Help with questions before starting?

[HarryHungwell]

After reading over the wiki and this forum for the past days I've come to the conclusion that I've put off getting a degree far too long and would like to try and knock one out in 2016 seeing as I don't really have anything else to do. What I'm a bit concerned about is that I live in the middle of nowhere and I'm not sure if that will make testing out difficult? I have checked getcollegecredit.com and it stated that some of the schools moderately close to me offer online DSST exams. How would I access these? Do I have to be enrolled at said school, because I have never seen testing listed on their sites.

I've been trying to choose between CIS and English, without much success. Which one is considered easier to test out of?


Thanks for any answers or advice in advance!

[topdog98]

I have checked getcollegecredit.com and it stated that some of the schools moderately close to me offer online DSST exams. How would I access these? Do I have to be enrolled at said school, because I have never seen testing listed on their sites.

You would go to the testing center and take the test at the school. The test is online as opposed to a paper test, but it is administered at the school's testing center. You do not necessarily have to be enrolled at the school. (Some schools do require those taking the tests to be enrolled). Usually the school will charge a testing fee of about $25 or so in addition to the DSST fee.

[dfrecore]

When looking at testing centers, you want to make sure that it's an "Open" one, which means you don't have to be enrolled to test there. You also want to check to see if they administer CLEP exams as well.

You can also look for UExcel exams which are administered at Pearson VUE centers, if that's more convenient. JavaOnline.org is proctored through Prometric.

But, really, the most convenient for those of us who live further away from testing centers than we'd like is to do as many courses as possible via online proctoring like ProctorU. TECEP's, Straighterline, Saylor, edX, JumpCourse, Study.com, CSU-Global CBE's, LowCostGenEd, Propero, Ed4Credit & Sophia.

Of course, these are in addition to free courses: Kaplan PLA, TEEX, The Institutes, NFA & DreamDegree.
And inexpensive courses which are unproctored: ALEKS

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You cannot test out of English, CIS is fairly easy to test out of being that it's a Business Degree. TESC does not have a capstone for the BSBA, EC has a capstone for every degree, and COSC has a cornerstone and capstone for every degree. Costs will vary, as will what they'll each accept, so you'll want to spend some time studying the forum to decide which one you'd like to take.

You can also test out of a Liberal Studies degree at TESC, with only the Capstone (like EC).

[cookderosa]

I agree with everyone else. The site you looked at: getcollegecredit is for DSST exams. You'll also want to look for CLEP exams. They are usually at a different set of testing centers, and a different list of subjects. Testing centers set their own fees on top of the exam cost, so CALL AROUND. It can be anywhere from $0 -$50 just for the testing center's cut- and the exams are the same, so don't pay a penny more than you have to. In general, pay for convenience (location, hours, etc). Choose a nice place, you'll probably be using it a lot.

The place you test is just for testing- if you have to be a student, then it's not an open center, keep looking around. You don't need to worry about anything related to that college- their exam acceptance, their tuition, etc. don't matter. Also, if they only accept 5 exams, that doesn't mean you can only take those- the exams are online from the exam maker, the facility is just letting you use their computer. If they offer one CLEP, they offer them all.