Question for the Pro's

[ajp0374]

Hello All,

I'm currently enrolled in an online university and plan to satisfy some of my lower level classes by taking some CLEP tests. I got a list and was wondering if someone could post which I should take. There are a lot of options. I can test out of 6 classes which will help significantly.

Thank you for the help.



HIS150 World History Since 1500
Course is scheduled to begin 1/4/09
CLEP exams that could satisfy this course are: Analyzing and Interpreting Literature, American Literature, English Literature, Humanities, French Language (Levels 1 and 2), German Language (Levels 1 and 2), Spanish Language (Levels 1 and 2), U.S. History I: Early Colonizations to 1877, U.S. History II: 1865 to the Present, Western Civilization I: Ancient Near East to 1648, Western Civilization II: 1648 to the Present

LTR215 World Literature
Course is scheduled to begin 7/05/09
CLEP exams that could satisfy this course are: Analyzing and Interpreting Literature, American Literature, English Literature
***Please note – These 3 exams are worth enough credit that if you were to take 1 of them it would satisfy BOTH LTR215 and HUM140

MAT205 College Mathematics
Course is scheduled to begin 8/19/09
CLEP exams that could satisfy this course are: Calculus, College Algebra, College Mathematics, Precalculus

PSY105 Psychology
Course is scheduled to begin 8/19/09
CLEP exams that could satisfy this course are: American Government, Human Growth and Development, Introduction to Educational Psychology, Introductory Psychology, Principles of Macroeconomics, Principles of Microeconomics

SOC205 Sociology
Course is scheduled to begin 10/04/09
CLEP exams that could satisfy this course are: Same as those for PSY105 with the exception of Introductory Sociology instead of Introductory Psychology

SCI205 Natural Sciences
Course is scheduled to begin 10/04/09
CLEP exams that could satisfy this course are: Biology, Chemistry, Natural Sciences

[kimberlyaz]

One thing I have learned from reading these forums is that everyone has their own process to decide what to take.

I'm nowhere near a pro, but here's the steps that I have taken to make my decisions:

1) I start with only considering the subjects that IC has flashcards on.

2) Then I review the "easiest test" thread to look at comments from other test takers in this forum: http://www.instantcertonline.com/forums/...-list.html

(Obviously everyone has a different educational and employment background, but this thread catalogs high scores that were obtained with studying pretty much just the IC material.)

3) Then I go to the specific exam thread to read more feedback about exams to further narrow the list: http://www.instantcertonline.com/forums/...back-only/

4) Finally I take practice tests to see how I score. For CLEP tests, Peterson's has online practice tests for $20 per subject at Prep for the CLEP - Peterson's and most people say that CLEPs are actually a little bit easier than the Peterson's tests.

(If you are a member of the military you may have free access to these practice tests, but since I'm not, I don't have the specifics.)

Since you are looking to take a number of exams, you might also want to search for threads on overlapping material or exam grouping -- studying for one exam might actually get you part of the way toward the content for another exam! This is a good one to start with: http://www.instantcertonline.com/forums/...light=pair

You might also want to consider DANTES/DSST exams if your school accepts them. They are similar to CLEP, with some similar topics and some variety as well.

Good luck. You'll save a lot of time, money, and boredom by testing out of those lower-division electives that are unrelated to your major.

[GettinMyBA]

Kimberlyaz, check your private messages.

[larry7crys]

I agree with cinderly. Western Civ I was a piece of cake, A & I lit was okay but I failed, Sociology is pretty easy, haven't taken pysch yet but I hear it is very doable, and I would do biology if you hvae no experience in chemistry. I also failed this exam but didn't need it anyway. Good Luck!

[ajp0374]

Just booked the test for 2/23/2008....... wish me luck. My first CLEP. Going over the flash cards now.

Thank you again for all the help. Just wondering if I should postpone my online college start date to finish some of these up.

thanks,

ajp0374

[studyhard]

I thought cinderly's assessment was great, although personally I found US History I far easier than Western Civ. I. A much shorter time span and focused on only ONE country.