Natural Sciences CLEP exam?

[jcanion]

Has anybody taken this exam yet, any advise, will take in a few months
please advise or if anybody has a Physical Science Book that iStudySmart uses for their class-please let me know
thanks!

[ShotoJuku]

Has anybody taken this exam yet, any advise, will take in a few months
please advise or if anybody has a Physical Science Book that iStudySmart uses for their class-please let me know
thanks!

I have and I believe there may be a couple of good threads here already if want to take a look with the "search" feature. The following is one that I cut and pasted here from another thread. GOOD LUCK!!


Just something to think about my friend. The NS exam IS 50% Biology with the other 50% comprising of Chemistry, Geology, Astrology, and Physics. I know that I passed NS because I took Biology FIRST and then boned up on the other stuff and passed NS too.

My point being here is that for all intent-and-purposes here you will have to master ALL FIVE science disciplines for the NS exam rather than JUST ONE if you sit the Biology exam. They're both 6 credits exams; and if you can do Bio and then leap frog into NS that's 12 BIG CREDITS.

Again, just something to think about. GOOD LUCK!!!!

[jcanion]

Aloha
I will take the BIO first, then the NatSci. The Biology looks tough any suggestions for reference materials? You have passed both NatSci and Bio
What was your prep strategies (ie how many weeks did you prepare), I studied Bio many years ago.

Thanks for your help!

[Librevore]

Aloha
I will take the BIO first, then the NatSci. The Biology looks tough any suggestions for reference materials? You have passed both NatSci and Bio
What was your prep strategies (ie how many weeks did you prepare), I studied Bio many years ago.

Thanks for your help!

jcanion,

The biology clep is totally doable with IC and looking up some items on Wikipedia. I passed it just a few weeks ago that way and did very well without any backgroud. Since you have studied it before, you should do great! If you do a search for biology threads on this site you will pick up even more info. If I can help, let me know.

Librevore

[ShotoJuku]

Aloha
I will take the BIO first, then the NatSci. The Biology looks tough any suggestions for reference materials? You have passed both NatSci and Bio
What was your prep strategies (ie how many weeks did you prepare), I studied Bio many years ago.

Thanks for your help!

[SIZE="3"][COLOR="Navy"]I used the REA book and the standard deviants tape, however the tape primarilly covers cellular functions and such, but that is a MAJOR FOCUS of the exam.

I studied for bio for 3 weeks and then added another 2 weeks for the NS exam to cover the other sciences.

GOOD LUCK!![/COLOR][/SIZE]

[jcanion]

Aloha

I have not studied Biology since middle school, I remember some basic concepts?

Will the material in IC help me out? Is the Biology CLEP for Biology majors or is it a Liberal Arts (non-science majors) ie the NatSci.

I had a friend that took the NatSci a year ago and there were many questions that he did not recognize even though he studied hard? He did pass with a 52 but honestly told me he guessed at a few as the clock was winding down.

So the question is similiar in preparing for the Biology CLEP, were there many questions that were not covered in the IC reference/REA?

Thanks again for your help/direction.

[ShotoJuku]

Aloha

I have not studied Biology since middle school, I remember some basic concepts?

Will the material in IC help me out? Is the Biology CLEP for Biology majors or is it a Liberal Arts (non-science majors) ie the NatSci.

I had a friend that took the NatSci a year ago and there were many questions that he did not recognize even though he studied hard? He did pass with a 52 but honestly told me he guessed at a few as the clock was winding down.

So the question is similiar in preparing for the Biology CLEP, were there many questions that were not covered in the IC reference/REA?

Thanks again for your help/direction.

[SIZE="3"]The CLEP Bio exam is LL (lower level) and thus basic bio. The REA book cover the entire exam. The standard deviant tape covers cellular functions but was a TERRIFIC asset (to me). GOOD LUCK!![/SIZE]

[learningasIgo]

Hi jcanion,

I took both the Biology and Natural Sciences CLEPs (one in May, and one in early June). I am not a science major, and have not taken a life science-related course since high school, so I was apprehensive about those exams myself. However, I studied for no more than a couple of weeks for each exam, and scored a 58 on each one. Yippee!!

Thanks to all of the helpful advice I read on this discussion board (thanks, everyone! ), I studied for and took the Biology CLEP first. I agree, it is better to take that one first. I used IC and found it very helpful, but I had difficulty getting through the huge volume of flashcards. Come to think of it, I am not sure if I actually got through all of them.

Except for the monthly cost for IC, all the material I used for these tests were free Web resources. This may sound a bit silly to some, but the most helpful resources for me when it comes to studying for something like science, are science sites that are geared toward kids. They explain the same concepts we need to know, but they do it succinctly and in easy to understand terms.

Both the Biology and Natural Sciences CLEPs focus a lot on cell biology, and it is important to know the names and functions of the different organelles. The Web site that helped me most of all with this, hands down, was Rader's Biology4Kids ( http://www.biology4kids.com/index.html ). That site sufficiently explains what you need to know about the various cell organelles for the CLEP exam. It was also sufficient when it came to plant biology and photosynthesis. Pay special attention to the functions of xylem and phloem.

There is a little bit about the plant and animal kingdoms on the biology exam (I cannot remember if it is on the NS exam or not), and the Kidzone Web site ( http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/scientific.htm ) helped me with that.

Although not a kids' site, the NOVA Online flash demonstration ( http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/miracle/divide.html# ) helped me most when it came to understanding the process and differences between mitosis and meiosis.

The following sites were also very helpful to me:

A demonstration of membrane transport (both passive and active transport)
http://www.northland.cc.mn.us/biology/Bi...port1.html

To get a better grasp of genetics, the Fly Lab was very helpful to me
http://bioweb.wku.edu/courses/Biol114/Vfly1.asp

I hope this helps; and, best of luck with your tests!

[jcanion]

Aloha

Thank you Kate, you're the best of the best!

Mahalo Nui Loa means "thank you very much" in Hawaiian.
I live in Hawaii (Big Island)

[Librevore]

Aloha

Thank you Kate, you're the best of the best!

Mahalo Nui Loa means "thank you very much" in Hawaiian.
I live in Hawaii (Big Island)

Ummmh...thank you too, jcanion but I think that learningasIgo and Shoto have been a lot more help on this so far.

There is another thread that is titled Biology Clep that has a rundown of everything that I could remember right after taking the test. If you haven't already, you might want to check it out. Again, if I can be of any help, let me know! I found out while studying for this test that I really like biology.

Librevore