[RESOURCE] Thread title: The Complete Guide to Earning College Credit Before (or Instead of) Taking Classes
One of the biggest advantages online learners have over traditional students is the ability to earn credit through exams, alternative providers, and prior learning assessment — often at a fraction of the cost and time. If you're strategic about this, you can potentially knock out a year or more of coursework before you even enrol in your degree programme.
Here's an overview of the major options.
CLEP (College-Level Examination Program)
Run by the College Board, CLEP offers 34 exams covering introductory college subjects. Each exam costs around ninety-five dollars and takes about ninety minutes. A passing score (varies by school, but usually 50 on CLEP's 20–80 scale) earns you three to twelve credits depending on the subject. Most regionally accredited schools accept CLEP, but the number of credits they'll accept and the specific exams they honour varies. Always check your target school's CLEP policy before sitting an exam. The most commonly accepted exams are in areas like English Composition, College Algebra, Introductory Psychology, US History, and Introductory Sociology.
Preparation: free resources include Modern States (modernstates.org), which offers free courses designed specifically to prepare you for each CLEP exam and will even reimburse your exam fee through their "Freshman Year for Free" programme.
DSST (formerly DANTES)
Similar to CLEP but with different subject coverage. DSST offers exams in areas CLEP doesn't cover well, like organisational behaviour, human resource management, and computing. Less widely accepted than CLEP, but most military-friendly schools and the big online institutions take them.
Sophia Learning
An online course provider where courses cost around seventy-nine dollars per month for unlimited access (subscription model). Courses are self-paced with short assessments — no proctored exams for most courses. Sophia has transfer agreements with dozens of schools. It's particularly popular among WGU students, as many Sophia courses map directly to WGU degree requirements. You can realistically complete five or six courses in a single month if you commit the time.
Study.com
Similar to Sophia but with a larger course catalogue and proctored final exams for most courses. Costs around two hundred dollars per month. Study.com is well-regarded and has transfer agreements with many institutions. The proctored exams make credits more widely accepted than some alternatives but also make it less convenient.
StraighterLine
Individual courses ranging from around sixty to a hundred dollars per month plus a subscription fee. StraighterLine has direct partnerships with many online colleges and its courses are ACE-recommended, meaning any school that accepts ACE credit should accept StraighterLine. The course quality is decent and they offer subjects like anatomy, accounting, and calculus that aren't available through CLEP.
Prior Learning Assessment (PLA)
Some schools will grant credit for documented work experience, professional certifications, or military training through a portfolio review process. This is highly school-dependent — Excelsior University and Thomas Edison State University are known for generous PLA policies. It typically involves writing a portfolio demonstrating what you learned through experience and mapping it to course learning outcomes. Time-consuming but potentially very valuable if you have extensive professional experience.
Military credit
If you have a Joint Services Transcript (JST) or Community College of the Air Force (CCAF) transcript, many schools will evaluate your military training for transfer credit. The amount varies widely by school and by your specific training. WGU, UMGC, Excelsior, and most military-friendly institutions have dedicated processes for this.
How to plan your approach
First, choose your target degree programme and school. Then pull up their transfer credit policy and catalogue of accepted alternatives. Map out which requirements you can satisfy through exams or alternative providers. Take the cheapest and fastest options first (CLEP with Modern States is essentially free). Then fill gaps with Sophia or Study.com. Only pay full tuition for courses you can't get any other way.
This approach can save anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars and months to years of time, depending on your degree.
Post your specific situation in this forum and we can help you map out a plan.
One of the biggest advantages online learners have over traditional students is the ability to earn credit through exams, alternative providers, and prior learning assessment — often at a fraction of the cost and time. If you're strategic about this, you can potentially knock out a year or more of coursework before you even enrol in your degree programme.
Here's an overview of the major options.
CLEP (College-Level Examination Program)
Run by the College Board, CLEP offers 34 exams covering introductory college subjects. Each exam costs around ninety-five dollars and takes about ninety minutes. A passing score (varies by school, but usually 50 on CLEP's 20–80 scale) earns you three to twelve credits depending on the subject. Most regionally accredited schools accept CLEP, but the number of credits they'll accept and the specific exams they honour varies. Always check your target school's CLEP policy before sitting an exam. The most commonly accepted exams are in areas like English Composition, College Algebra, Introductory Psychology, US History, and Introductory Sociology.
Preparation: free resources include Modern States (modernstates.org), which offers free courses designed specifically to prepare you for each CLEP exam and will even reimburse your exam fee through their "Freshman Year for Free" programme.
DSST (formerly DANTES)
Similar to CLEP but with different subject coverage. DSST offers exams in areas CLEP doesn't cover well, like organisational behaviour, human resource management, and computing. Less widely accepted than CLEP, but most military-friendly schools and the big online institutions take them.
Sophia Learning
An online course provider where courses cost around seventy-nine dollars per month for unlimited access (subscription model). Courses are self-paced with short assessments — no proctored exams for most courses. Sophia has transfer agreements with dozens of schools. It's particularly popular among WGU students, as many Sophia courses map directly to WGU degree requirements. You can realistically complete five or six courses in a single month if you commit the time.
Study.com
Similar to Sophia but with a larger course catalogue and proctored final exams for most courses. Costs around two hundred dollars per month. Study.com is well-regarded and has transfer agreements with many institutions. The proctored exams make credits more widely accepted than some alternatives but also make it less convenient.
StraighterLine
Individual courses ranging from around sixty to a hundred dollars per month plus a subscription fee. StraighterLine has direct partnerships with many online colleges and its courses are ACE-recommended, meaning any school that accepts ACE credit should accept StraighterLine. The course quality is decent and they offer subjects like anatomy, accounting, and calculus that aren't available through CLEP.
Prior Learning Assessment (PLA)
Some schools will grant credit for documented work experience, professional certifications, or military training through a portfolio review process. This is highly school-dependent — Excelsior University and Thomas Edison State University are known for generous PLA policies. It typically involves writing a portfolio demonstrating what you learned through experience and mapping it to course learning outcomes. Time-consuming but potentially very valuable if you have extensive professional experience.
Military credit
If you have a Joint Services Transcript (JST) or Community College of the Air Force (CCAF) transcript, many schools will evaluate your military training for transfer credit. The amount varies widely by school and by your specific training. WGU, UMGC, Excelsior, and most military-friendly institutions have dedicated processes for this.
How to plan your approach
First, choose your target degree programme and school. Then pull up their transfer credit policy and catalogue of accepted alternatives. Map out which requirements you can satisfy through exams or alternative providers. Take the cheapest and fastest options first (CLEP with Modern States is essentially free). Then fill gaps with Sophia or Study.com. Only pay full tuition for courses you can't get any other way.
This approach can save anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars and months to years of time, depending on your degree.
Post your specific situation in this forum and we can help you map out a plan.