Confused on Lower/Upper Level Dantes

[ChristaKB]

Ok, I guess I'm not getting this. I am going for a BS in General Business with Excelsior. If I take the two upper level ECE exams for both Organizational Behavior and Ethics, that means they count double as upper level so I only need two more upper level exams. Now, to make the right amount of credits, I need two more tests in the business section to complete the required 45 Semester hours, but they don't need to be upper level.

Can I just pick any test for those two lower levels or do they need to be business related? If they need to be business related, which of the DSST tests are considered "business" lower level? For example, can I take Criminal Justice or Here's to your health?

Thanks!

Christa

[hunter2115]

Originally Posted by ChristaKB

Ok, I guess I'm not getting this. I am going for a BS in General Business with Excelsior. If I take the two upper level ECE exams for both Organizational Behavior and Ethics, that means they count double as upper level so I only need two more upper level exams. Now, to make the right amount of credits, I need two more tests in the business section to complete the required 45 Semester hours, but they don't need to be upper level.

Can I just pick any test for those two lower levels or do they need to be business related? If they need to be business related, which of the DSST tests are considered "business" lower level? For example, can I take Criminal Justice or Here's to your health?

Thanks!

Christa

I think you're confusing the ECE Ethics and Organizational Behavior credits. If you take these 2 upper level exams (or equivalent courses), you can use the credits as both upper level business electives towards the 12 upper level business electives required of the degree PLUS you will satisfy both the Ethics and Organizational Behavior requirements. These are the only 2 courses that I'm aware of that will accomplish both of these tasks in 1 shot. They don't count as "double" credits so to say, but it is like "killing 2 birds with one shot". The exams or courses must be upper level to do this however. For instance, the DSST Ethics and Organizational Behavior exams are lower level so while they would satisfy the Ethics and Org. Behavior requirements, they could obviously not be used as upper level business electives at the same time.

[dhlvrsn]

For my upper level courses I'm planning on the Human Resources Management and Labor Relations exams for ECE and the MIS and Money and Banking DSST exams. The Money and Banking exam has been ranked tough but numbers have never given me a problem. I may rethink this knowing that I can double dip Ethics and Org Behavior. I thought that if they counted as core courses Excelsior would not also count them as upper level. I need the 45 business credits anyway so I was trying to save some cash.

[hunter2115]

Originally Posted by ChristaKB

Ok, I guess I'm not getting this. I am going for a BS in General Business with Excelsior. If I take the two upper level ECE exams for both Organizational Behavior and Ethics, that means they count double as upper level so I only need two more upper level exams. Now, to make the right amount of credits, I need two more tests in the business section to complete the required 45 Semester hours, but they don't need to be upper level.

Can I just pick any test for those two lower levels or do they need to be business related? If they need to be business related, which of the DSST tests are considered "business" lower level? For example, can I take Criminal Justice or Here's to your health?

Thanks!

Christa

After reading your question again, I think you are sort of on the right track. Upper level Ethics and Org Behavior will give you 6 of the 12 required upper level business credits and fulfill the Ethics And Org Behavior requirements at the same time. You will still need 6 more upper level business credits. For example: I took DSST Business Law 2 and ECE Human Resource Management to finish out the 12 total upper level business electives. These 12 upper level business credits count towards the required 45 business component credits required of the degree. If you download the "Self- Review Worksheet" from the Excelsior website, you will see that you must take certain subjects within the business component- these are listed as:
Accounting 1
Accounting 2
Business Law (1)
Computers
Prin. of Management
Prin. of Marketing
Financial Management
Operations/Financial Mgmt
Business Policy
These courses are considered "core" courses, but none of them necessarily need to be upper level. None of the core courses count towards the 12 upper level elective credits, so they can be lower level. The business core courses plus the 12 upper level business electives together make up the 45 credit Business Component portion of the degree. It is kind of confusing. I am pretty sure that I'm correct about this, but you should discuss these requirements with a business program advisor if you are unsure about anything and ask for approvals for exams and courses- just to make sure that you don't end up taking exams that you can't apply to your degree. I believe that I am correct. Anyone have a different understanding?

[charlie130]

Hunter,



From my perspective and experience, you have it exactly right.


Very Nice explanation!

[libartsmgr]

Originally Posted by ChristaKB

Ok, I guess I'm not getting this. I am going for a BS in General Business with Excelsior. If I take the two upper level ECE exams for both Organizational Behavior and Ethics, that means they count double as upper level so I only need two more upper level exams. Now, to make the right amount of credits, I need two more tests in the business section to complete the required 45 Semester hours, but they don't need to be upper level.

Can I just pick any test for those two lower levels or do they need to be business related? If they need to be business related, which of the DSST tests are considered "business" lower level? For example, can I take Criminal Justice or Here's to your health?

Thanks!

Christa

Girlfriend, please just give your advisor a call and tell them exactly what you posted here. Have a few DSST/CLEP's in mind that you think you want to take and ask specifically if this one or that one will qualify for the credits you need.
It's so easy to take an exam you don't need and although we are all very smart and well meaning people here on the boards, we don't know your academic situation and we could give you the wrong advice. I just know if it were me, I'd be a little frustrated if I found out after the fact that a test didn't qualify for the credit I needed.
You advisor will tell you for sure which you need.

[charlie130]

Originally Posted by libartsmgr

Girlfriend, please just give your advisor a call and tell them exactly what you posted here. Have a few DSST/CLEP's in mind that you think you want to take and ask specifically if this one or that one will qualify for the credits you need.
It's so easy to take an exam you don't need and although we are all very smart and well meaning people here on the boards, we don't know your academic situation and we could give you the wrong advice. I just know if it were me, I'd be a little frustrated if I found out after the fact that a test didn't qualify for the credit I needed.
You advisor will tell you for sure which you need.

Excellent Qualifier Joanne (libartsmgr).

You are so very correct.

We are all students here on this board.

[ChristaKB]

Thank you all for the excellent advise. I know I am on the right track. I have not enrolled in Excelsior yet, I have one test to go (Statistics) before I get my AS degree. I was just trying to plan ahead. I will most likely enroll in a month or so and hopefully get all my questions answered

Thanks again!

Christa

[anar579]

Joanne is absolutely right. Ideally you should consult an advisor.

Since I'm on the BS General Business track, I'm attaching my degree plan and an alternative degree plan. I think it should give you an idea about the upper level credits, and the advanced business credits. I think Hunter explained it correctly, but sometimes it's easier with visualization. Page 1 on the PDF file is my current degree plan, and page 2 was my previous plan. I decided a few weeks ago to switch from ECE Ethics (UL) to DSST Ethics (LL), so I changed from DSST Intro to Business (Lower level credit) to DSST Business Law 2 (Upper level) to compensate for the loss of UL credit. Both were approved by advisement. BS-BGB.pdf