TECEP - Science of Nutrition

[sanantone]

I thought I'd give a review of this TECEP since they made minor changes to it recently.

From the test description:

100 multiple choice questions
Passing score is 65%
2 hours to complete

Nutrition basics 20%
Macronutrients 20%
Metabolism 20%
Micronutrients 20%
Nutrition applied to various life conditions 20%

I spent a total of seven hours studying for this test because I can rarely make myself study for anything until the last minute. I did not buy the recommended textbooks, and I don't think you need them. The questions didn't seem to be specific to any text. TESC has two different sets of recommended, free online study resources. Only one resource is listed on both. I used two of the resources listed in this document.
http://www.tesc.edu/degree-completion/do..._TECEP.pdf

I didn't use any of the ones in the test description because they either covered too little or would take too long to read.
http://www2.tesc.edu/tecep_desc/BIO-208.pdf

The two resources I used were a nutrition chapter in an open anatomy and physiology text and Kansas State University's open flexbook on nutrition. The flexbook is a relatively quick read; I spent five hours reading it. The rest of my study time was spent on the anatomy and physiology text. I knew I was missing information on consumer safety, nutrition throughout the life cycle, and dietary guidelines. You can cover those in a few chapters of another open textbook TESC recommends, but I didn't have time to get to it. Even without much coverage of those topics, I finished the exam in 35 min. and scored a 74%. If you cover all of the topics in the test description, I would put this test in the moderately easy category. I only had to do one calculation, which I did in my head. The most difficult part about studying nutrition is memorizing how the many different macronutrients and micronutrients are absorbed, and there weren't too many questions on that.

I spent more time studying for the Biology CLEP. While it's a 6-credit test, it's still 100-level. However, I would say that test is more difficult than this TECEP, in my opinion. The average person knows more about the basics of nutrition due to media exposure than ecology and molecular, cellular, and evolutionary biology.