Last month our family received a 3-month subscription to Study.com which gave us an opportunity to check out their CLEP and DSST prep materials. With four teens in our household, the topics of college and testing and careers are frequently discussed, so I’m always happy to take a look at resources and tools to help them be prepared for the path they may have ahead of them.
Study.com offers self-paced video courses created and designed by qualified teachers in a wide variety of subject areas to help your students improve grades and/or prepare for testing. The idea of taking a CLEP test in order to enter the university with some college credit already under their belt is an exciting thought, but can also seem overwhelming. Taking a course with Study.com will walk them through all they need in order to go into the test confidently.
NOTE: DSST is what some military people use to earn college credit outside the traditional classroom. Our family is not following that path so we have not taken time to try these courses. If this is something you or your child might be pursuing, it’s definitely worth looking into.
As soon as we had our account set up, I asked my son (junior in high school) to take a look at the list of courses offered and choose one he would like to use that might help with preparation for the SAT test. He chose to begin with SAT Subject Test Mathematics Level I: Practice and Study Guide. He has not had much experience with standardized testing, so choosing a basic level math course is giving him some confidence and honing his basic skills.
They offer thousands of courses, including:
- more than 400 Math courses.
- more than 600 Science courses.
- 600 Business courses.
- 500 English courses.
- more than 600 Social Science courses.
- over 250 History courses.
- more than 100 Psychology courses.
When he enrolled, the course showed up on our dashboard. This gives us easy access and shows our progress. For each lesson he watches a video, then takes a quiz. At the end of each section there is a test. These are taken online, and scored immediately.
With so many subject areas available for both basic core subjects and continuing education subjects alike, I decided to take a course myself before assigning it to my other students. I enrolled in Intro to Excel: Essential Training & Tutorials which will not only test my current skill level but also give me experience and exposure to new ways in using Excel worksheets and workbooks.
After enrolling, I took a pre-test to see how well I knew the subject matter. As you can see below, I have some work to do! But, that’s okay. That’s why I chose this course.
Quizzes, worksheets and answer keys can be filled out and used online or can be printed. Whichever works best for you and your student. We have been working all things online because it’s quick and easy. If I were planning our upcoming school year and choosing courses for our son to finish, I might print out the worksheets and answer keys, storing them in a notebook or binder.
With your Study.com account, you receive weekly updates with summaries of the progress being made for the courses you are enrolled in. It gives me a reminder of the expected finish date, and an encouraging word or gentle nudge to keep on working. The lessons completed in the past week are listed, as well as the names of upcoming lessons.
These courses are self-paced and adaptable to anyone’s schedule. A parent can assign specific courses and lessons to their students each day of the week, or a student can work as quickly or as slowly as they choose. We received a 3-month subscription for the purposes of this review, and we will be on track to finish 6 courses during that 3 months (2 courses each for my two high school students and for myself.)
Study.com is an excellent supplement to our math curriculum, as well as an amazing help for test prep. I could also be a used as a full year’s program in the subject of your choosing. The material is easily accessible and easy to adapt to your student’s needs and schedule. It’s a tool to help them prepare for college and/or career, right at your fingertips.
We are looking closely at the CLEP program before we decide whether our boys will actually follow through and try testing out and getting college credit. That decision has not been made yet, but the exposure and experience with the videos, practice and study guides offered with Study.com have been well worth the time and effort spent. That ‘time and effort’ has added up to about 30 minutes per day. The investment is small but the benefit has been great!
See how other families are using Study.com – just click on the image below to read their reviews.
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