Serious Assistance Needed

[Sabrinam1979]

In regards to the VA assistance, do you mean Post 9/11 GI Bill?

[ckijake]

In regards to the VA assistance, do you mean Post 9/11 GI Bill?

Yes, I changed the benefit to Post 9/11 GI Bill.


All,

Thank you very much. My degree plan is taking a shape. I now have an idea of what and which puzzles to use to take on the task.
I will be asking more questions and humbly ask for your guidance.

Thank you.

[BenWalton]

I would like to suggest freeclepprep.com as a good information site. It has study guides for the CLEP and DSST exams, and others. Reading information on the site will make you feel even more comfortable about getting your degree quickly.

Also, as I said before, I'm glad you stumbled on IC. The Specific Exam threads are inestimable. When I decide to study for an exam, I go to the thread for that exam and find the study recommendations posted by the people with the best scores. There are some people who have gotten perfect scores or pretty close to it. From those study recommendations, I decide what I want to study. I have never failed an exam either using IC to supplement books, websites, etc., or using IC by itself (I would not recommend using IC by itself unless it is highly recommended by someone who has done it, and has gotten a good score).

[Sabrinam1979]

Yes, VA will reimburse for CLEP and Dantes exams. I work for a university. See the link for what I forward my students: Welcome to the GI Bill Web Site | The Home for All Educational Benefits Provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs

[rebel100]

Yes, VA will reimburse for CLEP and Dantes exams. I work for a university. See the link for what I forward my students: Welcome to the GI Bill Web Site | The Home for All Educational Benefits Provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs

WOW! And Excelsior exams! Great news.

[ckijake]

A TESC BSBA in General Management is a fine choice if you want to get a degree really fast. The curriculum is quite decent and it is flexible. I completed 96 credits between August 27 and October 1 and will get my degree in December. I worked during the month (albeit admittedly in a slightly reduced capacity) and I lost at least a week of time during that month due to 3 flights across the Pacific and 4 flights across North America. I may not be a typical candidate but my study time was minimal. My total study time for 7 CLEPs, 12 DSST, 4 TECEP, 3 ALEKS and 5 Straighterline courses was probably about 10-15 hours. If at all possible, avoid Straighterline. The course quality/customer service is shoddy. If at all possible, take the CLEP/DSST and save yourself the trouble of having to complete all the SL assignments. I can't recommend ALEKS enough though, it's fantastic. If you know business, it's scary how fast you can do this stuff. The cost of doing so many exams at once adds up quickly but it's easily worth the cost. The total cost for me was about $2400 excluding travel expenses.

I obviously don't encourage you to try to replicate my month-long torture trek but I really believe that if you know business and you have the motivation you could finish all the requirements for the BSBA from scratch by December 1 and graduate in March 2013. I can give you a little advice if you decide to do the TESC BSBA.

• Develop a good test-taking strategy (mark every question you aren't sure of and if you have marked less than 1/2 of the questions on a CLEP/DSST you should be good to go)
  
• Know basic psychology (especially theories and theorists), this knowledge helped me tremendously pass the Intro to Psych, Fundamentals of Counselling, Substance Abuse, OB and HR Management with little or no study. It also helped a little on my Sales Management and Strategic Management tests.
  
• Understand basic economic theories like inflation/interest, supply/demand and the US banking system, knowing this helped me pass Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Principles of Finance and Money and Banking with less than 5 hours of combined study.
  
• Straighterline is not actually cheap and is very time-consuming, avoid them if at all possible.
  
• If you ever took maths to a Calculus level before (even basic Calc), you should probably have no problem wiping the dust off your maths skills and getting 12 easy credits by doing ALEKS Intermediate Algebra, College Algebra, Pre-Calc and Stats. If you do decent on the diagnostic test you can just submit it for ACE credit and don't need to go any further.
  
• Read this forum and find out which exams play to your personal strengths. There's only a few exams which are truly "soft"; most exams' difficulties will depend on your personal background.
  
• Talk to an advisor at TESC about your plans ASAP (get a proper appointment and do a preliminary degree plan in advance). I was so rushed in my degree process that I wasn't really able to talk to advisors as much as I would have liked so the process was a lot more stressful than it could have been.
  
• FEMAs are fast and cheap for those 6 Free Elective credits, but they're not actually that fast. You probably know more than you think and if you're willing to cough up the money you can take 2 CLEP/DSSTs in way less time than it takes to do 6 FEMAs.
  
• Coffee: You'll need it.
  

WOW. I know I do not have your determination to get it done that quick. I have made an appointment with an advisor at TESC and Western Governors University. I am going to talk to them to see which one will fit my need.
If I decide to start taking the tests that will give me credits toward to earning a degree, those titles in your signatures are the ones I should concentrate on knocking down?

Thank you.

[Yanji]

The exams in my signature are all quite "soft" in that you don't need lots of technical knowledge to pass them. They're all very passable, but pay close attention to the exams which can't be substituted like Principles of Marketing/Management and Business Law CLEPS, Principles of Finance DSST and Strategic Management TECEP. I'd suggest starting off with some easy tests to get a good feel for CLEP/DSSTs and build your confidence before doing the more substantial exams like Microeconomics or Business Law.

The TESC website has information on which tests count towards which area of study and a lot of other good information relevant to your degree plan. I can say TESC customer service isn't great but it improves after you're formally enrolled.