My TESC BALS completion plan

[analyticphilosophy]

Hi, all. Thanks for the great, helpful info. Based on what I've found, I've put together a tentative "fastest route to Bachelor's", but have a few questions and would appreciate feedback in case I'm missing something.

I think the TESC B.A. in Liberal Studies would be the most direct route to a degree for me. Here are the requirements and how I meet them (or don't).

A. English Composition 6
I have English Composition I (from B&M), but not II. Do I need to do the 6 credit CLEP English exam, or could I do the 3 credit CLEP College Composition modular maybe?

B. Humanities 12
Must include at least two subject areas
met by Philosophy of Medicine; Comparative Philosophy; Metaphysics; History of the English Language (all B&M)

C. Social Sciences 12
Must include at least two subject areas
currently have Western Civ II (B&M), will probably take
CLEP Human Growth & Development
CLEP Intro to Educational Psychology
CLEP Intro to Psychology
to complete (any easier DSST suggestions welcome)

D. Natural Sciences and Mathematics 12
Must include at least two subject areas
AP Calculus (8 credits), Physics I (4 credits)

E. General Education Electives 18
AP Chemistry (8 credits), AP Comp Sci (3 credits), AP Statistics (3 credits), Calculus III (4 credits)

II. Area of Study: Liberal Studies 33
Decisions & Games (3 credit math/econ B&M class)
Physics II & III (7 credits together)
Aerodynamics (3 credits) (Can mechanical engineering count toward a liberal studies requirement? I feel like if physics does, aerodynamics should, but I don't know.)
CLEP Biology (6 credits)
DSST Astronomy (3 credits)
CLEP Analyzing & Interpreting Literature (6 credits)
CLEP Natural Sciences (6 credits)
Distributed Computing (3 credits) (not sure if this would count, since it's an Information Technology course, but computer science is recommended for Natural Science, so maybe it would count)

Free electives 27 (will do FEMA for this)

Some questions:

(1) Are D grades still accepted at TESC? I read that in one of the threads here. I have 2 or 3 classes above that were Ds or D+s, and so will have to replace them if Ds don't count.

(2) Can IT/IS/MIS classes count toward Gen Ed electives? Testing out of DSST MIS and other IT/IS classes would be super easy, as I've worked in IT for 12 years now.

(3) The TESC BALS page says 18 credits of Liberal Studies at the 300 or 400 level are required, but threads here say 200 level courses count as upper level at TESC. So will 200s count, or do I need to add more 300 or 400 level classes to the mix?

If the above plan works, I only need 8 tests to graduate, with very little studying (I already read a lot of general science & psychology out of fun / personal interest), plus the 27 FEMAs. That would be awesome.

Again, your opinions and thoughts are very appreciated! Thanks for reading.

[rmroberts]

Hi, all. Thanks for the great, helpful info. Based on what I've found, I've put together a tentative "fastest route to Bachelor's", but have a few questions and would appreciate feedback in case I'm missing something.

I think the TESC B.A. in Liberal Studies would be the most direct route to a degree for me. Here are the requirements and how I meet them (or don't).

A. English Composition 6
I have English Composition I (from B&M), but not II. Do I need to do the 6 credit CLEP English exam, or could I do the 3 credit CLEP College Composition modular maybe?

Both college comp and modular are 6 credits at TESC. Look here.

B. Humanities 12
Must include at least two subject areas
met by Philosophy of Medicine; Comparative Philosophy; Metaphysics; History of the English Language (all B&M)

C. Social Sciences 12
Must include at least two subject areas
currently have Western Civ II (B&M), will probably take
CLEP Human Growth & Development
CLEP Intro to Educational Psychology
CLEP Intro to Psychology
to complete (any easier DSST suggestions welcome)

Those are probably your best option imho.

D. Natural Sciences and Mathematics 12
Must include at least two subject areas
AP Calculus (8 credits), Physics I (4 credits)

E. General Education Electives 18
AP Chemistry (8 credits), AP Comp Sci (3 credits), AP Statistics (3 credits), Calculus III (4 credits)

II. Area of Study: Liberal Studies 33
Decisions & Games (3 credit math/econ B&M class)
Physics II & III (7 credits together)
Aerodynamics (3 credits) (Can mechanical engineering count toward a liberal studies requirement? I feel like if physics does, aerodynamics should, but I don't know.)

