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I was coding around like any good nerd does when bored, and came up with a super basic, old-fashioned website (currently) called clepACE. I got some free hosting and started it up. Currently I’m working on the CLEP College Algebra tutorial. If you want to check it out, here’s a link.
Thanks for checking it out and maybe eventually it will become useful!
I signed up for Instantcert about two weeks ago and thought it might be helpful to share my experience.
WHAT IS INSTANTCERT?
According to their about page: Founded in 2002, InstantCert Academy was the first company to offer online college exam preparation. Today, we are one of the most established and trusted providers of college equivalency test prep. Specifically, we offer preparation for CLEP (College Level Examination Program), DSST (Dantes Standardized Subject Test), ECE (Excelsior College Exam), and TECEP (Thomas Edison College Exam Program).
The membership is $20/month, but lots of people offer discount codes for the first month (here’s the official code: 1118). The membership gives unlimited access to all 69 of their courses.
I haven’t taken an exam yet using Instantcert. Their pass rate is 97%, so I’m pretty confident.
They teach through flashcards, which might sound weird. A super helpful part is their Specific Exam Feedback section. This is where a very active and helpful community gives their experience and advice for each test. I’ve found these posts to be super helpful. Many posts include free study guide downloads made by individual members.
THE FLASHCARDS
From their site: InstantCert’s flashcards use an interactive, fill-in-the-blank format to teach you everything you need to know in order to pass your… exam. Just study the database of flashcards for the exam you’re going to take until you’re comfortable with the material, and then go in and take the exam with confidence!
Also, important to know. How the flashcards are developed: InstantCert Academy obtains the official textbooks for each course as recommended by the College Board. We then follow the College Board’s official published content outline which breaks down the courses by topics and the percentage of each topic as it is covered on the exam. Finally, our subject matter experts carefully develop Flashcard questions in proportion to how much of the test is dedicated to each topic within the course. Our research and development make the Interactive Flashcards a comprehensive study guide covering the most important material on each subject’s CLEP exam.
Fill in the answer. If you don’t know, you can press check answer or just guess.
Once you click the check answer button, the answer shows up. It explains the answer in a good amount of detail. The College Algebra course even contains video explanations for each problem.
The goal is to get your progress bar up to 100%. Once it gets there, you have learned all the information.
Each subject is divided into multiple sections.
THE FORUM
Most of the forum is open to anyone, but the Specific Exam Feedback section is members-only. The forum looks VERY ancient, but it’s also very active.
I don’t think I need to say anything else about the forum!
FINALLY
I personally think that this is a super great value. If you can get a course done a month, you’re getting 3-12 credits for $100-$150 each! This is a really helpful resource for both studying and getting exam feedback on where to study.
Hopefully this is useful!
I actually mean that. PLEASE tell me what you like/don’t like here.
Today I’ll quickly share my experience taking my first CLEP, Principles of Marketing.
HOW TO DO IT
According to free-clep-prep.com, Principles of Marketing is one of the two easiest exams, so I decided to try it. Let’s start with what materials.
MATERIALS
Used college textbook. If you’re interested, the textbook I used was called Basic Marketing. It’s a really long textbook, but it covered pretty much everything on the test.
REA book. They are basically cram guides with tests. The cram guide for Marketing was super lacking. I would say their exams are harder than the actual exam.
Official CLEP Study Guide. If you want to take CLEP exams, you need to buy this. Gives you an introduction to CLEP plus practice tests for all 33 exams.
Free-clep-prep.com. Pretty useful. Check out their ranking of the exams easiest to hardest.
Flashcards I hope I don’t have to explain these…
Quizlet.com Basically a free online flashcard tool.
STUDY ROUTINE
Since this was my first CLEP exam, I spent a way too long time studying. So I started by taking the REA Diagnostic Test. I got a 70% which I believe is barely a pass. I thought that the REA book was sufficient for getting a good grade (mistake!). When I took the final two practice test, I got more C-’s or possibly even a D+. Finally I realized I needed to study the Basic Marketing textbook. I spent anywhere from 2-5 hours studying per day, and went crazy memorizing. The whole thing is about memorizing. Memorize, memorize, memorize, and memorize some more. I wrote all the terms on flashcards, transferred them to Quizlet, and studied that for two weeks. Then I retook the practice tests. I improved my REA grades to lower 90s. I took the official practice test, got a 95%, kept reviewing what I was weak at, and then took the test.
ACTUALLY TAKING THE TEST
So I brought a signed passport, a birth certificate, the CLEP registration ticket, the test center receipt, and two pencils. Overkill. All they needed was the passport and the registration ticket. The tests are administered on a computer. You can get a feel for it by watching this video from CLEP. The test was really a lot easier than I thought. It was 100 questions and they give you 90 minutes. I went through it thrice, not twice, then reviewed all the questions I was unsure of, and by then, I had 5 minutes left. I submitted the test and instantly was granted my score, which was 75. 80 is perfect, 50 is pass. My guess is that a CLEP 75 is pretty much a 95%. I overstudied, but I don’t regret it.
I started studying for Analyzing and Interpreting Literature (I think I ought to just call it CLEP A&I, because this is going to get VERY long…) a week ago and today made a Quizlet deck combining 3 glossaries.
The first one is from REA’s CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Literature
The next two were online: literary terms, poetic terms.
This isn’t the main post on CLEP A&I…that will come out as soon as I actually take the exam. But hopefully this will help you get 3/6 more credits! (it kind of depends on the college, Thomas Edison grants 6 but CLEP changed their official recommendation to 3.)
Bachelors by 18 