Potential problem w/ Excelsior!

[ShoaibS15]

Well, I am attempting at getting my Associate's degree AT LEAST through all credit-by-examination. Now I think I may have stumbled upon a possible problem, and I was wondering if some people here would like to help with this "investigation".
I took the Intro Psych. CLEP and did pretty well. I was expecting an A based on the other scores i've seen people score. I go ahead and check on Excelsior's site, and it turns out that MAJORITY of CLEP exams are now just "cut scores" of 50 for a PASS. Now, if i am right here, that means that if I am going this route, (and i have a feeling a lot of us here are doing the same at least for a big portion of the degree,) my GPA is not really being accumulated in this fashion. Another one of my concerns is if this means I CANNOT finish my degree in this manner? I called Excelsior on Monday, only to be sent to Admissions because i am not enrolled yet, and when I asked for an answer to this whole query, the person said they do not deal with this type of question, and as I asked if I can transferred to a department where this question can be answered, the person said "no problem," and suddenly hung up the phone. Now, at this point I was too frustrated to make the call back and going from department to department, so now I ask everyone here... Do any of you have an answer to this? If not, can someone help in this, if they are already enrolled into the college, call and ask the counselor or advisor? Not only I, but this whole forum will be appreciative for this.

I just wanted to bring this useful piece of information to the attention of this forum, as I was disappointed to find out that the Intro Psych exam was not being assigned a letter grade any longer, but just a PASS. Kind of makes my studying feel worthless. Any insight, or comments will be much appreciated. Take care guys. Peace.

[RBOWMAN]

I am graduating through Thomas Edison State College and I have no concern with GPA'S. Also, my counselor as okayed this testing approach withiut reservation as long as it fits into my course requirements and that has always been the case.

[anar579]

Unfortunately for some, fortunately for others, many CLEP exams are now Pass/Fail at Excelsior. The reason for this is that CLEP exams were revised sometime last year and the school doesn't have enough data to assign a letter grade, so Excelsior and perhaps other schools have just assigned Pass/Fail scores. It will certainly affect your GPA for your Associate's degree and you may end up with only a handful of grades to average a GPA.

I'm assuming at some point the exams will be assigned letter grades, so perhaps waiting to take the exams might solve this problem. I sent an e-mail to advisement to find out roughly when this might happen. Those of us pursuing a Bachelor's degree won't have much of an issue with this because the DANTES, ECE, and other exams do have letter grades.

[Nytwolf]

Can't speak for Excelsior, but I know that with state universities and most private universities and colleges here in Tennessee, your GPA is not affected by CLEP or Dantes/DSST exams. It actually sucked for me because I have a 3.77 GPA (Magna Cum Laude) and if the CLEP scores would've gone towards my GPA I would've had a GPA in the Summa Cum Laude range.

The way my school interpreted it, a pass/fail didn't have a range for grading. In other words, pass would be an "A" and fail would be an "F". They said that without having a defined range set up for passing scores, such as 50-65 = "D" 65-80 = "C" 80-90 = "B" 90-100 = "A", they couldn't apply it to the GPA. I guess some schools DO give a range for passing CLEP scores to apply to GPA, but they are few and far between.

[ShoaibS15]

Unfortunately for some, fortunately for others, many CLEP exams are now Pass/Fail at Excelsior. The reason for this is that CLEP exams were revised sometime last year and the school doesn't have enough data to assign a letter grade, so Excelsior and perhaps other schools have just assigned Pass/Fail scores. It will certainly affect your GPA for your Associate's degree and you may end up with only a handful of grades to average a GPA.

I'm assuming at some point the exams will be assigned letter grades, so perhaps waiting to take the exams might solve this problem. I sent an e-mail to advisement to find out roughly when this might happen. Those of us pursuing a Bachelor's degree won't have much of an issue with this because the DANTES, ECE, and other exams do have letter grades.

So now I have a couple questions, if you can answer them... If, let's say, there are only 5 exams I am taking which WILL have a letter grade assigned (i.e. DSST), will that be enough for me to form a GPA, or is the amount of tests not the issue??? Another question, will these pass/fail scores later be turned into a letter grade depending on your score, or is that not going to happen? This seems like a very unfortunate turn of events, as i was planning on "Clepping out" majority of the Associate's, and that too in a couple more months, but this is putting a hold on the whole situation. Thanks guys for earlier replies.

