For anyone planning on taking the DSST Principles of Finance test, I wanted to give out the following 3 tips:

1. Be prepared to answer a LOT of questions about NPV (Net Present Value) and know how to calculate it.

2. There are several questions regarding Options, which I was not prepared for.

3. There were at least three questions regarding EOQ, or economic ordering quantity, which I knew absolutely nothing about! So study up on that.

I don't know how many different versions there are for each test, but I imagine that all of them would have questions on all three of these areas.

Good luck!

JoAnne

Hi JoAnne,

Congratulations on your first post to this board!

This is EXCELLENT feedback. You're gonna fit right in here!


Do you know your score yet? Or did you only just take the exam?

Best of luck to you,
Snazzlefrag

__________________
My name is Rob
So far, I have earned 139 credits (12 not used).

Excelsior College
- BS Psychology (15 credits - 5 courses/exams to go)
- BS Business (9 credits - 3 courses/exams to go)
____________
Upcoming: An UL business course of some kind.
In-progress: ENG100 English Comp (PFC)
Most Recently Completed: Tech Math I at PFC.
Exams/Courses Passed To Date (42):
- Courses (3): 1 ECE, 1 CSU, 1 PFC.
- Exams (39): 24 DANTES, 15 CLEP.

Hey Kiwi,

Do you remember roughly how many questions required you to use a financial calculator? Was there a lot of math, or was it mostly knowing the principles and terminology etc?

This math-phobic would love to know.


Thanks,
Snazzlefrag

__________________
My name is Rob
So far, I have earned 139 credits (12 not used).

Excelsior College
- BS Psychology (15 credits - 5 courses/exams to go)
- BS Business (9 credits - 3 courses/exams to go)
____________
Upcoming: An UL business course of some kind.
In-progress: ENG100 English Comp (PFC)
Most Recently Completed: Tech Math I at PFC.
Exams/Courses Passed To Date (42):
- Courses (3): 1 ECE, 1 CSU, 1 PFC.
- Exams (39): 24 DANTES, 15 CLEP.

Hi Snazzlefrag,

I love the name! How did you come up with that one?

To answer your questions, I just took the Principles of Finance exam last Monday, the 8th, and the University told me it should only take 2 weeks to get my results (they FedEx the test to the Dantes people). I'm not actually too worried about the results, because I studied like crazy for that one.

The funny (or not-so-funny) thing is...I also took the test for Personal Finance that day, thinking it would be a piece of cake (it's about mortgages, wills, life insurance, banking, etc.) and that test kicked my butt!!!! I hardly studied for it all, thinking that at age 47 I should know all that stuff, but they had a LOT of questions on there that your "Average Joe" wouldn't necesssarily know. Of course, I can't remember now what they were, but my advice to anyone planning to take Personal Finance is to get some study materials and study up before you take it! (I'm going to be really embarrassed if someone posts and says "I took that test and it was a piece of cake"!)

Anyway, to answer your other question about using a financial calculator: I just used a regular, simple calculator because the only types of calculations I needed to do were multiply, divide etc. (plus they don't allow programmable calculators during the test). And yes I definitely needed to know the formulas, terms, etc.

I read what other people here had posted regarding what types of things to study, and their advice was right on the money, so thanks everyone! I love this place!!

Macroeconomics is next - on June 2nd. The studying begins again!

JoAnne

P.S. Since I'm a newbie, can you tell me how you bring in part of someone else's post into your reply?? Thanks!

Hit QUOTE underneath the post you wish to quote. The entire post will be brought into the New Message window. You can then delete any portion of the quoted message that you desire.

Just make sure you leave the beginning code [quote....] and ending code [/quote...]

When you have the quoted section the way you want it to be, you can then write your own message underneath it.

__________________
My name is Rob
So far, I have earned 139 credits (12 not used).

Excelsior College
- BS Psychology (15 credits - 5 courses/exams to go)
- BS Business (9 credits - 3 courses/exams to go)
____________
Upcoming: An UL business course of some kind.
In-progress: ENG100 English Comp (PFC)
Most Recently Completed: Tech Math I at PFC.
Exams/Courses Passed To Date (42):
- Courses (3): 1 ECE, 1 CSU, 1 PFC.
- Exams (39): 24 DANTES, 15 CLEP.

I have no clue how I came up with it actually. It's just a 'nonsense' word that popped into my head for no apparent reason when I was a child. It doesn't mean anything, it doesn't hold any personal symbolism for me, and it doesn't represent anything in particular....it's just a made up word!

But I like how it sounds when I say it.

__________________
My name is Rob
So far, I have earned 139 credits (12 not used).

Excelsior College
- BS Psychology (15 credits - 5 courses/exams to go)
- BS Business (9 credits - 3 courses/exams to go)
____________
Upcoming: An UL business course of some kind.
In-progress: ENG100 English Comp (PFC)
Most Recently Completed: Tech Math I at PFC.
Exams/Courses Passed To Date (42):
- Courses (3): 1 ECE, 1 CSU, 1 PFC.
- Exams (39): 24 DANTES, 15 CLEP.

