FEMA EXAM- has this happened to you?

[newtoclep]

Originally Posted by greathomes

Thnks for your answers. does this mean that the test went through although it is showing me this page?
Also please let me know how to fing the results. Do they email them to you?
Thanks in advance
Cindy

No, if you got that error message then it did not go through. They will email you the results whether pass or fail. If you pass there will be a link included in the email to your certificate. You need to keep all your pass emails for your records so that you can have them transferred when you are ready.

[bmills072200]

does anyone know how, if, and how much it would cost to get FEMA credits transcribed into Excelsior?

[ShotoJuku]

$60.00 per credit via FCC.

[HawkGuy]

So why won't EC accept FEMA credits from TESC? It seems like they should, because both FCC and TESC are accredited.

[bmills072200]

The real question is: Why won't Excelsior just accept them directly from FEMA?

It should be either one way or the other. Either choose not to accept them at all or choose to accept them directly from FEMA. I hate this transcribing game so that it falls on someone else. It does not make any sense to me...

[HawkGuy]

Someone with a suspicious mind might think the two schools have some sort of a kickback system. I know if I was in EC's shoes, I'd do it haha.

[gcalvin]

It's a little confusing, I suppose, and its ramifications are annoying, but it's really not that hard to understand if you think about it.

Each school is entitled to set its own policy as to what it accepts for transfer credit. Typically, coursework completed at one regionally-accredited school can be transferred to another school (but even that is not a black-and-white rule). But exams such as CLEP and DSST and professional certifications such as MCSE are not coursework, so each school sets its own policy. TESC has decided to accept FEMA certifications directly for credit. Excelsior has decided not to.

Frederick Community College has an independent study program wherein the coursework IS the FEMA courses. Therefore the FCC credits are coursework credits, and that makes them transferable to other schools. This is an exclusive relationship that FCC has with FEMA -- FEMA of course is not a school, and cannot award credits themselves. TESC doesn't have this relationship -- they just award credits like they do for other professional certifications, but they don't claim that this is TESC coursework.

I'm not sure how I feel about the whole FEMA credit thing myself. Suffice to say that I didn't take them, and I have no regrets on that score.

-Gary-

[barcotta]

You know, it really creates an interesting dilemma. Based only on the descriptions I've read on this board, the FEMA credits are laughably easy. They are also free. Attend TESC and you can get, depending on your degree and who you believe, up to 30 FREE and EASY credits. That's a quarter of your degree for what is, apparently, an Adobe Acrobat word search exercise. I, like Gary, don't quite know how I feel about this.

Also, at TESC, you can get upper-level credit for several, if not many courses that are considered lower-level for most other institutions. That doesn't quite "feel" right to me either. On one hand, you have folks that look at the "testing out" option with great suspicion--and that's not the minority. Add to that "FEMA" credit and 300 and 400 level credit for "Introduction to..." courses and this isn't looking too good. On the other hand, I completely support obtaining your degree as quickly and cheaply as possible. Both of those TESC policies help attain that--and help A LOT.

The multiple-choice nature of the majority of the exams most of us take can be, and is often used by detractors to diminish the value of our accomplishments. I can easily defend that because there is still a high-enough failure rate to demonstrate that you must at least obtain SOME knowledge to pass (or you're extremely lucky--in which you case you should probably turn your attention to the lottery). However, it appears that you don't have to start or finish with much, if any, demonstrable knowledge to successfully complete these FEMA "courses" (or whatever they are). That concerns me, but maybe it shouldn't. I'm actually about to recommend TESC to a friend who needs quick and cheap because I feel like I would be remiss if I didn't. I also feel like I would have done it myself if it was available when I began, but I'm kinda glad I didn't. What do y'all think?

[HawkGuy]

I took a look into the whole FEMA to FCC thing and it looks shady as hell. I'm glad I'm going to TESC where they take FEMA credits raw, because I wouldn't touch FCC with a 10 foot pole. They'd probably try to charge me 60 bucks per foot of my pole just for the honor of touching them with it.

[barcotta]

Originally Posted by HawkGuy

I took a look into the whole FEMA to FCC thing and it looks shady as hell. I'm glad I'm going to TESC where they take FEMA credits raw, because I wouldn't touch FCC with a 10 foot pole. They'd probably try to charge me 60 bucks per foot of my pole just for the honor of touching them with it.

It doesn't look shady to me at all. Let's assume the following: FCC isn't going to give away credits. In fact, I would guess that the state would not allow them to even if they wanted to. If you want credit from them--you have to pay their going rate. Let's further assume that EC wishes this whole FEMA thing didn't exist. Therefore, they won't give you credit for it. However, they have no basis to deny (elective) credit from another regionally accredited institution selectively, so they let it through. In fact, they're nice enough to alert you to a couple of institutions that WILL accept FEMA for credit. I don't think FCC would charge you for the honor of touching them with your pole, but I bet they will charge you for college credit every time.