[ShotoJuku]

Well, I am attempting at getting my Associate's degree AT LEAST through all credit-by-examination. Now I think I may have stumbled upon a possible problem, and I was wondering if some people here would like to help with this "investigation".
I took the Intro Psych. CLEP and did pretty well. I was expecting an A based on the other scores i've seen people score. I go ahead and check on Excelsior's site, and it turns out that MAJORITY of CLEP exams are now just "cut scores" of 50 for a PASS. Now, if i am right here, that means that if I am going this route, (and i have a feeling a lot of us here are doing the same at least for a big portion of the degree,) my GPA is not really being accumulated in this fashion. Another one of my concerns is if this means I CANNOT finish my degree in this manner? I called Excelsior on Monday, only to be sent to Admissions because i am not enrolled yet, and when I asked for an answer to this whole query, the person said they do not deal with this type of question, and as I asked if I can transferred to a department where this question can be answered, the person said "no problem," and suddenly hung up the phone. Now, at this point I was too frustrated to make the call back and going from department to department, so now I ask everyone here... Do any of you have an answer to this? If not, can someone help in this, if they are already enrolled into the college, call and ask the counselor or advisor? Not only I, but this whole forum will be appreciative for this.

I just wanted to bring this useful piece of information to the attention of this forum, as I was disappointed to find out that the Intro Psych exam was not being assigned a letter grade any longer, but just a PASS. Kind of makes my studying feel worthless. Any insight, or comments will be much appreciated. Take care guys. Peace.

[SIZE="4"]Sounds like you have a few personal options as you have not enrolled with EC yet. Either enroll at some other form of distance learning school or a regular brick and mortar school and pay much more $$$ and take several weeks/months to complete a class/course and your degree or enroll in EC, save time, $$$ and earn your degree there. Incidentally, If you reviewed your admissions materials, (A Student Guide to Credit by Examination at Excelsior College) you will find the EC policy on rating exams and that some do actually carry a letter grade. GOOD LUCK!![/SIZE]

[anar579]

So now I have a couple questions, if you can answer them... If, let's say, there are only 5 exams I am taking which WILL have a letter grade assigned (i.e. DSST), will that be enough for me to form a GPA, or is the amount of tests not the issue??? Another question, will these pass/fail scores later be turned into a letter grade depending on your score, or is that not going to happen? This seems like a very unfortunate turn of events, as i was planning on "Clepping out" majority of the Associate's, and that too in a couple more months, but this is putting a hold on the whole situation. Thanks guys for earlier replies.

Q1 - This is just an assumption, but it doesn't matter how many graded exams you have, they are averaged out to a GPA. For example, my last status report shows a total of 39.0 credit hours; only 2 classes (6 credits) have a letter grade assigned (2 A's), and my Eval. GPA is a 4.0. I'm assuming the amount of tests is not an issue; if anyone else can add to this please do.

Q2 - If Excelsior later decides to assign a letter grade to the exam, I don't think they will assign letter grades to those who previously took the exam. It would kinda be unfair for those of us who were under the assumption of a pass/fail grading mechanism at the time of taking the test. Again, if anyone has further information on this please add.

I found the passage on Excelsior's guide about this issue:
[INDENT]Several [CLEP exams] for which we previously awarded letter grades must now use pass/fail grading because there is not sufficient data on the new computer-delivered exams to recommend minimum scores for B and A.[/INDENT]

[snazzlefrag]

Hi,

If you have any choice in the matter, you should choose to take at least a few exams that ARE graded. That way you will have a GPA.

ALL the Dantes exams are graded at Excelsior and some of the CLEPs are as well.

Even if you only take two or three graded exams as part of your associates, these grades will create a GPA for you. If 54 of your credits are pass/fail, but 6 of your credits are A's, your GPA will be 4.0..make sense?

In order to receive HONORS at Excelsior you must complete at least 20 graded credits (Associates) or 30 graded credits (Bachelors).

Hope that helps,
Snazzlefrag

[libartsmgr]

As a student at Excelsior, I can speak about the grading policy as I have it read it in the examination guide Excelsior provide its students. Yes, some CLEPs only amount to P/F score. However a lot of them have a scaled score to letter grade comparison. It may be available to potential students, you'll have to check.

Also, I have taken no less than 22 exams towards my Bachelors degree, even a few CLEPs. I intend to graduate (and have the full support of my academic advisor) by completing my remaining 30 hours using exams.

I hope this clarifies your potential problem.

[anar579]

In order to receive HONORS at Excelsior you must complete at least 20 graded credits (Associates) or 30 graded credits (Bachelors).

Thanks for this information, I didn't know this!