40 SH by December is VERY achievable. If you go to a school that accepts FEMA credits (EC or TESC), you can earn 30 or so right there in a matter of days. Then 2 CLEPs worth 6 SH each and you'll be done. Or one 6er and 2 other ones.

For your second question, I'm pretty sure they'll cancel each other out. I earned credits for Principles of Management through the Army, and then took the CLEP, but my school only gave me credit for one.

I'd recommend Analyzing and Interpreting Literature to start you off. Then you could take Intro to Sociology and Intro to Computing and there's another 12, putting you over what you need.

It seems like you want it bad enough, so I'm sure you'll have no problems.

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Jesse
BA in Liberal Studies, Thomas Edison State College, 2008