As the title says, I recently took and passed the CLEP for Principles of Marketing and the DSST for Finance. I scored a 65 on the CLEP and a 467 on the DSST.
CLEP Principles of Marketing I just took today. I'm actually not too pleased with my score as well as the study experience. I was under the impression this was one of the easiest CLEPs and required the least effort, but this has been my worst test thus far. I've taken the tests for macro, micro, algebra, stats, financial accounting, managerial accounting, and finance and have either aced them or gotten a high score. I've gotten 4s/5s on AP tests. I've also taken calc and bio courses at a B&M school and did well in those. My guess is that marketing takes more "street smarts" and is of a different rigor than the other courses I've taken. It seems I just lack the "social" knowledge.
I followed the Free-CLEP-Prep website's study guide for marketing (essentially a mix of Wikipedia articles), the Peterson's tests, and the College Board's official practice test. The Free-CLEP-Prep's study guide wasn't deep enough and I was stuck picking up the pieces while taking the Peterson's tests. By the time I finished all 3 Peterson's tests, I took the official practice test and scored 81%, so I felt ready.
The test partially relied on information I learned from macro, micro, accounting 1 and 2, and finance, surprisingly. The remainder were topics I learned from the study guides and practice test OR were topics I never learned. I didn't take my time with it and just tried to fly through it. I believe I finished the test in 30 minutes, which may explain my score not being better.
DSST Finance intimidated the hell out of me as everyone said it was the hardest test ever, but aside form the breadth on information, I found it very easy, especially having taken macro, micro, and accounting 1 and 2 prior. I took 2.5 weeks studying for it using the recommended text (Essentials of Corporate Finance, 6th ed.). You don't need to study the whole book, just some of the chapters, or even sections of a chapter. I'll list the chapters but I lost the exact sections I studied, so just refer to the DSST factsheet and figure out what topics to pick out: 2, 3, 4, 5, parts of 6, parts of 7, parts of 8, 9, 11, 12, leverage section of 13, stock splits section of 14, 16, and just skim 18. I used the companion site for the 8th edition to test myself over and over and over. I also referred to the notes found for DSST Finance on the blog "60+ Credits in 60 Days" and googled topics accordingly.
I felt overprepared for the test. I even used a BA II+ financial calculator (which I still recommend - I argued with my proctor and gave them evidence that I was allowed to use it - my actions resulted in them changing their calculator policy).
Another thing is that I originally planned on taking Uexcel Finance. I quit and pursued the DSST because the Uexcel is not only based on a harder version of the textbook the DSST is based on, but it's based on every single chapter in that book - that's 21 WHOLE CHAPTERS versus 13ish chapters for the DSST (13ish if you consider the fact a number of the chapters listed are only sections, not the entire chapter). The material in Essentials of Corporate Finance (DSST) is much easier than the material in Fundamentals of Corporate Finance (Uexcel). So stay far away from Uexcel Finance.
I hope this will be useful to you guys.
CLEP Principles of Marketing I just took today. I'm actually not too pleased with my score as well as the study experience. I was under the impression this was one of the easiest CLEPs and required the least effort, but this has been my worst test thus far. I've taken the tests for macro, micro, algebra, stats, financial accounting, managerial accounting, and finance and have either aced them or gotten a high score. I've gotten 4s/5s on AP tests. I've also taken calc and bio courses at a B&M school and did well in those. My guess is that marketing takes more "street smarts" and is of a different rigor than the other courses I've taken. It seems I just lack the "social" knowledge.
I followed the Free-CLEP-Prep website's study guide for marketing (essentially a mix of Wikipedia articles), the Peterson's tests, and the College Board's official practice test. The Free-CLEP-Prep's study guide wasn't deep enough and I was stuck picking up the pieces while taking the Peterson's tests. By the time I finished all 3 Peterson's tests, I took the official practice test and scored 81%, so I felt ready.
The test partially relied on information I learned from macro, micro, accounting 1 and 2, and finance, surprisingly. The remainder were topics I learned from the study guides and practice test OR were topics I never learned. I didn't take my time with it and just tried to fly through it. I believe I finished the test in 30 minutes, which may explain my score not being better.
DSST Finance intimidated the hell out of me as everyone said it was the hardest test ever, but aside form the breadth on information, I found it very easy, especially having taken macro, micro, and accounting 1 and 2 prior. I took 2.5 weeks studying for it using the recommended text (Essentials of Corporate Finance, 6th ed.). You don't need to study the whole book, just some of the chapters, or even sections of a chapter. I'll list the chapters but I lost the exact sections I studied, so just refer to the DSST factsheet and figure out what topics to pick out: 2, 3, 4, 5, parts of 6, parts of 7, parts of 8, 9, 11, 12, leverage section of 13, stock splits section of 14, 16, and just skim 18. I used the companion site for the 8th edition to test myself over and over and over. I also referred to the notes found for DSST Finance on the blog "60+ Credits in 60 Days" and googled topics accordingly.
I felt overprepared for the test. I even used a BA II+ financial calculator (which I still recommend - I argued with my proctor and gave them evidence that I was allowed to use it - my actions resulted in them changing their calculator policy).
Another thing is that I originally planned on taking Uexcel Finance. I quit and pursued the DSST because the Uexcel is not only based on a harder version of the textbook the DSST is based on, but it's based on every single chapter in that book - that's 21 WHOLE CHAPTERS versus 13ish chapters for the DSST (13ish if you consider the fact a number of the chapters listed are only sections, not the entire chapter). The material in Essentials of Corporate Finance (DSST) is much easier than the material in Fundamentals of Corporate Finance (Uexcel). So stay far away from Uexcel Finance.
I hope this will be useful to you guys.
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