credit by examination

[Older Male LPN, LPN]

achieve test prep a ripoff / Excelsior College

A sad reminder -Buyer beware - achieve test prep a ripoff - I feel so stupid

I contracted with Achieve Test Prep for test prep to pass College class exams- I paid in full because of a discount to pay for the full program. I asked at the time of the contract what would I be charged if I find out this doesn't help me - I was told that my discount would depend on how many classes at the time I had already taken. After a couple of classes - the College connected with Achieve Test Prep tripled its rates for Nursing classes adding $8,000 to the total cost of my program. A significant change - I paid over $11, 000.00 and took 2 classes. They were on;y going to refund me less than $2,000. keeping $9,000 in the contract I was quoted to paid $375. pre-class - to pay in full was just a gimmick to get your money I am a 58-year-old LPN - I wasn't trying to get over - I just need to reasonable way to advance myself in a way I could afford and manage, I do know a couple of BSN nurses that are successful that did an online program - Seemed legit at the time - didn't read the contract - and there seems that there is no resource to make this right and fair.

[Waiting for Retirement]

I'm not sure I understand this exactly. You paid a company that offers study tools, guidance to better prepare for exams, I think that much is clear, and you paid in advance. After that I'm a little unsteady--are you attending a college that requires the purchase of this supplemental study program, and you paid in advance? And after starting school the college jacked up the cost of tuition by $8K, going from your expected $3K to $11K?

If you signed a contract to pay a set amount for study/prep materials, then that's the cost of the program. Can't change later---it's a contract.

If the college increased its tuition by more than triple after you started, I'm not sure what to do with that but it would be a HUGE red flag to me about the college's nursing program! And what does any of this have to do with "credit by examination", the title of your thread?

Something just doesn't make sense here.

[babysplash, ADN, RN]

Did the BSN nurses you know go to an accredited university or a for-profit or private institution like Excelsior? That may be the difference here.

[Older Male LPN, LPN]

They went to a private college Catholic College - Excelsior is a non-profit College as well and has good regional accreditation - which is better than "national accreditation"

Excelsior provides the exam - and some modest study tools - for me and many others wholly inadequate to pass the examination. I contracted with Achieve Test Prep for classes to prepare for the exams - Everything is teaching to the Exam these days. There is no requirement to use a test prep service but the pass rate without one is like 20% . There are many problems with the whole system of

[CKPM2RN, ASN, EMT-P]

You were mistaken to contract with a "test prep" company and you are selling yourself short as a nurse in my opinion.

I'm an Excelsior graduate who took the syllabus from Excelsior, bought the books listed (usually the previous edition from eBay or Alabris at a huge discount), and STUDIED. I was working to be a nurse after all and the thought of not taking it seriously, not learning as much as I could, (not just what it took to pass the test), would be irresponsible, lazy, and unfair to my future patients.

The exams were fair, on content and quite passable if you just follow the syllabus. The total cost of the program for me was about $10,000.00 including pre-tests, books, CPNE, travel and a CPNE prep-class. (That I do highly recommend.) If I'd purchased a test-prep I would have spent almost double that amount for information that was already included in the syllabus and recommended study materials.

The 20% number brought up? I think that may be the program completion rate, not the didactic material rate. Perhaps it counts those who find they can't study on their own, online learning requires self-directed goal setting and goal completion. It is harder that it even sounds and anecdotally I believe there's a large amount students who drop out once they discover this for themselves.

[caliotter3]

While the CPNE is a topic in and of itself, like the poster above, I found it possible to pass the subject exams using the topic outlines and list of reference texts provided by Excelsior. That being said, I would caution you about criticizing Achieve Test Prep on this website due to the "lawsuit" a few years ago. You don't want to bring any of that on yourself.

[CKPM2RN, ASN, EMT-P]

2 minutes ago, caliotter3 said:

I would caution you about criticizing Achieve Test Prep on this website due to the "lawsuit" a few years ago. You don't want to bring any of that on yourself.

Oh Jeeze! I guess it would be good to revise the OP to "an unnamed test prep company".

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

11 hours ago, caliotter3 said:

That being said, I would caution you about criticizing Achieve Test Prep on this website due to the "lawsuit" a few years ago. You don't want to bring any of that on yourself.

I forgot all about that lawsuit with AllNurses. It was big news on this site.

[LPN Retired, LPN]

Wow! I think I would get an attorney to investigate this and get it resolved somewhat more to my satisfaction.

[Rionoir, ADN, RN]

Most people use their books for “test prep” by actually learning the material.

[Older Male LPN, LPN]

Screw the Test Prep company -- It's the absolute truth - and I don't think telling the truth is unlawful yet -- I have posted my complaint with Better business, Consumers affairs, and Federal Trade Commission - which post the complaint publically.

[Older Male LPN, LPN]

I am a social learner and have benefited from Test Prep classes. Many of the instructors are either nurses or MDs and enjoy teaching. It is possible that I could have bought Prep tests, and books from Excelsior and passed without classes - I have so far - frankly, the problem was that Excelsior quadrupled the cost of nursing classes - they have a plan of creating some half-assed classes of their own where all the instructors do is monitor student discussion. I frankly like the idea but it's certainly not worth 4 fold the price - the arrangement is an indefensible and obvious money grab. Additionally, California and Maryland will not license Excelsior's nursing graduates and nursing boards in thirteen other states have restrictions or additional training requirements for Excelsior graduates, including Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Vermont, Virginia as of 2011 and a 13-month wait for CPNE - That doesn't excuse Achieve Test Prep for acting like a predatory lender - I should have read the contract completely - but I was misled as well.