Environmental Scanning and Situation Analysis: What's the difference?

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Excelsior, BS Finance, pursuing degree

Studying:

Completed:
CLEP: Hum. (67), Hist. of U.S. I (74), Hist. of U.S. II (71), Intro. Psych. (69), Intro. Soc. (72), Soc. Sci. and Hist. (74), Western Civ I (72), Western Civ II (70), Am. Lit. (60), Intro. to Educ. Psych. (62), P. of Management (74), P. of Market. (74), Intro. Bus. Law (67), P. of Accounting (60), AmGov (68)
DSST: Ethics in Am. (76), P. of Super.(67), HRM (65), Intro to Bus. (70), MIS (65), P. of Fin (62), M&B (65), P. of Stat. (68)
ECE: OB (B)
TECEP:: IntFin, SecAna

Total Credits: 114

I was also a little stumped by this at first too, but then I remembered that most CLEP exams that I have taken seem to have very similar catch phrases and or use very similar descriptions when explaining a task or other job specific functions.

At times it really seems to me that the writers of the some study guides just seem to make up terms to describe a function.

I understand that every profession has its unique jargon, phrases, and acronyms, but sometimes these things boarder on the side of ridiculousness.

I can see a bored writer saying, ‘And this is what we call….ahh, ahhh… Environmental Scanning, Yea, that’s it, Environmental Scanning!

I don’t mean to disparage anyone’s career or education, and as an employee of a government agency, I’m all too familiar with ridiculous phrases, acronyms, and catch phrases. They can really confuse and frustrate one who is not familiar with all of them.

My last CLEP exam was Principles of Management and an example of this confusion can be found in the following:

From Instacert:

Management is a process, and consists of the following functions: planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling.

From the REA Book Chapter 1

Four Functions of Management: Planning, Organizing, Leading, Controlling.

As you can see Leading is not mentioned in the Instacert description, nor is staffing covered by the REA description.

Keeping in mind there are a lot of smart people with alternative views and theories of management that help give all of use a deeper understanding on the inner workings of management, but it can also serve to confuse us to no end!

These are just some of the things we have to work around and not get too caught up in. This is why I advocate knowing IC exams and the REA practice exams with a 95% passing rate.

In some cases the differences will actually reveal themselves to you as you get a better understanding of the concept or idea behind the phrase or term. But other times, such as the difference between Environmental Scanning and Situation analysis, you will not find an appropriate answer. Try not to get wrapped up in the axel over it as I have done more times than I care to remember.

There are times that I have to tell myself that I’m just not going to remember all of the terms and phrases and just concentrate on the ones that I am 100% confident that I know and will recognize on the exam. This method helps keep me confident of the things I do know as opposed to the items I’m uncertain about. And that is what keeps me studying.

Lastly, Judging from you passed successes I will predict that you will do just fine on this exam and have no need to worry. Sorry for such a long reply that did not answer your question. But I hope this helps.

Good luck on the exam, Regards, Jay