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!

College Level Examination Program and Prior Learning

Prior learning has been around for years, disguising itself in the form of College Level Examination Program or CLEP exams or military credits. But it’s just now recently that it has burst upon the scene of the modern college experience. Now, with hundreds of universities offering prior learning programs, its rivaling web based programs in terms of how busy adult learners are acquiring college degrees. Human resources staff is poised to matter in their organization by promoting prior learning evaluation as a feasible option for members looking to return to school and continue on with the organization as a college graduate.

Prior studying evaluation (PLA) is a means by which adults get credit for the experiences they have had while gainfully employed or through military programs. It turns years of sales experience, a company-mandated computer training course, or even a skill mastered eventually into college credit, thus lessening the cash a college student spends on college studying. The fewer classes a college student has to register for, the less cash is needed. From an economic standpoint, a semester’s value of credit adds up after factoring in tuition, books and travel time to campus. In a nation stuck by education and student loan debt, this is an inviting perk to a non-traditional college student looking for a cheaper way to get a degree.

Another major player in PLA is the aforementioned CLEP. This has the potential to give a college student with multiple credit hours. Common College Level Examination Program exams include general education, like the entry-level math programs. For learners who work in a technical field, this could be a quick 3 hours earned. Also at an advantage are multilingual adults. A steadily growing Hispanic population in the country means an increase in the number of adults who are fluent in both Spanish and English. CLEP exams could offer these multilingual adults the opportunity to get all their language requirements. Schools can be finicky when it comes to transferring prior college credits, with many science and math credits stuck with an expiration date. College Level Examination Program bypasses assists here as well: if the college student still can demonstrate mastery in a class credit score does not transfer, there is still an opportunity to get that class credit.

Credit by Examination and CLEP

According to the Department of Education, only 40% of learners graduate in 4 years, with the average closer to 6 years. This can mean a large number of extra dollars of additional college tuition, room and board, and even lost pay. Here is some smart ways to generate college credits, guaranteeing you graduate on time and within your college budget.

AP/IB Programs in High School: Take AP (Advanced Placement) or IB (International Baccalaureate) courses while in High School. These double credit ranking courses can mean that you actually start college with credits already gained. Be sure to check which is approved by your colleges of choice and know that you must successfully pass the final examination with a passing grade to get the credit. Please note that for IB courses, many universities and colleges only give credit for exams at the HL (Higher Level) courses and examinations.

Earn College Credits over the Summer: Spend summer season before you begin college or between semesters by making credits. Whether you are studying to take a test for credit (like a CLEP or DSST test), or making some General Education credits at your local college, a large number of universities agree to a passing test or course score for credits.

Test for Credit: Speaking of credit by examination, did you know that there are over 50 college courses that provide you with credit if you successfully pass a test? Called CLEP (College Level Examination Prep) or DSST (originally created for the military), these courses can reduce your path to a degree and are approved by over 3,000 universities in the United States. Here are some pretty great reasons to consider testing for credit:

  • Test for credit saved an average of over 6 months toward their degrees.
  • 91% of CLEP test-takers said CLEP made a distinction in helping them finish their degrees.
  • 70% of CLEP test-takers said their CLEP credits made a distinction in their ability to finance college tuition and other costs.
  • CLEP learners have considerably greater collective GPA than non-CLEP learners when controlling for demographics and prior accomplishment.
  • Students who receive credit by examination through CLEP for an introductory course are much more likely to get an A or B in succeeding courses than learners who finish the introductory course.

CLEP Study Guides

CLEP study guides allows you to get ready for your CLEP examination. A CLEP study guide provides you the study content that includes the complete coverage of your CLEP examination curriculum. A CLEP study guide includes sample tests and sample problems that are quite identical in structure and normal to the real CLEP assessments or questions. These kinds of study books are your CLEP exam planning books. There are many study books available for you.

