College Level Examination Program News

A Few Things to Remember Before CLEP

Students who are decided to take the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) can save both time and money. CLEP is a credit-by-exam program designed to give students flexibility in earning a college degree. In return, many students are availing the said program because it enables them to study at their own pace.

Administered by the College Board, the College Level Examination Program is designed to speed up the process of education. Students can now study without worrying about the extended time they are given inside a university.

But before pursuing CLEP, a student has to consider certain rules or questions about CLEP to be able to assess whether this program works for him/her. They should take heed of these rules.

The first rule is to know how these credits are applied. It would be safe to say that a student needs to see if the college or university of his/her choice awards credit for CLEP. There are some universities that consider transferring credit but they will not use the maximum courses available. In some cases, if they have many credits in transfer, he may not be able to use CLEP. The student will not be given a choice which credit will be accepted.

Next, they need to ask how many credits the student can earn. The choices vary from 12 to 60, although other schools can include AP credits in the cap. Also, the student should be able to determine their long term plans, if there is any. There are considerations when it comes to CLEP. There are schools in the US that need more hours of studying before moving on to a higher level of learning.

Lastly, they should know their limitations. Only self-motivated and independent learners deal with CLEP better than anybody. Students who find it hard taking standardized tests should think twice before pursuing CLEP.

Bypassing College through CLEP

Ever dream of becoming a nurse without actually going into semester coursework? Well, you don’t need to dream further. The College Level Examination Program (CLEP) is there for you. This is a standardized test where a college-level assessment is given to those students who have not taken college courses.

Administered by the College Board, the College Level Examination Program has thirty-six subject areas on its test as a mechanism for those students to get by with the conventional college program. CLEP has more than 1,700 sites at its disposal across the US, including community colleges, universities and even technical schools.

Almost 3,000 colleges are granting credits through CLEP. These institutions usually grant credit to students who have at least qualified for a college degree, which are about 60 students out of a possible 80. These qualifying offer depends on the site and the exam given. If you have obtained a nursing education outside a traditional classroom, perhaps an online associate degree, CLEP is perfect for you. And even those through home study, job experience or cultural involvement, this test will give them a kind of leverage for them to get that desired degree. This particular program is also available for those students outside of the US, and has their sights of studying further in the country.

CLEP is not just an exam per se, it also provides students to show their skills on a subject of their choosing, and to somehow get through an undergraduate study. More and more students are availing of this said program because it is convenient, not to mention it saves a lot of time. And also because the costs involved are much cheaper than going into that customary coursework. So if you are planning on pursuing a nursing degree with less hassle, CLEP is the way to do it.

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.