How do u Study with IC

[MelissaRosenblum]

I am currently studying for my second CLEP (Macro Economics) with IC. I was just wondering how others used the website because it seems that i am taking a much longer than everyone else to prepare for exams. I current study one set of questions till i get a 90% or higher than move on to the next set of questions. I study between about 15 hours a week. It will probably take me 2-3 weeks to prepare (already got 1 week down) just see how long it takes me to get through the rest of the material.

I just seems people here are able to test in 1 week. Whats the secret different study method or perhaps i'm not spending enough time studying.

[jason]

Hi Melissa.

I've only used IC to study for one exam (currently working on the second). I've found that 2 to 3 hours a day for 7-10 days allows me to score 90s or above on each area of the IC pretests. What I do is take on each subsection one at a time, reviewing a section in its entirety once or twice. After that my method is to keep answering questions until I get one wrong, then I restart from the beginning. It motivates me to really read the material, and spend more time learning the questions I am have trouble with.

As far as the amount of time people spend on the exams, I imagine part of that has to do with each persons prior experience in that area, their ability to retain information, and one's test-taking ability. Also, it is possible that some have found that the exams are not as difficult as they've imagined, and cut down on study time as a result.

FWIW, three weeks doesn't sound excessive at all.

[jec959]

My strategy is I use IC and some of the other recommended study sites listed in the specific exam feed back. At the end of 1 week I take the practice test, if I do well, I take the petersons practice test, if I do well I take the clep test. I am fortunate I can schedule the same day for the exam. If I don't do well on the first practice test, I don't bother with the petersons practice exam and I study for another week, and repeat the practice exams. This week I try to concentrate on the sections I didn't do well on. I don't know if this helps or not. My judgement is do what feels right for you, this isn't a competition the point is to pass the exams and I like to learn the information as well. I repeat my study cycle until things feel like they are clicking and I am confortable taking the exam. The only ones I didn't do this on were freshman composition and analyzing and interpreting literature which I took cold. This was actually the only way I could force myself to take them. So far I have usually been able to take the exams the first week and if not the second week, but I would continue the study cycle until I thought I could pass. Of course, I suffer from severe test anxiety and I think I over study.

Melissa, macroeconomics is one of the harder clep tests and I supplemented ic with kaplans ap macro/micro economics prep book. I will tell you at the end of 1 week I didn't even attempt a single practice exam as I knew I wasn't ready yet.