The official CLEP Study Guide launched by the CollegeBoard, the developer of the CLEP assessments is an extensive CLEP study guide for you. The Eighteenth Version of CollegeBoards CLEP Official Study Guide is the only complete resource of information about the CLEP examinations. It is made up of sa,[;e questions for all 34 examinations, information on acquiring credit for CLEP and exam-taking recommendations. The CLEP sampler is a study guide that can aid you in practicing in taking a CLEP Exam on your pc. It is the CLEP Pc-Based testing program that allows you to search for problems and their guidelines. The CLEP sampler is easily obtainable absolutely free download at a certified website of the CollegeBoard, www.collegeboard.com.

The Research & Education Association also posts CLEP study books with practice tests. The REA’s CLEP study guide has a few sections of content that is covered in the course of the examination and 3 practice test with in-depth details. The REA’s CLEP study books contain a CD with tests in the identical structure as the real CLEP exams. The Research & Education Association also gives on-line CLEP Study Guide in this website, www.rea.com.  The topics are based on current programs. The online CLEP study guide provides you study materials and also allows you to rate and evaluate yourselves.

College Level Examination Program Dilemma

CLEP has become quite popular in the home school community. You may be thinking, “What is CLEP?” CLEP is a test created by the College Board to evaluate college degree knowledge of a subject. It’s called the College Level Examination Program. Basically, if your kid knows a subject well enough to successfully pass the test, he can get college credit score for that subject.

If your kid is highly inspired and desperate to engage in an advanced degree that needs a bachelor’s degree as a first step, CLEP examinations can boost your kid’s knowledge. In some cases, your kid can generate his entire degree through the college level examination program. If the college your kid is most interested in participating allows CLEP credit, CLEP can be a great choice, because it’s both cost and time effective. A bright and inspired college student can CLEP a lot of classes in a brief period of time, garnering lots of college credits and saving a ton of money.

Earning a bachelor’s degree through the college level examination program is not the best choice for most learners. The school experience offers much more than a degree. Your kid will find like-minded friends, begin long term connections, learn freedom and self-awareness and build networks that will increase his job possibilities. He will most likely have the chance at many exciting and different internships and study overseas programs and will gain knowledge and life skills through the number of possibilities and experiences college life offers. Your kid will skip many of these benefits if he selects to engage in college at home.

One global lament is how challenging it is to socialize after college. An individual’s college buddies are generally real and long term buddies. It is in the exclusive establishing of an excellent university that your kid will understand who he is and what it is he wants to do with his life. This is why I suggest CLEP only for making credits before coming into college or getting a degree if one already has a career in place.

All About CLEP

The acronym of College Level Examination Program, CLEP is really a set of examinations provided by the College Board, a not-for-profit examination board in the United States, established in the nineteenth-century. The College Board controls conventional assessments, such as the SAT, PSAT/NMSQT, CLEP, ACCUPLACER, and Advanced Placement assessments and the subject-specific SAT Subject Tests. CLEP provides the opportunities to the learners of any age to show their college-level success through a sequence of assessments. There are about 2,900 universities that allow university loans and/or advanced degree status for CLEP assessments or exams; a credit is a system that provides weighting towards the price, degree or time specifications of an academic course.

The CLEP assessments facilitate the US learners in high schools or universities and colleges to generate credits for the effective completion of each class for each academic period. The state or the company in most cases, places a minimum of credits required to graduate college. The CLEP assessments are usually 90 minutes long and currently cost $60 each.

These assessments are organized at examining facilities on university and college campuses, as well as military installations; the facilities impose an administrative or signing up fee per college student or per test, which might range from $5 – $60. The CLEP assessments are free to military service people. The Military Services whose members are eligible for a CLEP tests consist of Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, U.S. Coast Guard, Army Reserve, Air Force Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, Navy Reserve, Coast Guard Reserve, Military and Air National Guard. The CLEP assessments are on a range from 20 – 80 multiple-choice assessments that provide outcomes. The credit for a grade of 5 – 0 or greater is given by almost all educational institutions, but driving ratings differ from university to university.

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.

The Focus on Credit by Examination

Too many students are targeted on the classes they need to take. English, Psychology, Chemistry, Accounting etc. It’s simple to see why. Choose a college course book and you will see that degree programs are set out as series of classes to take. Successfully pass them all and you graduate with the degree you desired. Yet, this is actually a superficial way to look at higher education. As it turns out, credits are the real foundations of degrees, not classes.

