Kicking off the new year with CLEP or DSST exam plans? There are a zillion ways to prep for a CLEP exam – so let me lead with this: It is my opinion that “CLEP Prep” is easiest AFTER your student finishes a homeschool class (not instead of). Just as you wouldn’t expect an SAT test prep book to teach your son algebra, my opinion is that a CLEP prep product isn’t designed to teach a subject “from scratch” either.
CLEP & DSST Prep
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Modern States – take a CLEP for FREE! These free online courses will award you a voucher that pays for your CLEP test. It really is free in every way – free class, free CLEP, free proctoring fee. Many parents report that they use this program for the specific purpose of getting the voucher. This is not a curriculum, it’s more like interactive Cliffs Notes. This product is the ONLY product that is free to prep AND free to test.
Free CLEP Prep Site Excellent tool. Developed by a DSST & CLEP-tester (Justin) he’s written some very good testing outlines and practice tests. Use this as one “part” of your CLEP prep program.
Crash Course Totally free video-based mini-courses that teach you the minimum you have to know in a subject. Perfect for visual learners but fast-paced. I suggest taking notes and using this AFTER a regular high school curriculum to target specific things you’ll need to know for the test. Use this as one “part” of your CLEP program.
Tripod CLEP Prep Lesson Plans A wonderful online site put together by a Christian homeschooler (Tricia Q) and free to use. (Note: There are some links to videos or lectures that are not written by Tripod that are not Christian- this is warned on the site.) The plans are free to use but require additional books for purchase to use the program fully. They also have a large yahoo group.
Credits Before College offers 3 Christian CLEP /DSST prep workbooks that contain everything you need for curriculum and test prep for those 3 subjects: DSST Environmental Science, DSST World Religions, and CLEP Psychology. These books are written by Christian homeschooler (Cheri F) and are physical paper books (not digital). The curriculum is designed to give high school credit in addition to test prep.
Dual Credit at Home is a package of 9 CLEP and 4 DSST prep lessons. These lessons are written by a Christian homeschooler (Becky M). The program costs about $1000 and is not all-inclusive. In addition to the program fee, it requires a monthly subscription to InstantCert flashcards ($20/month), a monthly subscription to Speedyprep ($30/month). Feedback from parents about the quality of the content is excellent, but since you can only buy the program as a “package” my advice is to double-check that your teen’s college accepts all 9 CLEP exams and all 4 DSST exams before you decide.
REA Guides are paperback and online prep guides for CLEP and AP. These guides include excellent and thorough practice tests that also have summaries of “why” each test question’s answer is correct. This brand of test prep is considered the golden standard by anyone who has taken multiple exams. I (Jennifer) used an REA guide for every exam I’ve taken, and think they are far superior to any other brand on the market. An additional point is that REA updates its guides along with CLEP exam updates. I am unable to confirm or deny that other companies are updating their content to match new versions of exams, but I know or sure that REA does. REA Guides are often available in your public library or online used in our HS4CC marketplace.
Have a favorite CLEP or DSST prep resource? Share it below!
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