SpeedyPrep, An Amazing CLEP Prep Program -- My REVIEW

It seems like just a short while ago all three of my children were under the age of 5 and survival mode was my theme (haha!) I couldn't imagine what it would be like when my oldest would start kindergarten. Fast forward to today and I have a 7th grader, a 9th grader, and an 11th grader! As you can imagine, school does take up a lot of my day and my mind now :) With an 11th grader, we spend a lot of time now thinking and talking about COLLEGE!! Wow, I can hardly believe that we are at this point! My amazement at how time has flown has been accompanied by the shock of how much college costs these days. Our family is making a plan for corralling college costs by doing a few different things, such as dual-enrolled college classes and using the CLEP test to earn credit through testing for significantly less money than a college course costs.

With this plan in place, I was so very excited to get the chance to review a web-based product called SpeedyPrep. This product is made up of study sessions that test the student's current knowledge and then educate them about what they chose incorrectly. We are so pleased with this CLEP prep program!




In case you are not familiar with CLEP testing, it is basically for those who have learned material that they think is equivalent or nearly equivalent to the material which would be taught in a college level class. The test is used to evaluate the student's mastery of the subject. Different colleges accept different CLEP tests and assign different numbers of credits for certain courses. You can check with your chosen college to see their CLEP policy, which should include information such as which tests they accept, which courses they would substitute credit for, what score is required to qualify for the credits, and how many credits the student would be assigned (with a qualifying score). The test itself costs $80 (this year at least!) and the testing center usually charges an administrative cost which varies (I've seen them as high as $80 in my area). With college courses costing in the thousands of dollars, paying less than $200 to "earn" credits and exempt you from having to take a certain course is definitely a great deal. The key is that you have to score well on the CLEP test!

So that long explanation is to lead up to this. Scoring high enough on the CLEP to earn credits can be done through study and test preparation. The SpeedyPrep program is a wonderful tool to help you confidently prepare to get a good score on your test. As a matter of fact, they offer a guarantee that if you complete the SpeedyPrep course for a subject but fail the corresponding test they will refund your subscription fee! That's saying a lot.

What tests does SpeedyPrep help you prepare for? Here's a graphic which shows them:



My (11th grade) daughter has been planning to take some of these tests and was happy to get the assistance in studying for them that SpeedyPrep provides.  When the student logs in they are able to choose which couse they would like to begin studying for; on successive logins they will see their progress bar for each of the subjects that they are using.  They can then move on to studying or view their study sessions broken down in to statistics and results.

The way that the studying works is that the student is presented with a question, usually fill in the blank, though after you have shown that you can answer it correctly in the fill in the blank mode it will also present you with multiple-choice format questions.  When the answer is typed in, it is either marked correct or incorrect.  The student is not just left with that, however...the "correct" or "incorrect" designation is accompanied by a detailed explanation about why the answer is what it is.  These explanations have diagrams, charts, pictures, and more included in them.  It is easy for a student to see why their answer was right or wrong and to learn the correct facts.  Even if a student guesses and gets the answer correct they are still able to learn because they will find out WHY their answer was correct.

Here's a sample of a question from the biology section

A correct answer has an expanded explanation

as does an incorrect answer

As the student progresses, they can view their progress bar and their statistics.  There are also supplementary videos on certain topics which relate to the chosen segments of the chosen course.

Questions and topics are repeated and the student quickly gains mastery of them.  The courses are broken down into multiple sections so that the student is not overwhelmed, but can master one section at a time.

We have been SO pleased with this program!  It is very easy to use anywhere you have wifi or internet connection.  You can use it on your preferred internet device--laptop, kindle, ipod, etc.  My daughter liked that she could even use it on her phone!

Nope, she's not texting...she's studying with SpeedyPrep!

Progress is steady with steady use.  If you are not a good speller, you will learn to spell the terms used!  :) (Spelling errors cause an "incorrect")  Although the CLEP test format is multiple choice the way that SpeedyPrep tests with the flashcard fill-in-the-blank method helps students to not rely on good guessing skills but on really knowing the proper answer.

I definitely recommend this product!  I am so glad that we found this program.  Yes, we are using it in order to review it, but when our subscription runs out I think that we will be purchasing another subscription.  My daughter would like to take several CLEPs and this is a way that she will be able to ensure enough practice to succeed.  Sometimes kids (and adults!) overestimate their proficiency on a certain topic and might be surprised at what they are lacking...this program doesn't let you zip through or finish unless you know the material.  The progress bars chart this for you and show your progress.

Okay, am I gushing?  Maybe.  Suffice it to say that we really like this program.  I highly recommend this program to anyone who is considering taking a CLEP (let me remind you that SpeedyPrep is not really a course to teach you an entire subject, but rather a product to enhance your learning and hone you in on what you need to know to score well on these tests).  If you are planning to take advantage of the money and time savings from testing for credit in this sense, really consider trying this program.  It is a very reasonable price and I think that you will agree when you experience its benefits.

I highly recommend this program!