In Loving Memory of Charlotte Hastings

You are my comrade, my instructor and friend.

I’ll miss you.

ps
Say hi to Lucas, Patsy and Jeanine for me.

How did I do on the Humanities CLEP?

I went and had breakfast early, and began memorization. Drove to the school 4 hours before the test went to the library and more memorization. Got to the room 45 minutes before the test and they said I could study in the room or I could begin the test. I said a little prayer and decided to go for it.

I had earplugs for my ears and they gave me headphones. I am easily distracted by outside noise. They put me in the corner where I could not see anyone come in. I took the test and was afraid that I would run out of time. I did my best to answer the questions and with those I was unsure of I answered and marked them to review if I had time.

I finished with 23 minutes to spare. I guess taking all of the pretests helped. They asked me if I wanted my score sent before I closed down the program and I said no. I mean I only want it sent to the school if I pass. I quit the test and went to professor. She asked if I was done I said yes and asked if I passed. She printed out the score. I needed a 50 I got a 64! I passed!!!!!! Turns out you still have an opportunity to send the scores to the school without paying. If you fill out the form, which I had a hard time writing my name on because my brain was mooshe.

I was thrilled. When I left another woman was there who took the same test. I asked her how much she studied, and she said not much she did 1 pretest. She asked me what book I used and I said I used three different books and 7 different tests. She was disappointed that she did not pass, she missed it by 5 points. But she said, “ I only have myself to blame.” I was not sure that I would pass, but I knew that I did my absolute best.

Now for the history CLEP. I really only need 1 credit to graduate, if they school gives me all 30 credits for life experience.

How do I memorize all of this stuff?

I don’t have the greatest memory. Understanding this little fact I have to study differently for tests than most do. My husband can read something over and over and then commit it for memory. I could do that if I also wrote it 10 times with different color, committed it to song and created some visual.

After studying 1 hour every day for the last month I had increased that to 4-6 hours this week. I had spent hours on wikipidea. Every time I would take a CLEP test, 6-7 total I would look up everything I missed on wiki. I loved that. I learned so much.

I had over 20 pages of notes including pictures that I printed out of architecture and art.
The day of the test I had to commit those to memory. This is how I did it.

Here is a portion of my list of titles of poems and books

Tyger tyger
The Waste Land
Pride and Prejudice
Ulysses
Pygmalion
Doll house
Piers Plowan
Road less traveled
Uncle Ramus
Sleepy hollow
Skylark
Then I made up stories and pictures in my head to go with each of them. Remember that this is just multiple choice so I only have to get close to the name on the list of 5)

Tyger tyger ( don’t bake the tiger) William Blake
The Waste Land ( don’t waste the tea) TS Elliot
Pride and Prejudice ( I have great pride in our capitol Austin) Jane Austen
Ulysses ( molly bloom loves jj) James Joyce
Pygmalion ( shaw is a pig and he loves to sculpt) Bernard Shaw
Doll house ( itty biddy things go in a doll house) Henrick Ibsen
Piers Plowan ( plow the land to find god) William Langland
Road less traveled ( there is frost on that road and in Kennedy’s pocket) Robert frost also wrote a dedication for the Kennedy inauguration.
Uncle Ramus ( the hare on the rabbit is brown) Joel Chandler Harris also wrote Briar Rabbit.
Sleepy hollow ( I had to picture George Washington on the horse with his head detached)
Skylark (don’t pierce the bird in the side with a shell) Pierce Shelley


And for the list of groups if I could find one person in the list I felt I was o.k.
Knickerbockers- (the guy wore Copper knickerbockers that clanked) Cooper
Beat writers (those beat writers drink a lot of gin) Allen Ginsberg
Lost generation ( Ezra pounded pizza and they had a fit) Fitzgerald and Ezra Pounds
Fireside ( there are a lot of fellows around the fire) Longfellow
Local color ( Mark twain)


Well that is my fun time of memorization. Once these mind pictures were made I could remember things so much easier. If you have difficulty, you might try it as well.

3 days until the test!

IT is grueling studying for this humanities CLEP test but I must say that I really like the subjects. I have taken 6 practice tests now. I think I am learning, but it is still hard to know if I have learned enough to past the test. I went to the library and picked up “Peterson’s CLEP Success” and “ARCO Everything You Need to Score High CLEP”. So far I like the first book I had “The Research and Education’s CLEP book”. I like that they not only tell you the right answers but often they tell you why the others are wrong.

SO I have vowed to study 4 hours every day until the test on Friday.

My day on Friday will be to get up early drive out to the college. I have printed out a map of both directions and the college campus. I’ll spend the day out there studying and then take the test.

Wish me luck, or prayers.

Did I get it?

Did I get it?

I sit here patiently waiting to see if I received my credits for my EXCEL they were supposed to have met this week. I’ll e mail them on Wednesday if I don’t here anything, or maybe I will wait until after my humanities CLEP. After all that determines everything. I need to make the 6 credits in humanities to be able to graduate in October. Right now it just feels like I am putting one foot in front of the other. I keep going and checking things off of the list. I will know it is real when I am sitting in those culminating planning groups in spring.

CLEP- My CLEP test is on Friday. Every time I think of it I have bubbles in my tummy. I thought I might see if I could go early and study in the room of the CLEP. I am going to the library to get yet another book on the subject. I have taken three full tests and want to do 5 in total before the test. I also plan on taking a tape recorder and taping things that I need to memorize. Then I can listen to it when I am walking or making dinner or doing something where my mind can learn but my body can’t stop. I am not that great at memorizing things