CLEP for Soldiers

The military lifestyle is unfortunately not flexible. It is almost impossible to earn a degree to either get the skills needed to excel in the Army or to become an officer, or to make the transition to the civilian career world much easier. Fortunately, CLEP or the College Level Exam Program, exists for military personnel to get a college degree while they serve and without even enrolling in a class.

CLEP allows soldiers to earn credit for undergraduate college courses through testing rather than classwork. CLEP exams are accepted for college credit in nearly three thousand schools across the U.S. including a number of online schools. Since CLEP exams are designed to replace full-blown courses for college credit, if you pass an exam, participating colleges will likely accept those credits.

Most tests are designed to replace ones-semester courses, but some correspond to full-year or two-year courses. There are two categories for the CLEP Examinations: General and Subject. The general examinations cover broader areas while subject exams are much more specific. The exams are either conducted online or on paper depending on whether the taker register to take the exam at a DANTES test center, an on-base education, or a college campus test center.

The DANTES (Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education) funds the CLEP exams for eligible military service members and civilian employees. All active-duty and reserve military personnel, regardless of branch are eligible for DANTES funded CLEP. Although, anyone can take the CLEP, just not the DANTES funded CLEP exams.

Inactive and veteran service members are unfortunately not eligible for the DANTES funded CLEP, though their education benefits can help them pay for college classes.

CLEP exams are always free for soldiers who report to on-base and DANTES test centers while college testing centers require a small registration fee. Still, you can work toward a meaningful civilian career.

About the CLEP Exam

The College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) was developed by the College Board, and is the most widely used credit-by-examination program. It is available at more than 2,900 colleges and universities. After passing any of the 34 CLEP exams, you can accomplish your college and career goals in nursing. The program is very helpful because it requires a smaller amount of money compared to paying the whole college course fees.

There are many organizations that offer courses for preparation of CLEP and DSST exams. They provide helpful online study guides that give you the content to prepare for CLEP test. The content of these guides has been focused and is easy to follow. It assists students to prepare for exams without pressuring them too much. The College Board also publishes study guides containing sample tests for all exams. These sample tests are important because they are in similar form with the actual exam.

There is a specially designed CLEP Testing phase in which one can take 4 course tests in one month with a 100% pass rate. This equals to 24 college credits. The main advantages of CLEP exams for a student are to save money that is approx $21,600 per student and also save time. Taking the necessary preparation is needed to pass the CLEP exam. Make sure you are fully equipped with knowledge and some techniques before the examination.

 

College Level Examination Program Test Taking Tips Part 2

Don’t let the test taking get the best of you. Sometimes taking a test can save you time and money. The CLEP (College Level Evaluation Program) examination has been the most commonly efficient credit-by-examination system and is approved by over 2,900 universities. CLEP allows you to take an exam to earn higher education credits without taking the course, enabling you to save lots of money. Here are some easy tips that will help you stay relaxed and successfully pass your College Level Examination Program test:

 

  • Read the entire question, including the multiple choice answers before putting down your answer. Instructions typically tell you to choose the best answer. Study all the answers before you choose one, even if the first or second answer option looks appropriate to you.
  • Pace yourself and keep an eye on the time. Always make sure you are not going to fast or too slow. The common duration of answering the questions should be about 30-45 seconds. You should have answered at least 50 percent of the questions in a section when half of the time for that section has passed.
  • Don’t spend a lot of your energy and effort on any one question. If you don’t know the answer after you’ve considered it briefly, go on to the next question. Mark the question so you can come back to it later.
  • Any answer is better than no answer. Do not leave a question empty. There are no penalties for wrong answers. If you can recognize apparent wrong answers, you have improved your possibilities of answering it properly.
  • Don’t waste your time. Most students’ spend by reading too much into the question by looking for faults in query terminology or styles in appropriate answers. CLEP places significant amounts of effort into creating legitimate, efficient and reasonable examinations.

College Level Examination Program and Home Schooling

Google “home schooling” and you’re rewarded with 4,130,000 results in less than one second. While home schooling is a colossal subject both on-line and off, the discussion has a tendency to wind down a bit as youngsters get more established and secondary school approaches not too far off. Maybe it’s because of the expanding intricacy of the topic, or maybe assets or eagerness reduce. Be that as it may, for a developing number of families, home schooling throughout the secondary school years is a suitable and sought after elective to customary schooling.  One verifiable profit of a home schooling is that it might be totally redone to fit your kid’s identity, calendar, accessibility and hobbies. Offering people a differing extent of training alternatives is a grand objective regardless of how kids are instructed and with home schooling specifically, folks can work together with their adolescents to make the best experience possible.

