[Anonymous]

Has anyone used a CLEP exam to be used as credit towards the 150 required hours in North Carolina? I tried calling the Board and they wouldn’t give me a definitive answer. They just said to forward my transcripts and they could evaluate the CLEP credit. There has to be some written rule on whether it is permitted and I cannot find anything. I was hoping to take 2 exams to knockout the last 6 credit hours, but I don’t want to pay for the CLEP exams if they won’t be accepted.

[soyanks]

FEMA credits are all the rage nowadays. Former co-worker successfully used FEMA credits for NY state 150 credit requirement.

FAR - 86
REG - 85
BEC - 90
AUD - 84

[Anonymous]

I used CLEPs in KY; however, the key is that the CLEPs have to be on a college transcript. I'm not aware of any state which will accept the CLEP transcript directly. Once it is on a college transcript, it will be listed as transferred-in credit with the college's course code etc. of the equivalency, and should be acceptable. The reason that a lot of state boards don't know what to answer is because they don't accept the CLEPs directly – your college accepts the CLEPs and then the state board accepts your college's transcript. If your college won't accept many or any CLEPs, you can always get them credit banked elsewhere – my alma mater TESC offers this service for a fee: https://www.tesc.edu/documents/NondegreeServiceApp.pdf They used to accept FEMAs as well but don't anymore – I'm not sure if FEMAs can still be used for credit elsewhere. (I used a combination of FEMAs and CLEPs for my extra credits.)

[govtec]

Lilla – How does credit bank work?…I read your pdf link but is it some sort of service where they document the CLEP credits and you then have to transfer to another accredited college. I don't understand the purpose of this. My community college accepts CLEP credit but I have to sign up for at least 1 course and was wondering if this is a cheaper alternative. Thanks

BEC - 12/13
FAR - 5/14
AUD - 8/14
REG - 2/15
Passed 6 of 6 CLEP Exam

[Anonymous]

The way credit banking works is that you send the info from CLEP etc. to TESC and they generate a TESC transcript showing the college credit for the tests. So, for example, let's say you took the 6-credit Humanities CLEP and that was in. You'd send the CLEP sheet to TESC and TESC would then be able to provide you with a TESC college transcript showing 6 credits transferred from CLEP as HUMN-1022 and HUMN-1023 or whatever the course codes are (just making these up – on lunch break so don't have time to actually review their catalog and determine what the course codes would be). Then, you present your state board with your prior transcripts as well as the TESC transcript, so the state board them just evaluates whether they accept HUMN-1022 and HUMN-1023 for credit, which of course they would unless they duplicated something else on your transcript. The state board isn't really evaluating the CLEP, just the TESC course that TESC is vouching is the equivalent of the CLEP.

Hope that helps!

[Anonymous]

Thanks! I understand that they need to be on the transcript and had planned to do that as I also have attended TESC.

[govtec]

Thanks Lilla. I just checked with PA state board regulation and it looks like they do accept TESC transcript. How long on average did it take you to study for a CLEP exam (assuming it was one of the easy one like History)?

BEC - 12/13
FAR - 5/14
AUD - 8/14
REG - 2/15
Passed 6 of 6 CLEP Exam

[Anonymous]

Cheers to another TESC-student! 🙂 Having been through TESC, you're probably more familiar with things like CLEP than a lot of posters, so sorry to have assumed you didn't know they needed to be on a transcript. I've seen people on here who were trying to send the CLEP transcript to their state board instead of a college transcript, so I've fallen into the habit of starting with the basics in case people aren't familiar at all with how CLEP is used for credit.

[govtec]

I have to do the math between taking CLEP test and transferring to my local community college or go with TESC. It seems the cost is about the same for 18 credits between the two option.

BEC - 12/13
FAR - 5/14
AUD - 8/14
REG - 2/15
Passed 6 of 6 CLEP Exam

[Anonymous]

govtec, didn't see your other post before making mine – sorry. I'd pulled up the thread last night, then posted this morning, so missed your post since I didn't refresh. I was taking quite a few CLEPs (want to say I took around 10 total?), so I got pretty efficient with it. Generally I'd take one every 2 weeks or 2 every 3 weeks. The best study materials in my opinion are the REA guides – example for history: https://www.amazon.com/CLEP-History-United-States-REA/dp/087891272X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1417736233&sr=8-3&keywords=rea+history+of+the+united+states These books pretty much cover it all, or at least let you see where your weak areas are.

However, unless you're a history buff, history isn't necessarily one of the easy ones since there's so much information, so many dates, etc. If you're just looking for quick credits, Intro to Sociology and Intro to Psych are both good if you haven't taken a similar course (any Psych 100-level course would probably count as a duplication for Intro to Psych…). This site has pretty good info in general, but here's their difficulty rating for the exams: https://www.free-clep-prep.com/clep-difficulty-list.html

One I'd strongly suggest you consider is Analyzing & Interpreting Lit if you don't have a similar course and just need any credits. I really really don't like Lit, but I would still recommend this one because the REA guide is all you need to prepare and it's 6 credits. I think I studied for this one around a week before deciding that anything I didn't know, I wouldn't be able to learn, so I might as well fail and move on, but then surprised myself with passing (it ended up being my best CLEP score – 71 I think it was).

By the way, if you're looking to actually learn something useful at the same time, you could consider DSST tests too: https://getcollegecredit.com/ They're primarily used by military but are also primarily business-related tests, so would potentially have more useful subjects.

[govtec]

Hi Lilla,

I just want your take on something real quick. I'll probably also do a pre-evaluation submission to the state board as well before I actually apply for my license.

Do you think the following would be considered duplicate courses assuming I get the CLEP courses registered under TESC along with my transcript from college?

College Transcript Courses – HIST 162 Themes in World Civilization II, HIST 163 Themes in World Civlization III

CLEP Test – History of the United States I, History of the United States II, Western Civilization I, Western Civilization II

Thanks

BEC - 12/13
FAR - 5/14
AUD - 8/14
REG - 2/15
Passed 6 of 6 CLEP Exam

[Author]

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