High School texts (or DIVE course)used to prepare for DSST Physical Science?

[rjohnson]

How to Use DIVE Integrated Chemistry & Physics identifies the following textbooks as appropriate for an honor-level high school Integrated Chemistry & Physics course:
[INDENT]DIVE Integrated Chemistry and Physics Internet Textbook
ABeka 9th Grade Science: Matter and Energy, 1st Edition
Bob Jones Physical World
Bob Jones Physical Science, 4th or 5th ed.
Prentice Hall Physical Science, Concepts in Action 2009[/INDENT]

Does anyone have experience using any of these (or the DIVE Integrated Chemistry & Physics course itself) to prepare for the DSST Physical Science exam ["Newton’s Laws of Motion, energy & momentum, thermodynamics, wave and optics, electricity and magnetism, chemistry, properties of matter, atomic theory & structure, chemical reactions"]?

Thank you.
[INDENT]R. Johnson
Delaware, USA[/INDENT]

[cookderosa]

How to Use DIVE Integrated Chemistry & Physics identifies the following textbooks as appropriate for an honor-level high school Integrated Chemistry & Physics course:

[INDENT]DIVE Integrated Chemistry and Physics Internet Textbook
ABeka 9th Grade Science: Matter and Energy, 1st Edition
Bob Jones Physical World
Bob Jones Physical Science, 4th or 5th ed.
Prentice Hall Physical Science, Concepts in Action 2009[/INDENT]

Does anyone have experience using any of these (or the DIVE Integrated Chemistry & Physics course itself) to prepare for the DSST Physical Science exam ["Newton’s Laws of Motion, energy & momentum, thermodynamics, wave and optics, electricity and magnetism, chemistry, properties of matter, atomic theory & structure, chemical reactions"]?

Thank you.

[INDENT]R. Johnson
Delaware, USA[/INDENT]

It's impossible to know if a high school text will prepare your child for a college level class. It is VERY possible, however, that your high school student can study for their high school class using a college text. At that point, you have a high likelihood of being test-ready, but you still have taught an excellent high school class (which you'll award high school credit for anyway).

I do this in my homeschool, talk about it at length in my book, use it in my study groups, and discuss it on my Facebook page. That's not a shameless promotion of my "method," it's just how I build my own classes in my own home... and it works for lots of high school families. I believe we do our homeschooled teens a disservice when we teach to the test, so my approach is always that learning trumps credit earning.

1) Get the DSST Official GuidePage so you have the test content info on hand http://getcollegecredit.com/assets/pdf/d...ienceI.pdf

2) Use a college level textbook and match the chapters with the study guide. Create your plan around those chapters. Here's a free one from Saylor. http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/up...hysics.pdf

3) Use a DSST exam study curriculum like Instantcert (you are here) or Free CLEP Prep Principles of Physical Science DSST Study Guide - Free-Clep-Prep.com

4) Buy a "Dummies" or "Idiots" guidebook to help decipher complex lessons from the textbook. Match these chapters up with the text chapters. Here is one for $4 at Amazon Physics For Dummies: Steve Holzner: 0785555107915: Amazon.com: Books

5) Find a multimedia resource to integrate videos and other ways to receive the info. Khan Academy has a whole class on Physics! Match these up to the lessons from the text. https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics

6) Practice Tests (if you get 3/4 of the way through the class and it's going well, add these in to take your child the extra few degrees so they can pass. If it's not going well, drop these, finish the class, and go on with the next class)

hope that helps!

[Carnation]

This exam is REALLY college level.
A high school level physical science text will NOT be enough to pass this test.
You really should use the chemistry and physics books recommended by the test makers for this one.
Or you could wait until your student has completed high school chemistry and/or high school physics courses before test prepping for this one.
http://getcollegecredit.com/assets/pdf/d...ienceI.pdf

I looked into this when ds finished a physical science course.
Now, if you have a student who is passionate and likes to dig deeper than the high school textbook, who knows - you could always give them a practice test and see how they do.
My oldest ds is currently working through a coursera chemistry course and already is passionate about physics on his own.
We may or may not come back to this one as he gets closer to figuring out what type of degree he wants to pursue.

Free Clep Prep rates this test a 4 out of 5 on the difficulty list.
DSST Difficulty List - Free-Clep-Prep.com
This exam is definitely for the science-oriented students!

Happy studying!

[JohnnyHeck]

I believe we do our homeschooled teens a disservice when we teach to the test, so my approach is always that learning trumps credit earning.

Glad to have reaffirmation that there are others who believe this. I extend this belief to all undergrads under 35, to any who may consider going on to grad school, and to all who have holes in their basic knowledge of math.

[cookderosa]

Glad to have reaffirmation that there are others who believe this. I extend this belief to all undergrads under 35, to any who may consider going on to grad school, and to all who have holes in their basic knowledge of math.