Every time I see the name, I think of the show Fraggle Rock. I guess it's the "frag" part. Radishes, anyone?

__________________
Ana
96 credits completed (93 by exam)
BS in General Business, Excelsior College (33 credits remaining)
Next exams: DSST Statistics, DSST Business Law 2
Recently taken: DSST Drug/Alcohol (61), CLEP French (63), ECE Gerontology (B ), DSST MIS (65), DSST Counseling (54), DSST Ethics (63)

Ana,

Yes! I always think of that too!

I even did a google search to see if Snazzlefrag was perhaps a character on Fraggle Rock, but it wasn't!

__________________
My name is Rob
So far, I have earned 139 credits (12 not used).

Excelsior College
- BS Psychology (15 credits - 5 courses/exams to go)
- BS Business (9 credits - 3 courses/exams to go)
____________
Upcoming: An UL business course of some kind.
In-progress: ENG100 English Comp (PFC)
Most Recently Completed: Tech Math I at PFC.
Exams/Courses Passed To Date (42):
- Courses (3): 1 ECE, 1 CSU, 1 PFC.
- Exams (39): 24 DANTES, 15 CLEP.

Hi All,

Well, I am currently deep in study for the Principles of Finance exam. I was a bit overwhelmed for the first couple of days, but it is finally beginning to fit together in my mind. I still have a lot more sudying to do though before I will be ready to take the exam.

I just wanted to post a bunch of web sites that are proving invaluable to me as I research the various terms, concepts, and principles.

I am using the Texas Instruments BAII+ Business Analyst calculator (about $30.00 at amazon.com). It is able to do various financial calculations with relative ease. The important thing is to learn how to actually use the calculator. With that in mind, I am including a couple of sites that contain explanations/instructions on how to do the various calculations specifically on the BAII+:


BAII+ Instructions for Financial Calculations:

http://www.understandfinance.com/tutorials/ (almost all of the Finance tutorials on this site include graphical, step-by-step instructions for the BAII+)

http://webs.twsu.edu/longhofer/Old_C...alculators.htm


Glossaries of Financial Terms:

http://www.bloomberg.com/analysis/glossary/bfglosa.htm

http://www.investorsedge.com/dictionary/

http://teachmefinance.com/Financial_Terms/

http://www.gcsaa.org/mc/benefits/glossary.asp


Finance Tutorials and Study Guides:

http://www.quickmba.com/finance/

http://www.netmba.com/finance/ (added 6/7/06)

http://www133.americanexpress.com/os...ncialratio.asp (financial ratios)

http://www.bizwiz.ca/financial_ratio...lanations.html (financial ratios)

http://www.sba.gov/managing/financing/growth.html (various topics - choose from categories on the left navigation panel)

http://www.studyfinance.com/

http://nalu.hpu.edu/mlane/BusinessFi...MExercise.html (TVM random problem generator - very helpful)

http://nalu.hpu.edu/mlane/BusinessFi...line/index.htm (various topics - useful quizzes and exercises)

http://www.understandfinance.com/tutorials/

http://www.teachmefinance.com/

http://www.coba.usf.edu/departments/...n3403/home.htm (quizzes and study notes) (added 6/9/06)


Thomas Edison 20-Question Mock Exam

http://www.tesc.edu/catalog/tecep_desc/FIN-301.pdf (added 6/3/06)


---------------------------------------
I hope somebody finds these links useful.

Study Hard! Do Well!

Good luck,
Snazzlefrag

__________________
My name is Rob
So far, I have earned 139 credits (12 not used).

Excelsior College
- BS Psychology (15 credits - 5 courses/exams to go)
- BS Business (9 credits - 3 courses/exams to go)
____________
Upcoming: An UL business course of some kind.
In-progress: ENG100 English Comp (PFC)
Most Recently Completed: Tech Math I at PFC.
Exams/Courses Passed To Date (42):
- Courses (3): 1 ECE, 1 CSU, 1 PFC.
- Exams (39): 24 DANTES, 15 CLEP.

Hi All,

Now that I am almost ready to take the Principles of Finance exam, I am considering taking the Principles of Accounting exam next.

Has anybody here taken BOTH exams? If so, is there any overlap? Do you think it is worthwhile to take both these exams close together?

My thought is that, since I am already in a "financial" state of mind, it will be easier to study for accounting next, instead of doing some other exams and then taking the accounting exam at some future time.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks,
Snazzlefrag

__________________
My name is Rob
So far, I have earned 139 credits (12 not used).

Excelsior College
- BS Psychology (15 credits - 5 courses/exams to go)
- BS Business (9 credits - 3 courses/exams to go)
____________
Upcoming: An UL business course of some kind.
In-progress: ENG100 English Comp (PFC)
Most Recently Completed: Tech Math I at PFC.
Exams/Courses Passed To Date (42):
- Courses (3): 1 ECE, 1 CSU, 1 PFC.
- Exams (39): 24 DANTES, 15 CLEP.