Hi All,

I have a friend that is going to start testing though her degree soon, but has a difficult situation with her job. It's looking like she might get laid off due to financial issues at the company. She's actively seeking a new job, but anything that meets her interests hasn't considered her because she doesn't have a degree. (background - she's a dental assistant and wants to make the switch to business.)

She's considering getting a student loan and then taking the next 6 months to a year off to concentrate on testing out of her degree before she gets another job.

I know nothing about financial aid and testing, other than you can't get a scholarship to pay for CLEP/DSST's. Would the student loan plan work? Does anyone have experience with loans or other ways to pay for expenses during school at one of the Big 3?

Any advice would be appreciated as she could be laid off anytime soon and would like to get loans in place before then if at all possible.


Thanks!

Took one of the practice tests on DSST's website. I got 36 out of 50 correct cold... Is this a passing score? Thanks!

So, I went to sign up for Instantcert prior to preparing for my first DSST, and while reading the Terms of Use, bumped into this paragraph:

YOU HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE MATERIALS PRESENTED AT AND/OR DOWNLOADABLE FROM THIS SITE INCLUDE EXPLICIT VISUAL, AUDIO, AND/OR TEXTUAL DEPICTIONS OF NUDITY AND HETEROSEXUAL, BI-SEXUAL, GAY, LESBIAN AND/OR TRANSEXUAL SITUATIONS OF A SEXUAL NATURE, THAT YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH MATERIALS OF THIS KIND, AND THAT YOU ARE NOT OFFENDED BY SUCH MATERIALS.

What is this talking about? Is this part of the prep for any of the exams? If so, which ones, so I can avoid them?

Thanks in advance.

Folks, I'm in need of getting an education to have a productive discussion with son. Though only 18, he will graduate in May with AS in Business from local CC and BA in History from TESC. (yeah!)

His plans are to apply to AF Officer Candidate School in 2-ish years when his age is more in line with his peers. In the mean time, he'd like to complete a Graduate program in Political Science or related field.

How do you narrow down the choices? We've looked at AMU and WNM just from searching previous posts (thanks Jennifer!), Graduate School & Graduate, MBA, PhD Programs & Degrees - GradSchools.com and GetEducated.com | Review, Rate, Rank & Compare Online Colleges & Degrees but is there a better way than hunt and peck?

Online courses work well for him, but What factors do you look for in a school?

Is financial aid available for grad school? Scholarships? He is working part-time and will be covering the bill, so cost is a factor.

Thanks for all your help up to this point! Couldn't have done it without ya!

Hey, I recently learnt about this whole process, and spent the last few days doing heavy planning for CLEP/DSST/ECE. I have 63 credits obtained from University, but I didn't finish, for I guess obvious reasons. I think this message can show that you shouldn't just give up, and there's always a way to finish, even if you started working, or live abroad (i'm in asia).

I think I'll study at Excelsior with a Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts.

Of the 63 credits I already completed, 42 were considered lower, and 21 considered upper level

I'm considering taking the following exams:

American Literature
Analyzing and Interpreting Literature
College Composition
English Literature
Humanities

All 6 credit Lower level courses that qualify (i'm not sure about humanities, any help?) as English credits.

Also I'll probably take the following tests in different subjects

French
College Math

The French course can award 12 credits if you get a higher score, and the college math can give you another 6.


For upper courses I'm planning on doing:

Business Ethics and Society (DSST)
The American Dream (ECE)

The first is 3 credits, and the american dream is 6.

With all of those I'll have 120 credits, enough for a 4 year Bachelor degree!

What do you guys think of my plan? Do you think it's better to do something as a major instead? Or is the general liberal arts enough. I was thinking of doing teacher's college right after (I would have fulfilled 30 credits in English and 18 in Math)

I need to take both of these CLEPs and I wanted to know which one I should take first and what alternative study material/books that I should be, thank you!

I'm not done with school yet, but I've applied for graduation and the test I sat today all but insures that I will graduate at the end of this semester. Of course I'm taking four classes and working full time so it's not all _that_ easy, but the goal is in sight. IC and the support on the forums has helped me to put myself into a position to meet my education goals. Finally.

I have worked more or less full time since before high school graduation and due to "life™" never had a real chance to be a full time student. I started college in '98, just taking two classes. Five years later, in '03, I went to the local tech college where I picked up three more classes. Two years after that I found myself at yet another tech college where I went part time for three semesters. At this point I had about 35-40 credits and it would be '08 before It would take two more community colleges to finally achieve an Associate's degree in May of '10.

Having settled down enough to focus I decided to push on and pursue a B.S. degree. How bad could it be, it only took me 12 years off and on to get an A.A.? :-P So starting last summer I began classes at UMUC & ! today I applied for the B.S. & a Certificate degree. ! I will have completed my program in 1 year.

I've definitely picked up the pace, taking at least 2 classes a semester - depending on my job, but it was my introduction to the DSST program that let me bring the finish line into sight. IC helped me study, and the forums gave me the focus to keep-at-it.

Now, finally. I just need to do my class work and wait for graduation to come.

Well, that's that! Thanks to all of you who have helped me out in one way or the other. It's time for me to do a little school work, and get to bed before 02:00 for a change.

Thanks!

I am getting ready to take a few tests in the next few months and was wondering if any of had any advice??? How long before the test should I be studying?
Can you offer any other insights???

Thank You!!

Jonus

At first I blamed it on the pitiful excuse for internet that we have, but then I realized that it was just InstantCert that was having on-and-off server issues. Is anyone else noticing this, or is it just me?

I was recommend Human Development by Paplia as a study
book for the Human Development test. It is an interesting
book. Any body have any opinions about this book?