Recently, I had a chance to review a 3-month subscription
for the CLEP and DSST prep materials from Study.com.
You might be familiar with Study.com, but did you know that
they have extensive prep materials for CLEP tests and DSST programs? If you
aren’t familiar for any of the acronyms I just named…let me fill you in. Both
tests allow for college credit without taking a particular course. CLEP stands
for College Level Examination Program.
The DSST stands for DANTES Subjects Standardized Tests (DANTES is
Defensive Activity for Non-Traditional Support). This test is generally
associated with the military, but has now been opened up for everyone to use.
Study.com allows the user to take a placement test or
immediately begin working through the review material. A course is made up of
basically videos and a quiz. There are supplemental materials such as
flashcards, transcripts or worksheets.
A course can take up to 15 to 20 hours of lesson time.
Which, by my estimation, is quite a bit of time shaved from a traditional
college course.
How We Used It
To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure where to begin. Or where I
thought we needed to begin. My son is a Junior in High School and, while I know
there are some problem areas he needs to work on, I also wanted him to be able
to use the product during this review period mostly in a frustration-free zone.
If that’s possible.
Basically, I wanted to see what was what. However, when I started looking over it I was fairly suspicious we were really going to like it.
Josiah started with the CLEP test materials and I chose to
let him focus on History. I am going to show you his latest placement test and
screenshots from CLEP History of the United States 1.
You can see the layout of the overview screen is easily accessible and gives you all the info.
The placement test gives the student approximately 30 questions and adjusts to the student's knowledge.
The videos are fairly short. They have a practice test, a worksheet, flashcards, and a quiz. There is even a spot to take notes. The videos are engaging and keep the student's attention.
Here is a little shot of the practice test.
After poking around the DSST material I thought it would be
interesting to take a placement test myself. The DSST does have some different
courses to explore. And I was particularly interested in one.
DSST Foundations of Education: Study Guide & Test Prep Final Exam.
Full disclosure. I did take this course. In college. Waay back in the day.
And while it does seem counterproductive to work through material you already
have college credit for, I wanted to see how it compared with what I remember
learning in college. I also need to admit that my degree was in Education.
Nearly 25 years is plenty of time to change the way things
are taught.
I noticed right away that the test was a smart one. It took
into account the answers I was getting right and focused on material I wasn’t
so familiar with or had forgotten. Some of the questions were fairly specific.
And though I have no intention of taking this college class again, I'm intrigued by some of the other classes offered...I have a desire to go back to school and Study.com makes it easy to see that goal in front of me.
What We Thought
My suspicions were confirmed. This is an excellent program. In fact, I think it is more than excellent. I do need to tell you a few more things. It is a self-paced program. You can whiz straight through or take a break. You can move around or return to something that needs addressing.
It can also be accessed by multiple devices. We only used it on the computer, but some of you will enjoy the easy access.
This one is a keeper!
You can connect with Study.com via the following social media outlets. Don't forget to click on the banner below to read more reviews. I guarantee that there are many more out there who loved it!
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