Home schooling High School- Home schooling College by means of the CLEP Exam
Getting college credit is not only a thing you can only do if you are enrolled in college. Quite a few students gain college credit-basically home schooling college-when they are still in high school, and summer is a great time to do this. My boys home schooled college one summer following their junior year, when I needed to determine just how much they knew prior to applying to college. This helped us to ensure that they were placed properly. They gained all their college credits by CLEP tests over the summer, and it is something that you can undertake, as well.
The first step to home schooling college is to assess. The book that we found most advantageous in this approach was The CLEP Official Study Guide. I had my boys have a look at the table of contents in this study guide and choose which of the tests they believed they might be able to pass. Then they took that specific sample test, and if they received 50 or more, we recognized it was worth studying for the official test. A score of 50 (or sometimes lower) is usually a passing score on the CLEP, given that all of their problems are difficult.
The next thing we did was study, plus we invested in a study guide for the subject area that they were planning to take a test. As an example, my youngest son's highest score was in American History so I decided to buy the REA study guide for CLEP American History and gave him one week to study it at his leisure. He would just sit there and read his REA study guides during swim meets; it was not difficult, and it did not bother him whatsoever. Some other people could do some study for half and hour or even an hour a day for a time just to see if they are able to get the best attainable score.
The next thing in home schooling college is to basically take your student to the testing area. You must make an appointment to take the exam, and to accomplish this, simply go to the College Board website at www.collegeboard.com. Choose the CLEP section at the bottom part of the page, and find the places near you where exams are given. Exams are scored immediately after your student finishes the test (with a couple of exceptions), which means you will know before you leave what their final score is. Different colleges honor credit for CLEP scores in various ways. As an example, one college could provide your student 5 college credits for a score of 50, when some could give only 3 credits for the same score. Check with the colleges you are considering to understand their policies and score requirements.
Even though you can if you want to, you do not have to report your test scores to a college right away. Throughout the summer when we home schooled college, we only reported scores to my sons' number-one college. We did this mainly because I was very confident that this college would be pleased that I was keeping touch with them, but we did not report scores to all of the additional colleges that they applied to.
The first step to home schooling college is to assess. The book that we found most advantageous in this approach was The CLEP Official Study Guide. I had my boys have a look at the table of contents in this study guide and choose which of the tests they believed they might be able to pass. Then they took that specific sample test, and if they received 50 or more, we recognized it was worth studying for the official test. A score of 50 (or sometimes lower) is usually a passing score on the CLEP, given that all of their problems are difficult.
The next thing we did was study, plus we invested in a study guide for the subject area that they were planning to take a test. As an example, my youngest son's highest score was in American History so I decided to buy the REA study guide for CLEP American History and gave him one week to study it at his leisure. He would just sit there and read his REA study guides during swim meets; it was not difficult, and it did not bother him whatsoever. Some other people could do some study for half and hour or even an hour a day for a time just to see if they are able to get the best attainable score.
The next thing in home schooling college is to basically take your student to the testing area. You must make an appointment to take the exam, and to accomplish this, simply go to the College Board website at www.collegeboard.com. Choose the CLEP section at the bottom part of the page, and find the places near you where exams are given. Exams are scored immediately after your student finishes the test (with a couple of exceptions), which means you will know before you leave what their final score is. Different colleges honor credit for CLEP scores in various ways. As an example, one college could provide your student 5 college credits for a score of 50, when some could give only 3 credits for the same score. Check with the colleges you are considering to understand their policies and score requirements.
Even though you can if you want to, you do not have to report your test scores to a college right away. Throughout the summer when we home schooled college, we only reported scores to my sons' number-one college. We did this mainly because I was very confident that this college would be pleased that I was keeping touch with them, but we did not report scores to all of the additional colleges that they applied to.
