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.