CollegePlus! Blog

Speed Reading Genius Howard Berg Is New Sony Celebrity

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:01:11 CDT

CollegePlus! has been pleased to partner with the World's Fastest Reader, Howard Berg, for many years now.

Apparently, Howard has some other fans too: Sony recently featured him on its new Sony Reader commercial next to Peyton Manning and Justin Timberlake.

CollegePlus! has promoted Berg's Maximum Speed Reading course around the country as a sure fire way to pass CLEPs and other exams for earning credit outside the classroom.

If you'd like to double or triple your reading speed, check out Howard's Maximum Speed Reading course. You can also see how CollegePlus! implements this and other study skills courses for all of its students.

With these courses, you'll be studying like a genius in about a month!

CLEPs for the College Major of Your Choice

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:29:56 CDT

CLEP exams are not only accepted at 2900 colleges and universities across the country but fit into a variety of specialized majors as well.

At the CollegePlus! website, the majors page is highly trafficked because people want to know what degrees they can earn through distance learning.

However, the students involved in our College of Your Choice program, have an infinite number of majors to choose from if they want to attend a brick and mortar school later on.

The majors CollegePlus! has researched for leveraging CLEP have ranged from fairly common to highly technical. Some of the more popular majors have included business, English, and history in addition to nursing and engineering.

Interestingly, students have also been able to gain significant savings by using College of Your Choice for degrees like mechanical engineering technology, theater, and biomedical science.

If you think that CLEP couldn't work with your degree, think again. Check out College of Your Choice today!

Posted by Shawn Cohen

CLEP: Increasing College Accessibility, Decreasing Cost

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:38:34 CDT

CLEP, a popular credit by exam option for students, is an effective means for earning college credit for very little cost.

Many in the US today are calling for increased college accessibility but are only thinking within the typical higher education framework. CLEP is the inexpensive option to increase accessibility that few students know about. But just how low-cost is CLEP?

CLEP exams cost a standard $72 regardless of how many credits the individual exam is worth. A majority of CLEP exams are worth three credits, a bunch are worth six credits, and three language exams can count for a maximum of 12 credits a piece.

Earning 12 credits enables a student to complete 10% of their college degree in one exam!

Since CLEP exams cost $72, this means that CLEP credits carry a price tag of as little as $6 while not exceeding $24 per credit. This is welcome news to students who typically pay $250 or more per college credit at a brick and mortar university.

If you'd like to find out how to keep your entire college degree costs under $15,000, request the CollegePlus! information packet. The packet will tell you how much your desired college major will cost. Don't pay retail for college. Check out all your options today!

CLEP Accepted at Thousands of Colleges and Universities

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 09:38:00 CDT

CLEP, DSST, and other credit by exam options are a cost effective way to save money on tuition without sacrificing the quality of a student's education.

CollegePlus! students typically opt to maximize their college savings potential by taking a large amount of CLEP and other exams before enrolling in a distance learning college to complete their degree.

However, thousands of brick and mortar colleges and universities accept a smaller number of CLEPs for students who want to graduate with a more traditional college experience.

As part of its College of Your Choice program, CollegePlus! has helped students maximize their CLEP options at top-tier schools like Texas A&M, Arizona State University, and Oklahoma State University.

Students have also approached CollegePlus! to do similar CLEP research on degrees from Dallas Baptist University, Liberty University, and Covenant College.

If you'd like to earn a college major not listed on the CollegePlus! majors page but still want to save thousands on tuition, College of Your Choice could be the right option for you!

CLEPs Not a Challenge for CollegePlus! Students

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:34:14 CDT

CollegePlus! has proven that precision coaching for CLEP and other exams helps students succeed in their distance learning studies. We recently ran an informal study on our students' pass rates and found that 9 out of 10 CLEP and DSST exams taken by CollegePlus! students received a passing score.

Pulling data from exams taken between April and August of this year, CollegePlus! students passed their CLEPs at a rate of 91.6%. The only data available from non-CollegePlus! test-takers tracks exams taken by the military. That data showed them passing all exams at around 60%.

Although the military's rates are more representative of all CLEP exams, CollegePlus! students still show that the coaching techniques offered to them are highly effective in multiple ways. CollegePlus! students don't just learn enough to get by. If so, the failure rate would probably be higher considering all the students that would study just to pass the exam.

Learn how to join the growing ranks of CollegePlus! students. There's a degree program that's right for you, whether you are in high school, college, or if you're an adult learner.

Distance Learning University Earns Top US News Ranking

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:42:29 CDT

Valley City State University is a popular option for CollegePlus! students completing their music degree through distance learning. The university, VCSU for short, earned the #2 spot for Top Public Baccalaureate Colleges in the Midwest from US News, published this month.

In addition to moving up two places over last year's ranking, this highly coveted spot means VCSU beat out about 1,400 other colleges and universities in the same category.

VCSU, located in North Dakota, offers an extensive distance learning music program that helps CollegePlus! students complete their core music requirements, even allowing them to take live classes online. Music majors then transfer their credits to Thomas Edison State College to complete their degrees without having to spend exorbitant amounts on tuition, room and board, and credit fees.

Get more information on completing a college majors by combining CLEPs with distance learning courses. There are over 20 distance learning majors to choose from!

Posted by Shawn Cohen

CLEP Friendly College Gets Top Rankings

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:50:35 CDT

CollegePlus! students typically graduate from a select group of state colleges that are very CLEP friendly. These distance learning colleges offer students a quality education while enabling them to cut their degree costs in half.

Thomas Edison State College, a school many CollegePlus! students have graduated from, has earned high marks from both the press and independent organizations. These accolades have come from no less than the New York Times and Forbes magazine.

Forbes has placed Thomas Edison in its list of top 20 cyber colleges in the US and the New York Times has called the school "one of the bright stars of higher learning," according to the college's Wikipedia page.

Thomas Edison's low cost option has prompted Geteducated.com to place the college's business degree at #4 on its "2009 Best Buys in Online Education" list. Several of Thomas Edison's other majors placed high on a similar list for psychology and human services degrees.

Get more information on why Thomas Edison is the college of choice for CollegePlus! students. You can also download an informative ebook on combining high school and college absolutely free!

Posted by Shawn Cohen

CLEP Success: How to Pass the Natural Sciences CLEP

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:41:44 CDT

The CLEP Natural Sciences exam has approximately 120 questions to be answered in the standard 90 minutes. Unlike some other CLEP exams, the Natural Sciences CLEP requires more than just learning facts—it also stresses understanding the application of basic scientific principles and their application.

This means you'll have to recognize cause and effect sequences by interpreting scenarios, graphs, diagrams, tables, and equations.

While half the exam covers biology, 25% of the questions deal with basic chemistry. The remaining quarter of the exam deals with a mix of physical science and physics.

The Natural Science CLEP is difficult because you need to maintain a big picture while familiarizing yourself with many details on how organisms and chemical compounds react to each other.

One tip students have found helpful is to focus on exactly what is being asked in the question since many of the questions seem ambiguous. Once you are sure what the question actually deals with, you can narrow down the possible answers a bit easier.

Here are some resources to help you study for this CLEP exam:

Review for the CLEP Natural Sciences Examination by Comex

Official CLEP Study Guide by The College Board

Cracking the CLEP by Princeton Review

Apologia Biology, Student Text, 2nd Edition by Wile

Apologia Chemistry: Student Text, 2nd Edition, by Wile

Usborne Illustrated Dictionary to Science by Stockley, Oxlade, Wertheim, Smith, Chen and Rogers

If you’ve take the CLEP Natural Sciences exam for your college degree, let us know how it went and any pointers you might have!