You will find several kinds of Credit by Exam options. Listed here are five of the very popular:
- College Level Examination Program (CLEP). CLEP is easily the most popular option and it has exams in liberal arts, languages, business, science and math. The completed exams are transferable to just about all colleges for either 3 or 6 units. The CLEP website offers practice tests, study guides and locations of test centers. Costs for CLEP and all sorts of other Credit by Exam choices are usually under $100/test.
- DSST Exams. DSST Exams formerly were known as DANTES Exams and were just for military personnel. Today, DSST Exams in liberal arts, business, education and criminal justice can be found to the student, traditional or adult student. Test prep and test locations are online.
- Excelsior College Exams or UExcel Exams have numerous tests in areas not included in CLEP or DSST, including Nursing and upper division (junior and senior year) business exams.
- Thomas Edison College Examination Program (TECEP) is another method to earn credit for formerly learned understanding. You will find Upper Division exams in Network Technology and business, in addition to exams in PR (public relations), Nutrition and Technical Writing.
- Challenge exams originate from the local college or university. If you’re already enrolled in a college and wish to “test out”, your college may offer this other option. Often, a student will go ahead and take the challenge exam, get a listing of study materials and go ahead and take the final exam. The minimum score for that challenge exam is generally 75% or 80% to become counted as credit.