Lawrie Miller's BA in 4 Weeks - Earn a 2nd BA in 3 hours

[BA in 4 Weeks]

BA in 4 Weeks series - Earn a 2nd BA in 3 hours
Copyright © 1997 - 2001 Lawrie Miller All rights reserved

EARNING A SECOND REGIONALLY ACCREDITED BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN UNDER 3 HOURS

I N T R O D U C T I O N

You can earn two degrees from any of the three assessment institutions,
Charter Oak State College (COSC), Excelsior College, or Thomas Edison
State College (TESC).

2nd DEGREE DETAILS, RESTRICTIONS AND CAVEATS

Excelsior College does not let their Liberal Arts program graduates
earn a second BS or BA in that program, but will allow Liberal Arts
graduates of other schools to earn a second Liberal Arts BS or BA
with concentration.

Excelsior WILL allow their Liberal Arts program graduates to earn a
second bachelor's degree in an Excelsior program other than Liberal
Arts - i.e., in, the Business program, the Technology program, or
the Nursing program.

COSC will allow a second degree, but it will be in General Studies
with a specialization or concentration (COSC degrees are all General
Studies by major).

TESC will allow a second degree BA with general concentrations,
designated - BA in Humanities; BA in Math/Science; BA in Social
Science/History. They also allow a BA with a specialization (much
like the Excelsior concentration) in a variety of subjects. Additionally,
they offer degrees with majors - BS Applied Science and Technology,
BS Business, and BS Human Services.

This guide details how a second degree can be earned in the Excelsior
College Liberal Arts program in under three hours of testing, exclusively
by way of the GRE subjects exams.

ABOUT THE GRE SUBJECT EXAMS

Graduate Record Subject Examinations are offered in a variety of
disciplines. Their primary purpose is to test the readiness of
candidates for graduate study in a particular field. Most examinees
writing these exams are Bachelor's graduates in the specific field
or in a related discipline. Excelsior College is the only institution
to award enough credit for a GRE subject exam, to trigger second
degree conferral based solely on one's performance in that exam.

Although the majority of GRE subject test examinees may be graduates
in the field, this does not mean examinees who are neither graduates
in the discipline or indeed graduates at all, cannot pass these tests
at the required level. They can and frequently do. I used the GRE
subject test in Political Science to provided all the necessary
concentration credit for my first Excelsior College degree. I wrote
another GRE subject exam in Psychology, garnering an additional 30
semester hours credit.

A DWINDLING RESOURCE

GRE subject examinations are an endangered species, and it seems that
with every passing exam diet there are fewer from which to choose. So
if you're toying with the idea of doing this, don't hang about too long.
Remember, you can earn such a degree by taking just one exam for under
$200.

COMPLETING A SECOND DEGREE IN 2 HOURS AND 50 MINUTES

GRE SUBJECT EXAMS
1)
Concentrations in numerous subjects can be completed by Excelsior
College students by scoring above the 80th percentile in an
appropriate GRE subject examination.

2)
Credit is awarded on a sliding scale, from 3 credits for a score
above the 35th percentile to 30 credits for a score above the
80th percentile. Increment rate is 3 credit hours per 5 percentile
increase in score. The first 12 credits are awarded as lower
division credits, and the rest as upper division credits. Thus
a score above the 80th percentile yields 12 lower division credits
and 18 upper division credits, for a total of 30 credits. The
minimum requirements for a concentration is 30 credits with a
minimum of 15 in the upper division. Therefore, passing a GRE
subject exam above the 80th percentile satisfies concentration
requirements, and all requirements for award of a second degree.

3)
A list of acceptable GRE subject exams and their required scaled
scores can be found at Excelsior.edu

4)
Exam materials..........................................

Best are the "Practicing to take the [Economics/Physics etc.]"
book series from ETS, who produce the actual GRE advanced subject
exams.

These are not study guides but past examination papers. They are
*the* best indicator of what you know, what you don't know, and
where you should concentrate your efforts within the relevant
discipline.

Most of the study guides from other publishers are of limited value.
One notable exception is the series from THE PRINCETON REVIEW called
"Cracking the GRE"... (Biology, Literature, Psychology). I've used
the psychology offering and found it useful. The study notes are
directly applicable to the GRE subject exam. The test questions
are very close in level of difficulty and in scope to that of the
actual exam. There are full answers to the questions in a
subsequent section. Unfortunately, only 35 questions are included.
So far as I know the series only covers the three exams listed
above: pity.

If using the Psychology offering, be sure to know and understand
everything in this very thin volume. If you do, you *will* score
above the 80th percentile.

The Research & Education Association (REA) publishes a series of
preparation guides for all the subject exams. These usually contain
more than one full mock exam with answers (e.g. the mathematics book
contains six full exams) and many of the books provide study notes.
I found the study notes in the political science guide quite useful
(GRE no longer offers the Political Science subject exam,
unfortunately). However, the level of difficulty and focus of the
questions did not reflect that of the actual GRE subject exam.
This seems to be a common trait in the REA series. The REA Psychology
book was of limited value.

Other study guides from Arco and Barron's I found more a hindrance
than a help, though the Barron's book was comprehensive, it lacked
the keen focus of the Princeton offering.

S U M M A R Y

1)
Go to the ETS.org site and register for the exam of choice.

2)
Sit GRE subject exam of choice for which there is a corresponding
Excelsior concentration.

2)
Have ETS send your GRE results to Excelsior College. When you receive
your score (from ETS), and if it's above the 80th percentile,
immediately enroll in Excelsior College (they will already have your
GRE scores) and, in addition to the enrollment fee, pay the graduation
fee, for you have already met the requirements for a second degree
BS or BA - 30 credits in the concentration of which at least 15 must
be upper division, you would have 18 UD + 12 LD for a total of 30
credits. Total cost including exam fees, books, college enrollment
fee and graduation fees, under $1300.

BOOKS
ETS "practicing to take" series: MUST BUY $13
Princeton Review "Cracking the GRE" series: MUST BUY (if applicable) $20
REA "preparation for the GRE" series: BUY (with reservations) $25

Arco/Barron's: keep your cash.

The books can be found at Barnes & Noble, Borders and other retail
outlets, or from Amazon.com on the Web.

Finally, Excelsior College produces reading lists for many of
the GRE subject exams.

Lawrie Miller's, "BA in 4 weeks series" guides available :-

REGIONALLY ACCREDITED BACHELOR'S DEGREES

a) Liberal Arts - (Liberal Studies, Psych, History, Math, etc.) "BA in 4 Weeks"

b) Business - "A BUSINESS DEGREE IN 4 WEEKS"

c) Psychology - "Earn a 2nd BA in 3 hours" (optional in "BA in 4 Weeks")

d) Information Technology - "How to Earn a BS in CIS by Examination"
(Coming soon)