{Update: Study.com now has a new and exciting online homeschool program. They listened to numerous homeschooling parents and developed a curriculum package that fulfills their needs. The curriculum is flexible, allows students to achieve dual credit, gives students the opportunity to learn non-traditional subjects like criminology, and offers additional resources like state-specific homeschooling laws. I do not have any experience with this new program but I wanted to share it with you so that you could check it out. I love the idea of an online dual credit option!}
As A is finishing up her freshman year of high school I have been thinking more about upcoming tests. We recently received a 3-month subscription to Study.com to check out their CLEP and DSST prep materials. If you don't know, CLEP stands for College Level Examination Program. This credit by exam program allows students to take tests and earn transferable college credits for a variety of subjects. With over 1800 testing centers and 2900 college universities accepting CLEP credit it is a great option for many students. It is often used by students who want to test out of basic credits or entry-level classes. DSST (formerly DANTES Subject Standardized Tests) help members of the US Military earn college credit outside a traditional college setting by taking exams.
Some of the most popular CLEP prep courses include Biology, Natural Sciences, Introductory Business Law and Spanish Language
Study.com currently offers test CLEP prep courses for the following CLEP exams: American Government, American Literature, Analyzing & Interpreting Literature, Biology, Calculus, Chemistry, College Algebra, College Composition Modular, College Composition, College Mathematics, English Literature, Financial Accounting, History of the United States I, History of the United States II, Human Growth and Development, Humanities, Information Systems, Introduction to Educational Psychology, Introductory Business Law, Introductory Psychology, Introductory Sociology, Natural Sciences, PreCalculus, Principles of Macroeconomics, Principles of Marketing, Principles of Microeconomics, Social Sciences and History, Spanish Language Levels 1 & 2, Western Civilization I and Western Civilization II.
A working on Biology CLEP prep course
A has almost completed her Biology course for this year! We decided for her to work through the Biology CLEP prep course. She has been steadily working through this prep course and she has really been enjoying it. She has used our desktop and our Ipad for this program - both with no problems. It is thorough and extensive and I love that the material is covered by professionals. A enjoys that the material is explained really well within the videos. She also really appreciates the analogies that are used to make the material make sense. The course is designed to get you fully prepared for the CLEP exam. There are tons of fun video lessons that are all followed by practice quizzes to test your comprehension. A really appreciates this because it is helping her become comfortable answering questions similar to what she might see on an actual CLEP exam. A also really likes the dashboard that keeps track of your progress and how you are performing.
Here you can see the screenshot of the lesson video about hydrophilic molecules. The dashboard on the right shows you the chapter you are in as well as how many quizzes you have passed.
I love that you can find the information covered below the video.
Above you can see the Lesson Summary - A liked this feature
Here is an example of a practice exam score for A. It tells A how many questions she answered correctly and how many she missed. It also shows A her areas of strength and weakness which can really help when reviewing and drilling.
A really liked comparing her score to others. She could see how she scored compared to others as well as how fast she completed the exam.
Another view of A's lesson dashboard further along in the course
This is a self paced course (not parent-intensive) and there are 238 available lessons within the Biology prep course that take an average length of 8 minutes each so this course has hours of preparation material. I think it does a great job really preparing you for your exam. Now that said, if a student has familiarity with the subject area already, they can skip lessons to focus on material that they are less familiar with. There are also placement tests which can test students out of material that they already know within this course. I think that's a really nice option. I am having A work through the entire course for reinforcement and knowledge but students definitely don't have to do this! There are flashcards to help students really drill the material home. We really like this feature as well. I'm hoping you can tell from the photos above that this site is very user friendly, organized and laid out really well. So to sum it up - these courses are great for earning college credit through the CLEP and DSST programs, they can be used as a study program or as needed for review or even supplements to an additional program (how we are approaching this with A). Although, we might have her take the CLEP test after completing this program.
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