Each one state has distinctive laws in regards to home instruction. A few states are truly remiss on their home schooling prerequisites, while others have exceptionally particular enrollment alternatives and may even oblige you to show confirmation of your advancement, educational module and testing all around the year. It’s dependent upon you to do your homework and determine your state’s prerequisites. Even while your home schooler is finishing secondary school courses, he or she could be planning for college. On the off chance that your student is looking to get ahead of the game, sway them to “test out” of courses in which they can demonstrate mastery. The cost savings will be huge!

A CLEP exam tests mastery of school level material gained in a mixed bag of ways, through general academic instructions, critical free study or extracurricular work. Self-taught learners are perfect competitors for a college level examination program exam, as are grown-ups coming back to school and military staff entering school after serving their nation, among others. College level examination program is the most broadly acknowledged credit-by-examination program, accessible at more than 2,900 universities and colleges and regulated at in excess of 1,800 test centers. For a small amount of the expense of a school course, an individual can take a CLEP exam and get school credit before they ever enter the holy corridors of higher learning!

Passing the College Level Examination Program

For those of you who have ever reported, “I already know this information, this class is a waste of my time,” prepare yourself for the biggest thing you have heard all year. Kept invisible from learners for some unidentified reason (money), I present the soon-to-be infamous CLEP test. It stands for “College Level Examination Program,” this test allows learners, if ready with the appropriate information, to take a test on a course they are already well-versed in and get full credit. To all the senior students living off campus, the CLEP is not news. But for some reason, nearly every person has little to no idea about it. Do not worry, there are indeed a few select people who actually care about your time and effort and do not just want as much cash they can get.

This test, appropriate to nearly every student, gives learners a chance to spend a week passing a class instead of 20. This way you can make good of the little time you have on campus; not strolling through the steps of rounding numbers. This being said, the test is not going to be a simple task. The test is basically a final examination and since you have never actually taken the class, it’s bound to be complicated. There are, however, several sources on campus with the only objective of assisting you to successfully pass the College Level Examination Program.

  • Speak with your guidance counselor. It would be annoying spending for the test, taking time out of your week and in the end finding out that the exam you took is not applicable to your university.
  • Register for the exam date/time/location. Since there are certain times and places for the test, you will need to resume a spot at a convenient time and place for you.
  • Study! The exam is basically a final examination for a class you have not taken, so you have to be pretty ready. In the written text, there are study guides in the library particular for these assessments.
  • Pass the test. Now with the appropriate planning and signing up, you are hopefully ready to take an entire class in a matter of two hours.

College Level Examination Program News

Though learners are given the opportunity to earn credit before college, some credits might not be transferable to Northwest. The College Level Examination Program provides many different choices for learners to get credit without getting a formal course. Students at Northwest are permitted to take these assessments for certain subjects detailed in the yearly catalog. There are several programs provided that learners can test out of, a few examples being American Government, financial accounting, college algebra and western civilization.

“In the catalog, there are certain scores we need,” said Tamera Grow, associate director of admissions. “These (in the catalog) are the ones that have been analyzed in the past by our teachers. It reveals the ranking that is required to get the credit for the classes that are here.” There are no specifications learners need to fulfill to take this test. Freshmen through seniors are able to test out of programs using College Level Examination Program. However, though many learners think this program is a simple and fast way to generate credit, some programs detailed in the catalog as having the test-out choice are not approved at all at Northwest.

“If a college student had another (subject), we could have it analyzed,” Grow said. “I think this is a traditional record of what has been done in the past. I have not gone through all College Level Examination Program choices in the last few years to say ‘OK, this is the one that we should do.’ I have just kind of left it up, but if we got a demand, I could look at it.” Each test costs learners $100, said Beth Mason, assessment office administrator. Of that, $80 goes to the CLEP examining company and the other $20 invested on the 90 minute test is kept by Northwest. Students may not have obtained credit for certain subjects at Northwest for a few reasons: They could have not scored well enough for the Northwest specifications, or the individual departments at Northwest may not think the credit is worthy of passing.