Take a closer look at your college’s course book. What you will see is that you actually need a certain variety of credits to graduate, usually 60 for an associate degree and 120 for a bachelor’s. This is a key understanding, because once you move your focus from classes to credit, you can begin researching methods to buy them for less. The costly classes your university provides are just one way of getting those credits, even though most learners thoughtlessly believe it’s the only way.

In reality, there are three methods to generate higher education credit:

  • Classes at four year public colleges/private universities
  • Classes at community colleges
  • Credit by examination

Most students are acquainted with the first two choices. But hardly anyone knows about credit by examination and even less understand its full potential. Credit by examination represents college-level subject assessments like CLEP and DSST. With this strategy, you take a large test covering an entire subject (say, English) rather than a semester-long course. Successfully pass the examination and you get credit just as if you had taken the class. What this implies is that you can possibly cut lots of money off the price of graduating by replacing as many of these examinations for classes as your college will allow. Unfortunately, many colleges and universities have tight “residency requirements” restricting how many attributes you can get this way.

Taking The DANTES – Credit by Examination

DANTES, CLEP and Excelsior examinations are Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES) Financed for active duty, Nationwide Guard members and Reserves which means they are generally free. The DANTES credit by examination is a nationally-recognized credit-by-examination program that most universities agree to for credit towards a degree plan. One tremendous benefit is to soldiers who may be separated from army bases such as recruiters who can still take these examinations for free at private analyze facilities. Any army college student with an accepted degree plan should be able to use these examinations towards their degree. There are 38 DANTES credit by examinations and these can be taken at a base education center or at an approved off base computer examining center.

There are steps to taking and passing a DANTES credit by examination:

Step 1. Find and Schedule – Once a testing center is located, they must be approached to confirm testing procedures and scheduling for army learners. DANTES credit by examinations are developed to analyze proficiency in various college-level course materials. The evaluation is similar to the final evaluation given in lower degree college programs.

Step 2. Get a Fact Sheet – There a few strategies to successfully passing a DANTES that utilize the actual test development to ensure a passing grade. The examinations are developed based on and summary from subject experts and the questions are examined for stability based on a subject’s knowledge of that particular topic. Basically each fact sheet has a content summary that describes the content and the exact percentages of that content on the evaluation.

Step 3. Get Books – The next phase in using the fact sheet is to test the area known as sources for study material, because this is where the guides used to design the test question originate from. Generally, an evaluation details several books for an evaluation however there is usually a seminal written text. The best way to purchase lessons is to search Amazon.com for the book. In most cases, the most recent version need not be bought, as the explanations and concepts in the guide do not change that considerably over time.

CLEP Free for Military Personnel

Army workers who are seeking to enter college may have quite a bit of life experience under their belt. That experience may be enough to meet up with some college credits without getting college courses, what the College Boards’ CLEP makes possible through examining. Those assessments (exams), when passed, may be replaced for credit at hundreds of universities across the nation, saving military workers cash. CLEP examinations have a price, but for our men and women in uniform, the price for getting any one of the 33 determining introductory-level subject examinations can be waived. Through an agreement with Defense Activity for Non Traditional Education Support (DANTES), active duty, reserve and National Guard personnel have their CLEP examination expenses covered.

The coverage refers to Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and U.S. Coast Guard personnel, as well as members of the Army Reserve, Air Force Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, Navy Reserve, Coast Guard Reserve and the Army and Air National Guard. Moreover, partners and private workers of the Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard, Army National Guard, Army Reserve and Coast Guard Reserve qualify for CLEP fee waivers too.

Under the military’s CLEP agreement, the first examination attempt is free. However, if military workers want to retake a test previously financed by DANTES, they must wait six months and pay both the $80 examination fee as well as the administration fee. The administration fee, however, is waived if the test is on base or is base subsidized. Is CLEP worth it? Absolutely. If you have the experience and knowledge, then getting and passing at least some of those assessments can reduce your degree pursuit. You will also reduce your overall expenses when you engage in CLEP through the DANTES program, yet another way to contain your college expenses.