Keeping it Real- The CLEP Test American History 1

Sam took the CLEP test today for US History I which covered from time immemorial to 1877. A score of 50 is considered passing, and could be considered a C in a college level American History Course.

I’d like to tell you Sam did that, but he didn’t. He had a 42.

On the positive side:
Now we know where the testing center is and we have sort of made friends with the staff.
We know where to park.
It was only $80 to take the test.
Sam knows what to expect next time.
For a high school kid taking a college level course covering over 500 years, I think 42 is respectable.

On the negative side:
He can’t take it again for six months.
It will cost another $80 making the total cost for the test alone $160 – that doesn’t count my $20/ month Instacert subscription, the books I bought and the tapes I rented.
If he had just put a little more effort into it he could have made up the 8 stinking points he was shy to come up with the needed 50. But see, this was my idea, my goal and I don’t think he sees totally the big picture of what an opportunity this is to get college credit now! instead of trying to pay tuition later.
I think I’m going to make him pay for it next time.

As a homeschool mom, I can’t help but see this as my failure in a way. I was the kind of student who was anal about taking notes, studying hours a day, testing and trying myself until I walked into every test I took with confidence, not that I would pass, but that I would get an A.

Unfortunately, that kind of inner drive is not hereditary. And I have failed to transmit the importance of consistently good study skills to him.

For the rest of the year I want to work on study skills. I also want to have him go on and take the Dantes test, but just on the Civil War. Hopefully concentrating on just 50 years will be less daunting than trying to do over 500 years. I’d also like to try CLEP again for American Government and American Literature. But if I can’t get him to accept the value of careful and consistent study as his own, I might just say “Heck with it” and let him figure out his own way to cover college costs.

We’ll see.

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