I don't know. You'd probably have to ask TESC that.

CLEP Biology (6 credits)
DSST Astronomy (3 credits)
CLEP Analyzing & Interpreting Literature (6 credits)
CLEP Natural Sciences (6 credits)
Distributed Computing (3 credits) (not sure if this would count, since it's an Information Technology course, but computer science is recommended for Natural Science, so maybe it would count)

Either my math is off or that's 37. So if they accept distributed computing, you could take off astronomy.

Free electives 27 (will do FEMA for this)

TESC accepts a maximum of 25 FEMA credits. You could use the dsst MIS here though.

Some questions:

(1) Are D grades still accepted at TESC? I read that in one of the threads here. I have 2 or 3 classes above that were Ds or D+s, and so will have to replace them if Ds don't count.

I don't know this one.

(2) Can IT/IS/MIS classes count toward Gen Ed electives? Testing out of DSST MIS and other IT/IS classes would be super easy, as I've worked in IT for 12 years now.

I could be wrong, but I don't think so.

(3) The TESC BALS page says 18 credits of Liberal Studies at the 300 or 400 level are required, but threads here say 200 level courses count as upper level at TESC. So will 200s count, or do I need to add more 300 or 400 level classes to the mix?

I would listen to what TESC says.

If the above plan works, I only need 8 tests to graduate, with very little studying (I already read a lot of general science & psychology out of fun / personal interest), plus the 27 FEMAs. That would be awesome.

Again, your opinions and thoughts are very appreciated! Thanks for reading.

[CLEP101]

C. Social Sciences 12
Must include at least two subject areas
currently have Western Civ II (B&M), will probably take
CLEP Human Growth & Development
CLEP Intro to Educational Psychology
CLEP Intro to Psychology
to complete (any easier DSST suggestions welcome)

I can can probably put my 2 cents on this part. Why don't you take CLEP Intro to Psychology, take the other two off, and replace with CLEP Social Sciences and History? Its 6 semester hours and you kill two CLEPs with one. It's a broad test but very easy, IMO.

[burbuja0512]

I don't know about TESC, but COSC accepted a D chemistry grade that I had. It's a double-edged sword though... All of my other B & M grades were good. My GPA would be around 3.5 without that darn D. Lol.. and I took the chemistry class at my local community college when I was in high school!

I guess what I'm saying is that if they take them, great, but if they don't look on the bright side, at least they won't affect your GPA!

[irnbru]

(3) The TESC BALS page says 18 credits of Liberal Studies at the 300 or 400 level are required, but threads here say 200 level courses count as upper level at TESC. So will 200s count, or do I need to add more 300 or 400 level classes to the mix?

Hi AP,

3. Courses transferred to Thomas Edison State College are equated to the following levels: 100, 200, 300 or 400. A maximum of two college-level courses equating to the 100 level can be applied toward the liberal studies area of study. A minimum of 18 credits equating to 300 or 400 Thomas Edison State College are required.

Posters are talking about courses described as '200 level' by the originating college being transcribed as 300/400 level by TESC. It's a variation of EC not accepting some DSSTs as upper level but accepting the GRE Subject Test - it's just college policies.

In particular, I think the discussions you might be referring to are the courses provided by Penn Foster? AFAIK, it was the non-ACE evaluated 300/400 level courses that TESC was accepting as part of their limitation on Nationally Accredited (NA) sources of credit.

Hope this helps, you have a cracking speed plan there and I hope you enjoy

[sandraeli]

It looks like you have a number of courses TESC might transcribe at the 300 level or above:

Philosophy of Medicine
Comparative Philosophy
Metaphysics
History of the English Language

My third Calculus class was transcribed at the 300 level, which makes me think your Calculus III and Physics III might also be considered 300-level.

By supplying the course descriptions for Engineering Physics classes, I petitioned TESC a few years ago to let those classes count toward gen ed electives. You might try that with your Aerodynamics and Distributed Computing courses to see how they fall.

After you knock out the social science exams and the FEMAs, you're close enough to apply, see where TESC puts everything, and be finished very quickly.

Good luck!