Hey everbody,

I joined InstantCert a couple of months ago and have enjoyed the forum, and the study guides a great deal. My girlfriend and I are planning on taking the HRM DSST this Saturday, after about 12-15 hours of study (including tomorrow afternoon). Any last minutes tips for this one?

And my main question(s): I know InstantCert doesn't have study material for TCEP's, but does anyone here have any experience with them? I've got to take several in the near future (so does my girlfriend), and we were just curious how they compared with some of the CLEP's and/or Dante's.

TIA!
David

[SIZE="3"][COLOR="Navy"]Has anyone have any direct experience and/or links in the preparation of an "Experiential Learning Portfolio" that may assist me in gaining credit for up to 3 classes in a masters program?

Thanks!![/COLOR][/SIZE]

This test is not as scary as I thought it would be. I scored a 69. I do have to admit that Algebra was my favorite subject in high school when I took it for 2 years over 30 years ago. For studying I used the REA College Algebra book, the Peterson's tests, and the CLEP practice test. I Googled logarithms to remind myself of the basics. For once, the Peterson's tests were too easy. The REA tests were harder than they needed to be to pass. Know how to work almost all the questions. I believe if you know how to do the basics (how to add, subtract, multiply and divide polynomial fractions), you will pass. For me, time was my enemy. There were 57 questions in 90 minutes. It's very easy to get caught up in one problem. If you can't get it after a reasonable amount of time, like 2 minutes, make an educated guess, mark it, and move on to the next. Don't let it freak you out if you get 2 of these in a row. I had to practice working the problems much quicker than I originally was able. I used the Peterson's tests and the REA book which had 6 tests. I took each one at least 2 to 3 times. The first time I just worked the problems and learned from my mistakes. The second time I practiced doing them quickly. I learned how to write the problem on my scrap paper with hardly looking at it. This speeded things up considerably. Pattern recognition is important, like ‘a squared’ minus ‘b squared’ and it's factoring. Know the formula for a line. Know which is the slope and which is the y-intercept. Know what a line would look like on a graph if using x, x squared, x to a power, or y squared. Know how to figure compounded interest. Know when to multiply a power to a power and when the powers get added. Know about ‘i’ and ‘i squared’. The biggest thing working against you in this test is time, pace yourself well.

I took the A&I exam yesterday and passed with a 53. Just barely passed, but passed nonetheless. I wanted to point out a couple things I observerved. Please keep in mind, these are just my observations and opinions.

I studied (more like practiced because you can't REALLY study for it) for this exam using the CLEP book, studying literary terms online, and taking the Peterson's Practice Exams. I took practice exams and scored a 55 and a 63. That's when I decided to take the exam.

IMO the CLEP exam in this instance is actually harder than the Peterson's Practice Exam. I know this sounds ridiculous, but it defintely seemed more difficult to me. Based on this, here are my suggestions for those (like me) that abslutely hate reading and literature:

1. Read and analyze as many passages as you can find. This will familiarize you with interpreting the underlying ideas.

2. Take all of the practice exams you can (I used CLEP and Peterson's).

3. Take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with some literary terms. I wouldn't spend a lot of time on this as I think my test might have had 10 questions relating to these types of things.

I hope I don't discourage anyone on what is supposed to be a "gimme" test. To me, it was more difficult than I thought it would be. This was my third CLEP/DSST. But hey, a pass is a pass, right

Hope This Helps...

i read from somewhere here that CLEP exams change every 6 months. does that mean they change in janurary and july? or in other months? thanks for all your help! =]

Yesterday I took American History I and passed with a 61. This test covered about 10 questions on early colonial times.
Today I took American Governemnt and passed with a 53, I hope I don't get a Fedex pacakge telling me they have revised my score!
The materials covered in Instant Cert were adequate. My next Cleps will be either Natural Science or Biology and Principles of Management

I earned a 58, which is an A at Excelsior. Even better than the A is the information my councilor gave me on Civil War & Rec. and Rise and Fall of the Ruskies. If I take 2 of the following 3 courses it will prevent me from taking either of the history tests. Here they are:

Research Methods of Psychology
Juvenile Delinquency
Cultural Diversity

I know the history tests are passable, but to be honest, I really have no interest in them which makes studying for them a burden which is slowing down my progress. I want to get past this degree and back into real life. I'll do some searches on the forum as well but if anyone has personal experiences with these, especially the last two, please let me know. Regards, Lee

If you intend to do micro economics as well as principles of accounting, which is the logical order? Would princ. of acct'g help in getting ready for micro or vice versa?

I am almost done with my General Business Degree. I love how this thing is going and am contemplating a second degree in Psychology before it's too late

I know I need 30 additional credits to get that degree, my question is, what kind of credits? Upper level, specific psychology credits or just any liberal arts?

Just curious... BTW, what can you do with this degree? Does it make you an official psychologist that can open a practice or something?

Christa

hi everyone! my name's jenny and i'm new to this forum as well as to the CLEP exams. i plan to take at least two CLEP exams so i spent the last hour or so reading about how everyone's been preparing. i must say, finding this forum has reduced my stress level by a bit purely b/c i had no idea how to study for them nor what to expect from them. so since you guys are all pros at taking these exams, can this noob ask you guys for some help? hehe.

i'm definitely taking Principles of Management and Information Systems and Computer Applications. from all the advices from the board, i've come up with a study plan and if anyone has the time to take a look at it, can you please tell me if it's okie or needs more material? (keep in mind that i don't know anything about either subject)

1) i already bought the big blue college board clep book (18th ed). i also plan to sign up for instantcert.com for all of the exams.

2) Principles of Management: in addition to #1, i'm going to buy the white Comex review book as well as a textbook from barron's that's been said to work well as a study guide for the clep exam.

3) Info Sys and Comp App: i've been having a hard time finding materials for this exam. i'm planning to buy a textbook from a college bookstore but am not too sure which one to get so i'm just going to compare the table of contents to the list of what the clep is gonna compose of. does anyone have any textbook suggestions? :confused:

4) i'm thinking about taking a history clep exam for my 3rd exam. i haven't touched any kind of history for 5 years now so i hardly remember anything. :o haha. which history clep exam is the easiest to study for (if there are any)?

sorry for the abundance of questions but hopefully you guys can pass your clep wisdom to this noob. i need to get my studying started so i'm gonna check out books tomorrow. thanks for reading this massive message! :p