Tests For Advanced Standing

Okay, so I admit it: I've always been a pretty good test taker. It was the thrill of my day to be able to complete a test in grade school before anyone else in my class. There was just something about being the first to hand a test over to the teacher. If I made a good grade, then I felt all the prouder.

Yes, I realize I am a weirdo, thanks.

Even during standardized tests in high school, I never broke out into sweats or hives or nervously bit my fingernails. It was multiple choice for cryin' out loud! There was always at least one obviously wrong answer leaving three or less to guess from. Simple deduction; you don't really have to know it all!

So, back to tests....

When I first started the journey back to school as an adult student, I planned to CLEP as many classes as possible because A) it's cheaper B) it's less time consuming C) I'm a pretty decent test taker most of the time. I even bought a CLEP prep book for the Biology test (mainly because I desperately did not want to be stuck in a two hour lab each week). Well, that ended up being a little ambitious. I never tried it because I remembered that science is not my strong suit. If I had not already taken English Comp I & II, I would have certainly tried CLEP-ing those classes.

Without Biology to CLEP, there weren't a lot of general education requirements that I could test out of. However, I found out that my college had a test for the basic computer science class. By showing competency in Windows-based software by taking a timed test at the Assessment Center, a person could receive Advanced Standing and two hours credit...for only ten bucks! The only "downside" (if you could even call it that) is that the hours would not be calculated into the overall GPA. Like I said, not much of a "downside." You have to take the tests in order (Access-Excel-PowerPoint-Word) and you can not move on to the next until you have passed. And you can only take each test three (?) times.

Test one (Windows Access) was a little harder than I expected, but I passed. Barely. I made exactly the grade required to pass. Whew! Test two was on Excel which I am pretty familiar with and can use competently though not expertly. I passed with a grade in the high 70's I think. Since I had to drive an hour to take my test, I decided to make the most of my time and try to take the rest of the required sections. Even though I just dabble in PowerPoint occasionally, I still felt fairly confident in testing even though there were very few questions (making it harder to get a passing grade if I had missed too many). I passed it too! Yay! They saved the best for last--Word, software that my six year old knows how to navigate--and I wrapped up my test and my computer science class for good.

Moral of the story: take a chance. If you feel fairly--if not entirely--competent in a subject area, why not try to test out of at least one class. Of course, it will take a fair amount of preparation (I studied/practiced about an hour or more for each section using test preparation software), but it was well worth the tuition saved and hours saved sitting in a classroom!