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.

Advanced Placement Courses Expectations

The possibilities of getting advanced placement courses might be rather overwhelming, especially if you are in your last year of high school and have never taken them before. Perhaps you are a little careful and having second doubts about APs after listening to pals’ reviews of difficult four hour exams, weekends spent studying and reviewing, and problems of terrifyingly massive books that you need to read. But with a little dedication, you can quickly go from being a beginner to a smart AP expert.

The Primary Concept of Advanced Placement Courses: AP Does NOT Take a position for advanced procrastination. As attractive as it might be to fall prey to senioritis, waiting around on projects and studying are the issue that causes learners to do less than their best in Advanced Placement Courses. The actual work may be frustrating and cause you to want to do it “later”, but when you do finish it “later”, not only will you deny yourself of rest and a chance to do excellent work, but also, you will have an excessive quantity of pressure from trying to catch up. Advanced Placement Courses shift at a much quicker speed than non-AP or even awards programs, so keeping up with the college-level course load is important to eventually doing well in higher education and on the test.

APs Do Give You “Advanced Progress” in Higher education. What are the advantages of getting AP courses? As described before, schools really like seeing that their potential learners have taken AP programs and assessments, since having them on your program reveals that you can manage college-level classes. Furthermore, in most high schools, AP programs improve your GPA: in almost all high schools, an A in most non-AP sessions is a 4.0, but the same top quality in an AP category is a 5.0. Once you start college, if you complete your AP examination, the ranking will convert into college credit and sometimes even changes common ED or significant specifications. Appears to be fairly lovely, right?