Human Growth and Development CLEP

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Hi all(nurses)! Hehe :)

In the spirit of paying it forward (or giving back, whatever you like) I thought I'd make this post for anyone working on their prereqs for nursing. Pretty consistently, the schools I was interested in had Human Growth and Development (across the lifespan, or some such nonsense) listed as a prereq. Now, you could pay the money and spend the time sitting through a lecture style class, or you could do what I did - sign up for the CLEP! If you're not familiar, CLEP is a series of subject tests, made by the same folks who make the SATs...they're widely accepted for college credit, and they're pretty inexpensive. For less than $100, you can earn 3 college credits, in an hour and a half or less!

Also, shameless plug for the book that helped me pass: research and education association (REA) Human Growth and Development 8th Edition- with 3 full length practice exams. I kid you not, some of the practice questions were nearly word for word on the actual exam. I have no idea how they did that, but they did. I would advise getting a newer edition of the text if available, as some of the material on the CLEP (maybe..5 questions?) was not really in the book. I got the kindle version on amazon, and it was about $15. Best money I ever spent on a book.

The bulk of the text is a highly focused, easy to read/understand crash course in human development. I come from the background of having taken intro psych, ed psych, intro soc, and early childhood development (for some reason, none of these (nor all of them!) can be substituted for human development. Because of my background, a lot of this was review for me. I spent a week poring over the practice tests and highlighting almost everything in the text, just to make sure I really read thoroughly, and I got a 66, scaled. Most colleges require a scaled score of 50 (perfect being 80) to grant credit, so I'm quite happy with the result.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

You are one smart cookie!!!

I am also a CLEP evangelist. Honest to Pete, I have advanced degrees, but never took any college English courses - also CLEPed American History, Sociology & Growth & Development. I don't know why more people don't do this. It doesn't affect your GPA at all... you just end up with a 'pass'. If you don't pass the CLEP, there's no evidence on your transcript at all. Huge money and time saver.

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Most people don't clep because they need the 60 credits and you don't get the credit count with clep.... But if you have enough credits it is perfect.

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Interesting that you say that, because everywhere I've gone, CLEP transfers for 3 credits. No grade to boost your GPA, but I've always gotten the actual credits.

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For prerequisites, would it not be better to take the class and get an 'A' than a 'C' using clep?

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Dt, usually you don't get any grade when you transfer in CLEP credit. You get the credit, but no grade is recorded. It doesn't affect your GPA at all, at least in my experience. As long as you get a 50/80, you pass. It's actually like the pass/fail option that some colleges offer for grading, but almost every college will let you CLEP out of a course, where as some colleges won't let you pass/fail classes necessary for your major. Make sense?

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Hi BusyBee

I was wondering how the clep would compare for pre-reqs against those who took the class. This mystery is why I asked the question, not a counter-argument.

Being, I already took the class, it is a mystery why I even asked the question in the first place.:confused:

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Ahhh I see. You are asking if you would have a better grasp on the material from taking the class than the CLEP?

I suppose that depends on the student and the subject. The idea is that CLEP is supposed to grant credit for material you already know - so if you already know it, then I wouldn't think it would make a difference if you took the class or the exam. On the other hand, there are so many 'clif notes' style CLEP prep books (eg, the one I mentioned in my first post) that virtually anyone can get the 'crash course' and pass the exam using one of those books. Personally, I'm of the opinion that I had gotten familiar with the material before reviewing the prep book - I took Ed psych, intro psych, and early childhood development (the actual classes) - so even though I had some background with the concepts of HG&D, I didn't have the actual requirement.

Also, I'm one of those people who thinks that prerequisite courses are largely a racket - designed to keep students in school and paying tuition for more years. I think most of the content in most (not all) prereq classes is pretty easy to teach yourself, and I think a lot of the time is spent on 'fluff'. For instance, I see no reason why I need to write 4-6 papers for a semester of HG&D (one of the requirements in the syllabus of the class I was going to take before I realized I could CLEP it). In my opinion, HG&D is mostly about knowing the 'ages and stages', the different theorists and theoretical approaches, and some history. I can teach myself all of that in a matter of weeks, (if not days) and I certainly don't think that knowledge is worth paying over $100 for, as I would if I had to pay for tuition and a textbook.

The bottom line is that you can study to pass the CLEP in a short time frame, and maybe you won't know as much as if you took the class... but you can also get an old psych text and go through it slowly and methodically, (for just a few bucks) you can use the internet to fill in the gaps, and then you can take the CLEP. I'd be willing to bet that you can learn just as much that way (for less than $100) as you would in a regular class. The nice thing about CLEP is that you can do whatever you think best. Wanna study for a couple days and get a passing score? You can do that. Wanna study for months (for cheap!) and get a passing score? You can do that too. If it's a subject that you just don't think you could possibly understand without paying for the privilege of sitting in a lecture with 30 other people...then you should probably take the actual class.

Sorry for the book :) hope it clarifies my process. Best of luck with your prereqs regardless of how you choose to complete them!

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Hi there ...I am currently enrolled at WGU and must take Human and Growth Development Across the life Span but would prefer to CLEP out. The material albeit interesting is very cumbersome. I have no idea where to start. I have taken the initiative to purchase the study flash cards on instacert but it's overwhelming. Can anyone suggest material to help and/or am I on the right track with what I am doing so far? Thank you

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