I'm not all that up on the FEMA credits, especially as they apply to Excelsior Liberal Arts degrees. It's definitely worth checking into. Search this forum, and talk to your Excelsior advisor.

So the rest of what I'll say right now ignores FEMA credits. You need 82 credits -- call it 84 to make it divisible by 3. If you can rack up a good score on the GRE (I recommend Psychology, but check the Student Guide and Assessment Catalog for your options), then that takes care of 30, leaving you 54. The GRE (again, assuming you score 80th percentile or higher) will give you 18 upper-level credits, and you'll need 12 more. Let's assume you're going for the Bachelor of Science rather than the Bachelor of Arts, as that will give you more flexibility in using Applied Professional credits.

The CLEP Humanities, Natural Sciences, Analyzing & Interpreting Literature, and Social Sciences & History exams are worth 6 credits each, and quite passable. Use the CLEP Official Guide and Princeton Review Cracking the CLEP books to assess your readiness for them. Take the Princeton Review practice exam first, review your right and wrong answers, and read the explanations. If you scored higher than 70%, you're definitely ready to go. If you scored over 60%, you're probably ready, but do some reading and brushing up, using the specific exam section of the forum for guidelines. Then take the Official Guide practice exam to be sure -- again, 70% is pretty much a slam-dunk pass, and at 60% you have a decent chance. CLEP exams are pass/fail with a passing score of 50.

If you can pass those four, that leaves you another 30 credits to go -- ten more exams. Four of those exams -- 12 credits -- will have to be upper-level. Some of the DANTES exams provide upper-level credits -- I would say Civil War and Reconstruction, Drug and Alcohol Abuse, and Management Information Systems are all quite passable. For your fourth, you can choose between Money and Banking, Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union, Business Law II, and Principles of Finance. These have reputations of being more difficult, but plenty of people have passed them. I managed to score As on those last two, and if I had to choose I would say Finance is the easier one. DANTES exams earn you a letter grade, and sometimes practice exams are hard to come by, so I found them a little more difficult to prepare for than CLEPs, but they aren't anything to be afraid of.

We will need to see what credits you have already to help you with which other exams you should choose for those other 18 credits. You will have a "Depth Requirement 2" which is 12 credits in some specific discipline other than your major -- History might be a relatively easy one to put together.

So between the GRE, the 6-credit CLEPs and the rest, that's 15 exams total. If you do one a week, you can be done in three and a half months. You'll find that there are some weeks where you can double up and do two exams at once, giving you even more time. I think you ought to set your initial target at the Fourth of July. Having a target date has been a great motivator for me. You can and should let the target slip rather than take an exam you're not prepared for, but five months starting now looks quite possible. Do the easy ones (you'll decide which are easy by trying practice exams in the CLEP Official Guide) up front while you are studying for the GRE. Keep your support team up-to-date on your progress and let them cheer you on.

Good luck!!

-Gary-

In reference to the above post,I had a conversation about this exact same thing at a Holiday party with a friend of my mothers who was another 30 year teacher. She started teaching Home Ec and then switched to Earth Science and then Chemistry, in order to get what they call a subject endorsement in our county she had to take 30 hours (equivalent of a major) both times she switched, first to ES and then to Chem !

Now this may have been pre-praxis and it may be because this county usually is in the top 5 richest and they can be picky but you should check. I would also think if you can teach with a passing score for the Praxis II for a subject area that you could pass the GRE for the same subject and thus get a LA degree with that major but that is a WAG on my part.

Blitz

Hello...

Thanks again for all the feedback. Good stuff in this thread.

I received an email from Excelsior today saying my "Status Report" was available. I didn't realize the transcript review was not completely final. Regardless, EC evaluated my transcripts based on me enrolling previously with an interest in a BS - Mgmt Info Systems.

The results are as follows:

- GPA: 3.03
- Total Hrs: 29
- Total English: 3
- Total Human: 0
- Total Soc Sci Hist: 9.33
- Total Nat Sci Math: 9.33
- Total Arts & Sci: 21.66
- Total Applied Profess: 1.34
- Total Business: 6
- Total Adv. Business: 0

I'm not clear why the Total Hrs are 29 but the total of all hours is more than 29 but that's okay for now.

And here is EC's list of courses to satisfy remaining degree rqmts (based on the BS-MIS degree):

General Education Component
You need:
52.00 credits in general education of which:
- at least 38.34 credits in arts & sciences to include:
- at least 9.00 credits in Humanities electives
- at least 3.00 credits in social sciences electives
- Microeconomics
ECO*260 INTRODUCTION TO MICROECONOMICS
- Statistics
BUS*233 BUSINESS STATISTICS
- 13.66 credits are allowed in free electives

Information Literacy Requirement
You need 1.00 credit in Information Literacy. INL 102 from Excelsior College satisfies this requirement. You can register and/or find more information about this course on our web site. If you want to take an alternative course from an approved source, please seek approval from your academic advisor.

