Sparknotes/SparkCharts Study Guides

[mlwilliamsiv]

Has anyone ever used the Sparknotes/SparkCharts to pass a CLEP or DANTES exam? If so I just want to know how useful they are in helping one to prepare for the exam.

I am starting from scratch (meaning I have no college credits at the moment) and am unemployed. I plan on going through TESC for my degree because they accept FEMA credits. My first plan of action is to take all the free FEMA courses online because they are free! Then I plan on taking CLEPS and DANTES combined to earn my degree. I set a goal on having my Associates in Business by June 2008.

What I would like to know is can someone who is majoring in Business give me a plan of action to pursue in obtaining my goal. Such as what CLEPS I should take first and in what order. And what DANTES exams I should take and in what order. I just would like to get a plan of action going so I know how to proceed after I finish my FEMA credits. Any help I can get will be greatly appreciated. I am trying to get my Bachelors if possible in as little as 18 months. So I need to know what is the fastest route for me to get there. Thanks again everyone.

From a loyal degree seeker,

Marshall

-Seeking A Bachelors in Business Administration

[ShotoJuku]

Yes, I have used sparknotes, but only for the DANTES Civil War exam. See my list below for other study material sources -AND- be guided by your advisor for your academic program direction. Good Luck!!

[Cade]

Marshall:

We are glad to see you here. It sound like you are exited about getting a degree, that’s good. I am sure you will make your 18 month goal. I am pursuing a General Business from Excelsior (they were cheaper that TESC last time I cheeked) and started last February and have 90 hrs. I don’t know how TESC works so I can only make generalizations, but this will give you a good start.

Your absolutely most valuable resource will be the search function on this forum. Here you will find recommended study recourses for each exam. There is also a thread dedicated to each exam; to find it scroll to very bottom of any page and click “archive” and them select “specific exam feed back ONLY”

Before you take an exam, always cheek it out with your advisor, or at least cheek the catalog.

US Air Force - Education and Library Resource Center - CLEP Center At this site you will find many practice exams for CLEP and a few for DSST. There is a general agreement around here that these tests are generally a little bit harder than the real thing. Another rule of thumb, if you get over half right in practice, you may pass the real thing, shoot for 60% to be surer.

Here are some activation codes for the site above. They are only good for 90 days. When one runs out use the next and then go back the first.

FL5518
FL5587
FL5682

Look over this site: 123collegedegree.com

Exam Difficulty - BA in 4 weeks Here is a good index of difficulty for different exams. He says that some exams don’t require preparation. I am not so sure; I would recommend at least taking a practice exam if there are available.

This is my recommended sequence of exams. I have grouped exams together that seem to complement each other, or overlap in material covered on the exams. I suggest taking exams in the clusters one after the other, in the order listed, some can be taken at the same time; two in a day.

Humanities and Social Sciences/History:
1. CLEP Freshman College composition. or English composition (cheek you advisor or catalog)
2. CLEP English Literature 6 credits, this is an elective which you may not need
3. CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Literature 6 credits
4. CLEP Humanities 6 credits, half of humanities is Literature which you are already familiar with if you have taken English Literature
5. CLEP Social Sciences and History, 6 credits

Math:
1. CLEP Mathematics 6 credit hours, a good warm up for Algebra
2. CLEP Algebra 3
3. DSST Statistics 3, Algebra is not a prerequisite, but it helped me understand formulas
4. Not a must, but now would be a good time to take Production/Operations Management, it deals with statistics.

Management:
1. DSST Supervision
2. CLEP Management
3. ECE (Excelsior) Human Resource Management

Behavior:
1. CLEP Sociology
2. CLEP Psychology
3. DSST Counseling
4. ECE Organizational Behavior

Law:
1. CLEP Introduction to Business Law
2. DSST Business Law II, this is upper level and you may not need this

Economics:
1. CLEP Marketing 3
2. CLEP Macroeconomics 3
3. CLEP Microeconomics 3

Money:
1. CLEP Financial Accounting
2. Now would be a good time take a Managerial accounting class. There is no test available. Financial Accounting may be a prerequisite
3. DSST Principles of Finance, Defiantly take accounting first (my personal opinion)
4. DSST Money and Banking. I didn’t take this one, if you have to take it get the economics cluster in first.


This is not a complete list of requirements for your degree. So you can fit in the other class/exams wherever. These are the tests that should be grouped together. Somebody else can help me out if I have forgotten anything.

This big long list looks scary. It is good to have a long term plan but you can’t focus on the big picture all the time. That can be discouraging. Take one test at a time, and then move on the next one. Slow and Steady win ever time.

Hope this helps you

Cade

[mickeloaf]

I used the Spark Psychology 101 book, and Spark Psychology chart in addition to Instacert to get a score of 71 on the Introductory Psychology test.

I definately found them useful and helped me to understand basic topics well, in preperation for many of the questions..

~Mike

[PatsGirl1]

I bought a SparkChart for Literary Terms because I'm taking 2 Lit Exams (American Lit and A/I Lit) coming up and it was $5, plus I had a giftcard, so essentially it cost me nothing.
Other than that, I haven't used any.
I noticed they had one on the Russian Revolution (might be helpful for some of the Rise and Fall of Soviet Union test), as well as Management and Marketing, so it could help for those.
They do a decent job (IMO) of helping you with terms that you can put in a binder and study on lunch breaks/free time, etc. if you do not have access to a computer to use IC, but you can also make paper flashcards to do that, too, for the cost of a pack of cards. It all depends on what you think would help you.

[PeteDude]

I used the SparkNotes AP U.S. Government kit to prep for my CLEP U.S. Government exam. It helped me wrap that exam quickly.

[taltal11]

so, did you ever end up using any Spark Charts Marshall?
If so, what do you think about them so far?

I am taking my first exams, Intro to Soc and Psych, and I copied and pasted the Spark Charts for free. There seems to be a lot of information put together in an easy format. Time will tell if it helped!

~TalTal~

[mlwilliamsiv]

Hello taltal11!

To answer your question, no I haven't used a SparkChart as of yet. I will probably purchase one for the Anaylzing & Interpreting Literature CLEP. I need to learn the literary terms. I have done a quick browse of SparkCharts and I like them just as much as the CliffsGuides. I love the way they are laid out.

I will let you know how they work out!

From a loyal degree seeker,

Marshall

[mlwilliamsiv]

I read in your post that you were able to copy & paste the SparkCharts for free. I was just wondering if that was a typo and you meant SparkNotes not SparkCharts.

My understanding was that the SparkNotes were free, but in order to print the SparkCharts, you had to pay $4.95.

However, if you know how to get these for free, please share. I tried to copy the chart and it wouldn't allow me to do it.

Thanks.

From a loyal degree seeker,

Marshall

[knucyt]

I bought the Macroeconomics Sparkchart online and while I did find the information useful, I will say that you had better have a)20/20 vision (I don't!) the print is sooo small. b)a seriously good color laser printer - you cannot enlarge the text to print without losing the quality - intentional on their part I'm sure - you also cannot cut n' paste pieces using Adobe Acorbat Professional to enlarge it that way either.

I also just checked out the Finance SparkChart at the bookstore this morning and it is definitely not worth it IMO - it's only 1 double-sided sheet of info and the quantity of information on it is v. limited. Furthermore the v. limited number of equations they do show are confusing (to me).

I also borrowed a World Religions SparkChart a few weeks ago from a friend and it was somewhat helpful.