Are there any ACE grad classes?

[Merlin]

I've read that "competent" for a lot of these OAs is in the low to mid 60s, which seems a lot less stressful to prepare for than writing an extensive paper which could come back for revisions, but obviously if you fail the OA, you need to go back and study all over again. I obviously haven't taken one yet, so I don't know how I will do.

The minimum passing score is called the "cut score" and varies by course. Typical ranges are between the mid 60s and low 80s. The variation is based on a grading curve to keep the average passing % about the same. As such, harder exams have a lower cut score than easier ones. That said, don't expect any of the exams to really be that easy since like every exam, they like to throw curveball questions at you now and then. Also, don't expect the pre-assessment to cover all the same material, or even align closely with the final exam. That is why I don't recommend that people use pre-assessments to prepare for taking the actual OA. Use it after you're done studying and feel ready to take the final exam to help you gauge if you're ready to take the exam or not.

Also, failing an OA is a big deal and will end your ability to accelerate. Any time you fail an exam the teachers are required to create a mandatory study plan for you that will include a lot of extra reading, quizzes, and other prep material that will generally take you 1-2 weeks to complete. If you fail again, the amount of work increases. After a fourth failure, the only way you can get a retest is with permission from the Dean of the college you're in. If you fail again, you're done and won't be able to complete that degree program.

So take OA's way more seriously than PA's. You can resubmit a PA forever, but you only get a set number of tries at an OA. They also start charging you for OA retests after the 2nd failure.

I'm not sure what to expect, I found it very easy to pass SDC/OnlineDegree/Davar/Saylor courses in a weekend, I passed the Financial Accounting CLEP after a few days of watching the Modern States Lectures, though I did fail one of the econ CLEPs by a few points.

When studying stuff you're not very familiar with and putting in 60+ hours per week (8 hours per weekday and 10 hours per weekend day) into studying, most accelerators appear to be able to average one course per week at the undergrad level. If you're more familiar or put in more time, you can compress that schedule. Likewise, having a job and family commitments can extend it.

So your ability to accelerate all depends on how much knowledge you have going into a course and how much time and dedication you have to pursue studying.