to apply a Christian one to topics. While those are things they offer if the student (or his parents!) want it, they do not insist on it and you can do what you want.
Basically, CP saves you time, stress, and hassle. Can you get the degree without them? Of course. But I'm glad I went through them---it took a lot of pressure off.
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What recommendations do you have to research this? I'm new and need to understand more.
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I don't know 'cause I went through College Plus, lol!