How to Start

In this post I’ll try to give you a quick intro to this world and some things you can do to get started.

EXAMS/COURSES

CLEP

Of all the things you’ll be learning, this is probably what you’ll spend the most time on.  CLEP allows you to study on your own and take any of their 33 exams to collect anywhere from 3 to 12 credits for a single 90ish-minute exam.  CLEP is owned by College Board, the same people who created the SAT and AP exams.  It’s way cheaper then any college course ever, too.  A CLEP exam is $80.  Add on the sitting fee and your textbooks, the most you’ll probably spend is around $140.  If you’re trying to be cheap and you don’t really care about studying a textbook, you could do it for $110.

DSST

DSST was created by the US Department of Defense and used a lot in the military.  Today, anyone can take on of the 36 DSSTs.  9 DSST exams are upper-level, so you could use those for the final two years of college.  I’ve never taken a DSST, but I think I will sometime later this year.

UEXCEL

These exams were created by Excelsior College, which we’ll talk about down in the colleges section.  There are 55 in total.  I think they each cost $375.

TECEP

These are created by Thomas Edison State University.  There are 40 exams and cost $156 each.

STRAIGHTERLINE/SAYLOR/STUDY.COM/SHMOOP/SOPHIA

These all offer online courses for credit.  Normally they are more expensive then taking an exam.  One super cheap source of credit is Saylor.  The 31 courses are free and the proctoring fee is $25.  That is $8 a credit and they can be transferred to any of the Big 3.  Your safest bet as a student my age (14 in a month) is probably CLEP, since those are well-known and established.  But once you get closer to enrolling and they still are approved, you should definitely take advantage of them.  But then again, maybe you should take them now.  You can learn the material, pay $25, most likely get the credits, and if somehow those don’t count when you enroll, you will have learned the subjects and worst case, you can take the equivalent CLEP exam.

COLLEGES

THOMAS EDISON STATE UNIVERSITY

One of the “Big 3” colleges that are good for CLEP/distance learning etc.  Obviously, this is not a fact, but to me Thomas Edison State University sounds the fanciest. They have a lot of degree programs compared to the other 2 (29), mostly in business, tech, engineering and liberal arts.  They are known to not have very great customer service, but it is a popular choice.  FOR STUDENTS UNDER 18: they technically have a 21+ policy, but lots of homeschooled students apply and if they can show they can do college-level work (like send 90 credits over!!), they are supposed to be really easy.

CHARTER OAK STATE COLLEGE

A lot of homeschooled students go here.  It seems really friendly to lots of credit sources and even has a giant list of all the possible exams you could use to test out of their requirements.  Their normal majors are business, cyber security, health care administration, health information management, and psychology, but they have a bunch of majors that would go something like this: Bachelors in General Studies with a concentration in X.  They are known to have really good customer service and are a pretty affordable option.  FOR STUDENTS UNDER 18: This is really easy.  As long as you’re 16, you can join.

EXCELSIOR COLLEGE

This is probably the most famous of the Big 3.  It’s the only private school of the 3 and a lot of people complain about it’s name.  It’s also probably the most expensive of the 3 and has good customer service.  They have a ton of majors.  FOR STUDENTS UNDER 18:  If you have a high school diploma, you can enroll.

DEGREE PLAN

GENERAL EDUCATION

The first 60 credits.  You probably can get all of this with CLEP exams and maybe a few DSSTs.

FOCUS

The next 30ish.  This is what your major is in.  You can probably cover a good amount with exams, but you’ll probably need to take a few courses from your college to finish off.

ELECTIVES

The rest of your credits.  You can pretty much put anything you want here.

FINALLY, HOW TO START

1. Do you know anything at or close to a college-level?  If you’ve taken high school Biology, you could probably with some study pass CLEP Biology and get 6 credits.
2. If you don’t have a strong high-school/college-level knowledge of something, start with an easy CLEP.  That’s what I did.  I’d strongly recommend checking out this CLEP difficulty list and just picking something in Level 1 or 2.
3. Don’t worry too much about your degree or college in the beginning.  What really matters is learning and passing exams.
4. A note about CLEP scoring: CLEPs are reported as Pass/Fail, so your CLEP score won’t affect your GPA.  A 50 is a pass and equals a C.  20 is the lowest possible score, and 80 is the highest.
5. Study resources.  Go to clep.collegeboard.org and check out the recommend textbooks for your exam.  Buy a used one off of Amazon and make a bunch of flashcards off of the main terms.  I don’t love these, but REA CLEP books are pretty good.  They’re $20, they have a super-condensed subject review and 2 practice tests.  I find Instantcert really valuable.  They have flashcards they made from studying all the College Board textbooks and a bunch of specific feedback from real test takers.  More about that here.  Also check out freeclepprep.com for free study guides to supplement your learning.  ALSO check out ModernStates.org to see if they have CLEP-specific videos, all of which are free.

Hopefully this helps!  This post was pretty long, but I hope it helps somebody to get started with getting a degree by 18.

Zach