I'm going to take this opportunity to briefly expound on this a touch, because we are getting more and more teen members. Those who know me, know that I tested out of my AA at TESC and half my BA at TESC. I'm a HUGE FAN of credit by exam (obviously since it's also my business) and think that it integrates perfectly with homeschool (entering our 20th year as homeschoolers) Testing for adults is not the same as testing for teens. For adults, the more testing the better IMO.

When we (adults) test out, the difference is that we've already been through school. We aren't learning US History for the first time, we studied it formally 12 years and informally for another 25. We lived through most of US History 2 and watch the news. It's DIFFERENT. We aren't learning from scratch, we're cramming for a test, and I think that's a perfectly fine. As an adult, if something is necessary for my job- I learn it. If something catches my interest- I learn it. If I have trouble with something- I learn it. It's SELF directed. When we teach our kids, we are directing their education. Teaching to the test (for kids) is a bad bad bad plan. You don't have to listen to a homeschool mom to hear that, listen to the controversy around Common Core. Teachers are quitting the profession for being forced to teach their classes to the test. It's shortchanging them in ways that we can never retrieve later. I believe you can INJECT college credit opportunities into regular high school curriculum, and by choosing college-prep/college level curriculum, the odds of hitting the mark go WAY up. But, it's just frosting on the cake.

[Westerner]

Definitely agree with what Cookderosa's saying. Don't just teach to the test, but for real learning. That said, DIVE science is really good prep for some tests. My sisters did DIVE Biology and right after, studied for CLEP Biology for a few weeks and passed with scores in the 60s.

[bluebooger]

This exam is REALLY college level.
A high school level physical science text will NOT be enough to pass this test.


http://getcollegecredit.com/assets/pdf/d...ienceI.pdf

..

it's been many, many years since I took chemistry or physics in high school, yet all of the sample questions in that pdf look like they came straight off our weekly tests

there is nothing there I would have been unfamiliar with or unable to answer way back in my HS days

I'd definitely fail if I took the test today (or anytime within the next month), but given a month of casual study I'm sure I could pass it easily

and I'm pretty shocked at the book Jennifer posted

I see it's from Rice University, but a college physics book WITHOUT CALCULUS ?!?!

that physics book looks no different from what we had in high school

[cookderosa]

it's been many, many years since I took chemistry or physics in high school, yet all of the sample questions in that pdf look like they came straight off our weekly tests

there is nothing there I would have been unfamiliar with or unable to answer way back in my HS days

I'd definitely fail if I took the test today (or anytime within the next month), but given a month of casual study I'm sure I could pass it easily

and I'm pretty shocked at the book Jennifer posted

I see it's from Rice University, but a college physics book WITHOUT CALCULUS ?!?!

that physics book looks no different from what we had in high school

Lets hope any parent orchestrating a semester of physics is going to invest more time than I did writing that post. The point wasn't that I thought Saylor's freebie was the best book, the point is that you can and should use a college textbook to create a high school class if you're shooting for college credit. (I spent about 4 minutes writing that post.)

Don't be shocked by the Saylor book, MANY college physics classes are algebra based. In fact, I've seen MANY college physics FOR SCIENCE MAJORS courses that are algebra based. The MCAT (medical school entrance exam that follows 8 "science for science majors" courses including 2 semesters of general physics with lab) is algebra based. I don't even know off the top of my head if the DSST is physics or calc based (anyone?), but again, that would be something to investigate when developing curriculum or buying it in a package off the shelf (like DIVE).

EDIT: I looked up the TESC equivalency for this exam, it's NAS131.

The TESC online courses are as follows:
Physics I (PHY-111)
Physics II (PHY-112)
Physics I with Lab (PHY-115)
Physics II with Lab (PHY-116)
Physics I Lab (PHY-128)
Physics Lab II (PHY-129)

They all have algebra prereqs, not precal/trig. This exam doesn't even garner a PHY prefix. No way calculus is required.

[rjohnson]

Definitely agree with what Cookderosa's saying. Don't just teach to the test, but for real learning. That said, DIVE science is really good prep for some tests. My sisters did DIVE Biology and right after, studied for CLEP Biology for a few weeks and passed with scores in the 60s.

Thanks to everyone for the comments and suggestions.

I, too, definitely agree with "Don't just teach to the test, but for real learning."

Since DiveIntoMath.com's Biology, Chemistry, Physics courses seem to emphasize real learning and also to be good preparation for the corresponding CLEP and AP exams,
I thought that their Integrated Chemistry & Physics might be good for real learning and also as preparation for the DSST Physical Science exam.
[And Bob Jones' high school Biology and Chemistry textbooks are among those DIVE recommends for their CLEP or AP level Biology and Chemistry courses.]

Also, personally, I appreciate the Christian perspective of DIVE courses.

- R. Johnson

[Westerner]

Since DiveIntoMath.com's Biology, Chemistry, Physics courses seem to emphasize real learning and also to be good preparation for the corresponding CLEP and AP exams,
I thought that their Integrated Chemistry & Physics might be good for real learning and also as preparation for the DSST Physical Science exam.

Right, right, they're both good HS courses and good prep for CLEPs. I'm not sure about how good this ICP is for the DSST Physical Science, though, sorry.