Business Component
You need:
at least 39.00 more credits in business subjects to include:
- Introduction to Accounting I (Financial)
ACC*211 FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING
ACC*211 FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING - (ACCELERATED - 8 WEEK COURSE)
- Introduction to Accounting II (Managerial)
ACC*212 MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING
- Business Law
BUS*230 BUSINESS LAW
- Computers
BUS*220 INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERS
- Managerial Finance or Financial Management
BUS*350 PRINCIPLES OF FINANCE
- Introduction to Management
BUS*240 PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT
BUS*240 PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT (ACCELERATED - 8 WEEK COURSE)
- Introduction to Marketing
BUS*250 PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING
- Production/Operations Management
BUS*425 OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
- Business Policy***
BUS*495 BUSINESS STRATEGY
- 3.00 credits of advanced business electives
- 12.00 credits in BMI subjects to include:
(of these, 9.00 credits must be at the advanced level)
- Database Management
IT*370 DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
IT*370 DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (ACCELERATED - 8 WEEK COURSE)
- Data Communications or Telecommunications or Networking
IT*350 BUSINESS DATA COMMUNICATIONS
IT*350 BUSINESS DATA COMMUNICATIONS (ACCELERATED - 8 WEEK COURSE)
- Systems Analysis and Design
IT*418 SOFTWARE SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
- Approved Management Information Systems Electives

Ethics Requirement
You have not yet satisfied the ethics requirement. Credits from your course or examination in ethics will be applied to the humanities (arts and sciences) or business electives, depending on title, number, level and content.
BUS*323 BUSINESS ETHICS
BUS*323 BUSINESS ETHICS (ACCELERATED - 8 WEEK COURSE)

Organizational Behavior Requirement
You have not yet satisfied the organizational behavior requirement. Credit from your course or examination in organizational behavior will be applied to the social sciences (arts and sciences) or business electives, depending on title, number, level, and content.
BUS*311 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
BUS*311 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR (ACCELERATED - 8 WEEK COURSE)


As recommended previously, I think I better register for INL 102 and get that out of the way.

By the way, I took a Praxus II Technology practice exam (12 questions) and scored more than 80%. That got me pumped thinking "okay I can do this".

Thanks again.

Randal

Okay, you enrolled in the Business and Technology School for the MIS degree. You will need to transfer to the Liberal Arts School and get re-evaluated so you know where you are. It looks like you have satisfied the WER already as well as math credit at pre-calculus or higher level. You need Humanities credit, so I would encourage you to start preparing for the CLEP Humanities exam, followed by the CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Literature. Get a ruling from your Excelsior advisor (after your transfer is complete) on whether CLEP Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and History are okay, or whether they would duplicate credits you already have. And think about your major. If you based it around a GRE exam, your choices are:

Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology
Biology
Chemistry
Computer Science
Literature in English
Mathematics
Physics
Psychology

You must discuss your major choice with your Excelsior academic advisor, and determine what, if any, requirements there will be beyond the GRE exam. But don't let any of that slow you down. You definitely have two exams you can do right away. Let us know when you are ready for more.

-Gary-

Thank you, Gary!

-Randal

Randal

I finished my first degree at age 62. Unfortunately, I did not find the InstantCert forum until I was almost finished with my second degree.
Your journey will be a piece of cake with all the help from these guys. It is hands down the best test prep forum.
Good luck.

__________________
Chartered Life Underwriter-American College 1985
Chartered Financial Consultant-American College 1986
BS Charter Oak State College 2005
BS Psychology-Summa Cum Laude-Excelsior College 2006
Chartered Advisor for Senior Living-American College 2006

Wow, that's wonderful, Papa Georgia! Congratulations and thank you.

Randal

Hey thanks for joining I like seeing people who are older than me (if only by a litte). Papa Georgia has me beat by a fair amount as well. Hey Papa Georgia are you from Georgia I spent 4 years there.

__________________
Judy -
AS - Computer Science - Andover college
BS - Mgmt Information Systems -June 08
MS - Info Systems Mgmt - Start Aug 08 - UMBC

Just thought of this..you said you had been in MIS for many years..in additon to a portfolio/work exper evaluation, if you have any industry certs EC gives credit for many of them like the CompTIA exams, Microsoft etc..most are lower level credit..there are threads if it applies.

You would have to check with EC but this outfit has alot of broad computer certs/tests that are ACE approved for credit. ICCP

Here is the link to the ACE site you can see the credits..doesnt look like they say upper or lower.

ACE | Find an ACE-Reviewed Certification Examination

If you look into it and find out what EC says about the ICCP stuff, let us know the results !

Blitz

Randal. I am also a 49yr old dad/husband. This is a great site with a lot of good info. Just one thing, 6 months may be doable but realistically, you might need a little more time. That's approx 5 classes a month which for anyone is tough, at 49 w/kids, even more challenging. A lot of people on here state they complete a lot of classes in a short amount of time and get good scores and I don't doubt them. But, if you haven't been in school for awhile and your a dedicated father, I think it may take a little longer. My kids demand a lot of attention and I only have 2, I gave up a big paying job w/Sunoco for a lot less $$$ to finish my degree so I can get a job w/better family hours. Unlike a lot of people on this website, all of my schooling has been traditional, but I am going to take my last 7-8 courses like everyone else, ECE's, TECEP's or DSST's, which if you don't know what they are, you can search this website. There's a lot of info on all of them and more. My point is, I'm no dummy and I've completed about 35 credits in just over a year. It's been a hard hustle. Things do pop up, my dad died, my wife's dad is in the hospital now, I was healthy my whole life and in the past year I went out on disability twice for freak nerve injuries. You can do it Randal, just remember that if it gets tough for you, everyone has a different situation. Just reading your history shows you have a solid background. Another thing to do, you may want to look into the state you want to teach in to see what kind of reqt's they have. I say this because you might as well know generally what you need before you start the journey. Like everyone says, 6 months is doable, but very, very demanding. Some people have 8 hr day jobs who are lazy and save their energy for their own time, meaning their study. If you have a challenging job and come home tired and have to play w/the kids as well, you will have limited study time. Too bad we didn't get this done years ago. At least we know, it isn't too late. Good luck Randal. Hopefully we both get there.