I've been doing as much studying as my brain can take for the four DANTES tests that I need to pass by February 11th. Each test will earn me three college credits and I need to pass them all in order to begin the series of classes for my major on February 16th. If I don't pass all four, then I won't have the 60 credits required for the program and I have to wait until September to start with a cohort. The positive side of not starting until September is that it gives me time to complete the other four DANTES tests that I need to complete in order to earn my Bachelor's degree. So, at this point, I would imagine you're asking yourself "What the heck IS a DANTES test anyway?" Well, if you followed the link a couple sentences up, there will be a more technical description of how the process works. The tl;dr version is that it's basically testing out of a class. You study and then simply take a multiple choice test on the subject. The tests are strictly pass/fail and are a CHEAP way to earn credit. (I'd highly suggest these to those of you who are going back to school like I am for that reason alone.) It's $15 at the time you register to take the test and then, on the day of testing, you pay an additional $80. Three college credits for only $95? Uh, yes please! I've done one other DANTES test and that was on World Religion back when I first moved to the Twin Cities and was living in Eden Prairie. I drove ALL the way up to Shorview to take the test at Bethel so it's kind of entertaining to me that I live practically down the road from there now. Oh life, you so crazy!
The first four DANTES tests that I'm working to complete before February 11th are:
- Substance Abuse
- Environment & Humanity: the Race to Save the Planet
- Principles of Supervision
- Personal Finance
(If you're interested in more specifics on each class, there are fact sheets with more details to be had here.)
The first two classes I'm registered to test on January 19th and I'm scoring above 85% consistently on Substance Abuse already. I started studying in earnest for Environment & Humanity last night and I think that should go pretty well. Having grown up with the "Just Say No" & "Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute!" campaigns, these seemed like no brainers for easy credit. I ordered text books for each from Amazon and they were each only @ $25 each used. All in all, an excellent way to get started with going back. I'm not set on Personal Finance as the last of the first four classes that I'm going to take but it looks stupid easy so it might be foolish to even consider anything else. I was a bookkeeper so I'm pretty sure I understand how debits & credits, etc. work at this point. I took a sampling of five questions that came directly from the test and answered all of them correctly so that's a good sign.
If you're interested in the titles of the other four classes I'll be testing on before I can graduate in approximately two years, here they are in no particular order:
- Human/Cultural Geography
- Technical Writing
- Lifespan Developmental Psychology
- Foundations of Education
These four will definitely be the more challenging of the eight I need so hopefully it's not a mistake to separate them out the way I am. I had considered taking all eight DANTES tests I need between now and September and then starting the core classes for my degree, but I really am a "sooner rather than later" girl. I just couldn't get comfortable with waiting when there's even a CHANCE that I could get done with my degree seven months sooner by pushing myself hard for about six weeks. Am I capable? Other people seem to have no doubt but I'm still on the fence. As cliché as it sounds, I'm going to do my best and let whatever happens, happen.
Fun, non school related things going on lately include using some of the vouchers I've purchased from various daily deal sites. Today we ordered two cakes and picked up half a dozen brownies from the Roseville Bakery since my voucher expires on January 9th. I let the kids decide on which cakes to get and they selected a kitty and a dinosaur. Only problem? They're so cute I don't really want to have to cut them up and eat them.
I'll also be attending Girls Only: the Secret Comedy of Women at the New Century Theater on January 18th through a voucher deal. I've heard nothing but good things about this from people who have already seen it so that should be fun too. It's the night before my first DANTES test date so hopefully I'm not so tense that I'm nothing but a downer to have along. (For the record, this month's drag night will be either the 20th or the 21st. Hopefully I'll be celebrating that I passed the tests and am halfway to meeting my starting goal...)
We'll also be having pictures taken of all three kids at JC Penny's on January 22nd to use up a voucher I purchased quite a while ago and expires the 26th of this month. That works alright for me since it's only a couple of weeks before the twins turn three. (THREE. WTF?!?) I need to get on planning their birthday party since normally I have all of that done already. Mina is desperate to have their party at Pump It Up like Ada did and I'm inclined to just go with that since it was awesome fun and required little to no effort on my part. Was it the cheapest birthday party we'll ever throw? No but, with everything else going on this month, I might just be inclined to do it again. Plus, it's not really fair that I'd do it for ONE of my kids and not the other two.
As always, I have plenty more to say but not enough time to say it. Perhaps later after my brain is fairly oozing out of my ears because of all the facts it's suddenly stuffed with.
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