There are many ways to earn college level credit and one method is through placement testing. If you have been stationed in Germany and picked up German on your own, you may be able to earn college credit for German through placement testing. All of our recommended colleges for deployed troops offer the ability to earn college credit via placement testing. Below is a list of college placement tests widely accepted by most colleges.

TECEP – Thomas Edison State College has their own series of placement tests (Thomas Edison College Examination Program – TECEP) that are accepted at many colleges. With over 60 tests available on subjects ranging from Introduction to the History of Film to C Programming. Most tests are worth 3 college credit hours and can be taken at a distance with a testing proctor. TESC also has testing centers already set-up on many military bases. For more information on TECEP, click THIS LINK.

DANTES – Developed by the US Department of Defense, Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support tests (DSST) are credit-by-examination tests designed to allow a student to demonstrate proficiency in an area of study normally taught at a college or university. Tests are available in 37 college subject areas. DSST’s are available for both upper and lower level credit.

Prometric Services administers Internet-based versions of DSSTs under contract with the Defense Department (for military personnel) or on a fee basis (for civilians). For more on DANTES information, click THIS LINK.

CLEP – The College Board’s College Level Examination Program (CLEP) is a series of 34 examinations that test an individual’s college level knowledge gained through course work, independent study, cultural pursuits, travel, special interests, military service schools, and professional development. [1] CLEP also offers international and home-schooled students the opportunity to demonstrate their proficiency in subject areas and bypass undergraduate coursework. The test is offered by the College Board. Approximately 2,900 colleges and universities will grant college credits for each test. Both U.S. and international schools grant CLEP credit. Most of the tests are 90 minutes long and currently cost $70 each[2] or are free to U.S. military service members and veterans.[3] There is an additional fee of $10 for the optional essay portion of some of the exams. Each test usually corresponds to a one or two semester introductory course on the topic, though the Spanish, French, and German Language exams can be used to earn up to 12 credits.

CLEP exams are offered at testing centers on over 1,500 college and university campuses, as well as military installations. Most centers charge an administrative or registration fee per student or per test. Fees usually range from $15-20, though they vary among test centers.

CLEP tests are primarily multiple-choice exams (though some include fill-in or ordering questions, and one English Composition exam has an essay section) which are scored on a scale from 20 to 80. The majority of schools grant credit for a score of 50 or higher, but passing scores are determined by the individual schools and may vary. The schools are responsible for awarding the amount of credits you would receive for each test. The scores in the table below are endorsed by the American Council on Education as recommended credit-granting scores for each of the exams. On foreign language tests, the score will determine the amount of credit granted. For example, one university may grant 8 credits for a score of 50, 12 credits for a score of 62 and 18 credits for a score of 73.

Read more about CLEP options for military personnel by clicking THIS LINK.

ECE – Excelsior College Examinations (or ECE) are a series of tests offered by Excelsior College in New York. Many colleges and universities will grant college credits for each test, although they are not as widely accepted as CLEP and DSST. The exam administration period is 3 hours and the tests currently cost between $235 and $335, although military personnel may take them free of charge on many installations. Each exam usually corresponds to a one or two semester introductory or secondary course on the topic, and many provide upper-division credit. Most ECE exams are considered equivalent to 3 credits in the semester system.

ECE exams are offered through Excelsior College and are administered at Pearson VUE test centers, as well as most military installations. For more information on ECE, click on THIS LINK.

DLPT – Defense Language Institute’s Defense Language Proficiency Tests are offered by The Defense Language Institute (DLI) – a United States Department of Defense (DoD) educational and research institution, which provides linguistic and cultural instruction to the Department of Defense, other Federal Agencies and numerous and varied other customers. The Defense Language Institute is responsible for the Defense Language Program, and the bulk of the Defense Language Institute’s activities involve educating DoD members in assigned languages. Other functions include planning, curriculum development, and research in second-language acquisition.

The Defense Language Proficiency Test (or DLPT) is a battery of foreign language tests produced by the Defense Language Institute and used by the United States Department of Defense(DoD). They are intended to assess the general language proficiency of native English speakers in a specific foreign language, in the skills of reading and listening. An oral proficiency interview, or OPI, is administered to Defense Language Institute students to establish the graduate’s proficiency in speaking following training there.

The tests are meant to measure how well a person can function in real-life situations in a foreign language according to well-defined linguistic tasks and assessment criteria. Originally paper tests, they are increasingly delivered by computer.

The tests are used to assess the skill level of civilian and military DoD language analysts. Military language analysts are tested once a year in the skills of reading and listening. This yearly testing determines the level of Foreign Language Proficiency Pay that a language analyst receives. DLPT scores may also figure into the readiness rating of a military linguist unit.

Scoring for the current (2007) series of tests, called DLPT5, are, like their predecessors, based on the guidelines of the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR), with the test results stated as levels 0+ through 3 or up to 4 for some languages.

For more information on the Defense Language Institute, click THIS LINK.

Add to: