There seems to be a growing interest in utilizing GRE Subject Tests for credit. Hopefully this will answer some questions of those who are unfamiliar with these tests.

GRE Subject Test official homepage: GRE Subject Tests Overview

The tests are in eight different subject areas:
*Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology
*Biology
*Chemistry
*Computer Science
*Literature in English
*Mathematics
*Physics
*Psychology

These tests are traditionally used as an entrance exam into a Master's program in the relevant subject area. They cover an entire major's worth of information in the subject. Some colleges will award credit at the undergraduate level for them.

The three colleges that will accept them for such purposes are:

1) Excelsior College (www.excelsior.edu) awards anywhere from 3 to 30 credits in the subject area. The minimum score to earn credit is the 35%ile for 3 credits. You must score over the 80%ile to collect the full 30 credits. The first 12 credits are lower level, all additional credit earned is upper level.

2) Charter Oak State College (Charter Oak State College - distance learning college, online degrees, courses) awards credit in the subject area at a score of 40%ile. 18 credits are awards for Psychology or Literature. 24 credits are awards for all other subject areas. It doesn't matter if a score of 40% or 90% is made. The credit awarded is the same. The one test they will not accept is the Biochemistry subject test.

3) Empire State College (www.esc.edu) has both the "lowest payoff score" as well as the "highest payoff score." They will award between 6 credits and 36 credits. A score between the 20%ile and 29%ile will get you 6 credits. A score of 96%ile will get 36 credits.

Empire State College does have a residency requirement, but are also fairly liberal in testing policies. The cap on credit-by-exam is 96 credits, (aka 24 credit residency).

Excelsior and Charter Oak both offer degrees that can be tested out of completely. With Excelsior, a high enough score will take care of virtually all the requirements for the major in the subject area. Charter Oak might be the way to go if you want to maximize credits with the GRE Subject Exam, but doubt you can pull out a very high score.

__________________
CLEP exams passed:
Management, Accounting, Marketing, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics

DSST exams passed:
Human Resources Management, Organizational Behavior, Statistics, Management Information Systems

Earned:
B.A. in Business Administration: Technology Management (magna cum laude) from Saint Leo University

In Progress:
M.S. in Leadership and Business Ethics from Duquesne University (24 credits completed, 3 credits in progress)

A Mathematics major at Excelsior is a little different, since 33 credits are required for that particular one. So, as is my habit to pester advisers, I sent an email asking what else would be required to major in Math, assuming one could score high enough on the GRE. Here's my reply:

Greetings, Alissa -

Thank you so much for your kind words and support of Excelsior College!

To answer your question, a student would need to score at least a 780 on the Mathematics GRE in order to earn the full 33 credits required for that major.

I hope this is helpful, but please let us know if you have any other questions about your degree program, or any other in the School of Liberal Arts.

I hope you enjoy a safe, peaceful and happy holiday!

Best wishes, Tamara R. Garrison, Academic Adviser

Previous Message:
Hi! I have to satisfy my own curiosity about something. Someone I know is interested in the GRE Mathematics to test out of a major, after seeing my success with the GRE Psychology. That particular major seems to require 33 credits? If a person were to score high enough on the Math GRE, what would they need to do for those last three credits required? I am pretty much trying to convince everyone I know to enroll. Thank you for your time!

__________________
~~ Alissa~~
"Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right." - - Henry Ford
DONE:
BS Liberal Studies, Excelsior College 2009
What's next:
GRE General Exam 12/19/2009
COSC BA Literature in English, In Progress: Two DSSTs and four classes remaining
Final Four Grad School Choices (in no particular order):
Fort Hays State University
Northwestern State University
California State University Dominguez Hills
Western New Mexico University

I wanted to add some additional info for these majors which require labs for the degree. This is a general breakdown of whats needed for comparison purposes,check the catalog/school for detailed info.

EC-Biology- 2 labs,1 upper level+70%tile GRE= Major
Chemistry-4 labs,1 upper level+60%tile GRE=Major
Physics-2 labs,1 upper level+70%tile GRE=Major
Math-12 credits+66%GRE=Major

Charter Oak-Biology-12 credits (2 must be UL labs)+40%tile GRE=Major
Chemistry-12 credits (2 must be UL labs,one must be in
instrumentation)+40%tile GRE=Major
Physics-12 credits(6 at UL)+40% percentile GRE=Major
Math-12 beyond freshman(6 at UL)+40% percentile=Major

Psychology GRE and Literature should be easy to score in the higher percentile.

__________________
CLEP

Intro to Psychology- 50
Intro to Sociology- 64
Natural Sciences - 53
Humanities - 61
History of US I - 59
Social Sciences & History - 54
Western Civilization I - 67
Western Civilization II- 57
Principles of Mgmt- 53



DANTES

Rise and Fall of Soviet Union - 54
Intro to Middle East- 56
Intro to World Religions- 74
Intro to Computing - 53
Principles of Supervision- 51
Mgmt Info Sys- 53
Intro to Buisness- 59
Buisness Mathematics-56
American Ethics-51

Does anyone know how much Upper level credits are awarded for GREs by Charter Oak?

I looked at the Master List of Exams 2009 but the Level column just states "L,U". How does the actual score determine the mix?

List of Exams at Charter Oak State College

thanks

The first 15 hours are lower level and the rest (9 hours for natural science/math exams; 3 hours for social sciences/humanities exams) are upper level.

It doesn't...at 40, you get them all.

craftkc10,

Thank you much for your replies. What's the best coaching web site or prep books for GREs?

cheers!

I’m glad you’re interested in the GREs, too.

Alissa found another forum for people who are studying for the GREs: GRE Subject Tests - TestMagic Forums

She has also posted more resources for studying for the GREs in the Specific Exam Feedback section.

Thanks for link, NAP.