Alzee's TESC degree plan for ASBA

Introduction
This is my current degree plan for an ASBA @ TESC for the 2015-2016 curriculum. This is not an exhaustive list of courses or tests that will work for this degree, it's just what I've personally done, with the goal to be as fast as possible. I've used StraighterLine for a lot of the courses, since it can be just as inexpensive as taking CLEPs but requires far less study and is nearly a "guaranteed" pass.

While I cannot guarantee that these courses will be accepted in the future, or even for you at present, unless otherwise noted they were all accepted with no issues for me.

I've included my personal scores (for SL only) here not to "brag" but instead to demonstrate just how easy this can be. I focus on StraighterLine because all (or at least most) of their tests are open book, the first test in each course can be retaken as many times as you like, and only the final exams have the (somewhat stressful) proctoring.

General Education
(39cr required)

Costs and Time
This is the mind blowing part of all this, for me anyway. So far, this has cost me next to nothing, and I am over half way done with this degree. I have not had to leave the house, since I have yet to take any CLEPs. The rough cost breakdown so far is this:


 * $40 for two months of ALEKS access. Honestly you only need one, I took the wrong course there initially, then kept pushing on well past 80% in one of them because I thought it would prompt me for a "final."
 * $200 for two months of access, so far, to StraighterLine.
 * $300 for the 6 StraighterLine courses I've taken so far. This is a guess, these courses are usually $45-65 each.  Textbook and proctoring are included.
 * $100 for proctorU to proctor the two Saylor courses. I think the proctoring was $50/shot but I can't remember.
 * $70 to enroll at TESC under the per-credit tuition plan.
 * $50 to transfer credits from ACE to TESC. I'll have to do this again, but I wanted to see where I stood at this point.

So, it's less than $1000 so far, and I've only been at this since January -- February actually, if you can ignore me wasting a month in ALEKS. The biggest cost in this is going to be taking the TECEP's for some of what remains in order to satisfy the residency requirement.

StraighterLine strategy and notes
I do not do everything strictly by the book. For example, with StraighterLine, my usual approach is this:


 * 1) Buy the course.
 * 2) Submit a support ticket because I can't find their eBook "activation" link. (argh)
 * 3) Download the textbook to the vitalsource bookshelf.
 * 4) Extract the textbook to PDF so I can read it without their annoying software.
 * 5) Study the chapter for 1-3 hours, making notes.
 * 6) Take the topic 1 graded exam.

The topic 1 graded exam can be retaken as many times as you like for a higher grade. For that reason I always study just enough to get famliar with the subject, make notes (usually names, definitions, formulas), and immediately take the exam. If I get a good score, I continue taking the others (which you cannot retake!) in this fashion -- often one or two every day. If my score is not so good, as in below 80%, I study a bit harder and make better notes, then try again.

When I've finished all the exams except the final, I know how hard I have to study for the final to pass the course. Usually I end up with a 90 or better before taking the final, and don't have to study at all. Just picking "C" as the answer to every question on the final wouldn't be enough to drop my overall grade below passing.

When studying and taking notes, I strongly recommend the site quizlet.com. Others who've taken the course before you have entered their questions and correct answers, often verbatim. You can use this not just to study, but also to make notes you can reference when taking your exams -- even the proctored finals allow one page of notes, front and back, handwritten or printed. The font can be as small as you like. Often what I do here is forego any kind of formatting, use a smallish font, and just alternate the notes back and forth between bold and not. Use shorthand, shrink your margins down to nothing, and you can easily fit everything you need for every exam in the allowed space.