How many courses does Modern States pay for?

[acethroughcollege]

They say "Freshman year for Free" but how many classes/credits will they pay for?

[rachel83az]

I don't think that there is a limit. They'll pay for as many courses as you can pass. That said, Sophia is SO much easier and faster. Once you take into account things like travel time and scheduling for the CLEPs (things that Sophia does not require), Sophia can actually be cheaper out of pocket than ModernStates.

[acethroughcollege]

I don't think that there is a limit. They'll pay for as many courses as you can pass. That said, Sophia is SO much easier and faster. Once you take into account things like travel time and scheduling for the CLEPs (things that Sophia does not require), Sophia can actually be cheaper out of pocket than ModernStates.

Thanks Rachel, how does Sophia work. For Modern States you just watch the lectures and take the exam. We can take them at home. And Modern States reimburses.  How is Sophia faster?

[rachel83az]

Please do NOT take the CLEP exams at home! There are serious issues with the proctor that CLEP uses. Serious privacy/possible ID-theft concerns.

With Sophia, you read through the material and/or watch videos (when available). Some of the shorter courses can be completed in a matter of hours. A few of the longer ones can take a week or more. (We don't really recommend Sophia's English Comp or Public Speaking, especially for TESU and UMPI students.) You answer quiz questions along the way as you work through the course. Sophia's exams and quizzes are all open book and can be taken immediately. I would suggest signing up for Sophia to see what it's all about. You can access the first section of each course for free.

I've tried going through ModernStates courses. They can take at least a week or two if you're expecting to pass the material so that you get the voucher. Then you have to wait for the voucher and schedule the exam.

[dfrecore]

I don't think that there is a limit. They'll pay for as many courses as you can pass. That said, Sophia is SO much easier and faster. Once you take into account things like travel time and scheduling for the CLEPs (things that Sophia does not require), Sophia can actually be cheaper out of pocket than ModernStates.

Thanks Rachel, how does Sophia work. For Modern States you just watch the lectures and take the exam. We can take them at home. And Modern States reimburses.  How is Sophia faster?

For both Modern States and Sophia, you're taking a full course.  With MS, you then schedule and take a CLEP exam, while with Sophia, once you take (and pass) the course, you're done.

Also, for MS, they reimburse you for the test center fees after you've taken the exam, and then it's several weeks before you get a check.

[studyingfortests]

I did MS for several CLEPs. I knocked through one (analyzing and interpreting lit) in about 3-4 days, and another (college comp) in about the same time... but it depends on how much time you have to put in. One of the shortcuts for me is reading the transcripts instead of watching the videos. For me, much faster and actually better comprehension. There are a few lessons where watching the videos could be helpful, but in general that's a huge time saver.

My experience was that the process from requesting the voucher to getting it was maybe 2 days. But it does take about 8 weeks to get reimbursement for proctoring cost, and that's after you've completed and passed the test.

As far as the home proctoring, I have to agree with rachel83az. It's incredibly janky, and when I did it (a month or so after they started offering it), there were ambiguities and I accidentally exited the test instead of completing it, and it took an act of God to reach someone at College Board to get it fixed. But supposedly they have fixed that now. HOwever, there are still some pretty major privacy concerns, as the home proctoring software is pretty invasive from a privacy perspective. (On the other hand... if you go to a testing center, you're around others, in a generally small room, for several hours... and masks are required at most. So those factors pose concerns of a different type in current circumstances.

Right now (through I think September 30th) Sophia is offering 50% off of one month ($40 instead of $80) and if you have the time and bust ass, you could probably complete ~20+ credits in that one month. So might be worth considering. But you can't beat free.

[LevelUP]

Someone didn't like my post on the Modern States saying you can get the answers on the net.

Word for word, they use the exact same questions/answers as in the Offical CLEP Study Guide, it's no secret.

[studyingfortests]

Someone didn't like my post on the Modern States saying you can get the answers on the net.

Word for word, they use the exact same questions/answers as in the Offical CLEP Study Guide, it's no secret.

Well, Modern States is a consortium of states trying to help people, especially low-income high school students, get a leg up on college and save money. Encouraging people to cheat on the Modern States tests to get the free vouchers is going to have a significant negative effect on the pass rates, and I'm sure Modern States grant funding is tied to their students' pass rates.  So I can see why they'd see it as a pretty dick move to draw people's attention actively to ways to cheat.

[acethroughcollege]

Please do NOT take the CLEP exams at home! There are serious issues with the proctor that CLEP uses. Serious privacy/possible ID-theft concerns.

With Sophia, you read through the material and/or watch videos (when available). Some of the shorter courses can be completed in a matter of hours. A few of the longer ones can take a week or more. (We don't really recommend Sophia's English Comp or Public Speaking, especially for TESU and UMPI students.) You answer quiz questions along the way as you work through the course. Sophia's exams and quizzes are all open book and can be taken immediately. I would suggest signing up for Sophia to see what it's all about. You can access the first section of each course for free.

I've tried going through ModernStates courses. They can take at least a week or two if you're expecting to pass the material so that you get the voucher. Then you have to wait for the voucher and schedule the exam.

I am going to sign up for Sophia is there a limit of how many classes I can take there?

---

I did MS for several CLEPs.  I knocked through one (analyzing and interpreting lit) in about 3-4 days, and another (college comp) in about the same time... but it depends on how much time you have to put in.  One of the shortcuts for me is reading the transcripts instead of watching the videos. For me, much faster and actually better comprehension.  There are a few lessons where watching the videos could be helpful, but in general that's a huge time saver.

My experience was that the process from requesting the voucher to getting it was maybe 2 days. But it does take about 8 weeks to get reimbursement for proctoring cost, and that's after you've completed and passed the test.

As far as the home proctoring, I have to agree with rachel83az. It's incredibly janky, and when I did it (a month or so after they started offering it), there were ambiguities and I accidentally exited the test instead of completing it, and it took an act of God to reach someone at College Board to get it fixed. But supposedly they have fixed that now.  HOwever, there are still some pretty major privacy concerns, as the home proctoring software is pretty invasive from a privacy perspective.  (On the other hand... if you go to a testing center, you're around others, in a generally small room, for several hours... and masks are required at most.  So those factors pose concerns of a different type in current circumstances.

Right now (through I think September 30th) Sophia is offering 50% off of one month ($40 instead of $80) and if you have the time and bust ass, you could probably complete ~20+ credits in that one month.  So might be worth considering.  But you can't beat free.

So theres no limit on how many classes I can take in that month! Thats awesome!

[rachel83az]

You are limited to two active courses at one time. Avoid doing two courses with multiple Touchstones at once or else you could find yourself unable to continue as you wait for the Touchstones to be graded. Check https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/So...lency_List to see which ones have Touchstones and which ones do not. In general, avoid English Comp and Public Speaking. The others are fine. Public Speaking is okay if you really need it, though.

Other than that, you are allowed to take as many courses as you are able to during your membership period. Until the 30th, use code Back2School to get the first month for $40 instead of $80.