Misconception: Bachelor's Degrees take a few years to earn and cost a bunch

WRONG!!! You can earn a degree in half a year or less for about $5000, or even under $4000 if you live in New Jersey.

Oh, and did I mention without sitting through a single class.

Yeah, you're figuring it's another one of those hoaxes. Well, it's not. I am not selling anything here or offering anything here. All I'm doing is giving you the information that you need to get that degree you need/want. And, believe it or not, I have no gain in this. I just want to help out. I know it's a rarity these days, but here I am.

Here goes:

Many people are having a hard time getting a job because they have no Bachelor's degree. Some people are getting passed over for promotions because there's a degree requirement. What are you to do? You don't want to spend $15,000 getting your degree. Also, you don't have time to sit in class or the patience to do the same. Hmm..... is there another alternative? Yes there is and I'll show you how to do it.

First of all, the breakdown that will follow below is for someone that has no previous college credits. Zero. If you have some, you will have an easier , shorter and cheaper time getting your degree.

To get this degree, you have to be ready to learn enough on many topics to get a passing mark on an exam on that topic. We're talking CLEP exams. You may have heard of it before. All it is is a multiple choice exam (usually 100 questions) that covers one topic. The cost is $72 per exam plus you'll pay a proctor fee, which ranges from $20 to $35 depending where you take it. There's a bunch of info available online, if you just use the good old google.

Here's a tip. There's a site called InstantCert.com. For a minimal price you become a member. This gives you access to practice multiple choice questions on a huge variety of CLEP/Dantes exams. From past experience, I have found that using InstantCert will sufficiently prepare you to pass the CLEP exams. I would strongly advise checking it out if you're gonna this route.

Another part of the trick here is to get 25 free electives through FEMA.gov. They offer small courses online for free. Each short course has an open-book final made up of 25-50 multiple choice questions. For each course you pass, subject to limitations, you'll get one college credit. These courses take very little time and will give you 24 of the 120 credits you'll need for the degree.

Here's the whole story. Thomas Edison State College, which is a fully accredited college in New Jersey, will let you earn a degree even if you don't take a single course with them. If you fulfill all the requirements for a degree wherever however, they'll let you transfer in the credits and earn the degree. You must, however, enroll in the college, which is half the cost of this degree.

The breakdown of the costs are as follows:

Application fee $75 - this pays for your evaluation which evaluated your previous studies/transcripts

Annual enrollment fee (which your only gonna do for one year obviously) - $2520

Annual Technology fee - $103

Graduation fee (which is gonna be pretty much right away) - $247

So far that's a total of $2945

Now comes the fun. You are going to take 21 exams, each giving you 3 or 6 credits. for a total of 96 credits. The other 24 credits will be through FEMA. If you estimate the cost of each exam at $100 (it may be a bit less for you), that's another $2100

That brings you to a total of $5045 (See the end of the article to see how it may be way cheaper for you.)

PLEASE NOTE: DISCLAIMER: I have not verified all this information with Thomas Edison State College. If you go this route, you may want to apply, get an evaluation, and make sure this is going to work. I just know that I tested out of 15 courses for my degree, and don't see why this shouldn't work for you.

Below, I have broken down the requirements for the Bachelor's Degree in Liberal Studies at Thomas Edison State College, and how you'll fulfill those requirements by exam.

A. English Composition (6 credits)

• CLEP English Composition with Essay (6 credits)

B. Humanities (12 credits)

• CLEP American Literature (6 credits)
• CLEP Humanities - General (6 credits)

C. Social Sciences (12 credits)

• CLEP Social Sciences and History General (6 credits)
• CLEP American Government (3 credits)
• CLEP Human Growth and Development (3 credits)

D. Natural Sciences and Mathematics (12 credits)

• CLEP College Mathematics General (6 credits)
• CLEP Natural Sciences - General (6 credits)

E. General Education Electives (18 credits)

• CLEP Chemistry (6 credits)
• CLEP Biology (6 credits)
• CLEP English Literature (6 credits)

F. Liberal Studies (33 credits)
(Only 2 courses can be at the 100 level)
(Must be at least two areas)

• CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Literature (6 credits)
• CLEP Introduction to Educational Psychology (3 credits)
• Dantes Introduction to Computing (3 credits)
• Dantes Ethics in America (3 credits)
• Dantes Environment and Humanity: The Race to Save the Plant (3 credits)
• Dantes Lifespan Developmental Psychology (3 credits)
• Dantes Organizational Behavior (3 credits)
• Dantes Drug and Alcohol Abuse
• Dantes Technical Writing Dantes Human/Cultural Geography

G. Free Electives (27 credits)

• Dantes Foundations of Education (3 credits)
• Free FEMA online courses - 24 courses - 1 credit each course (24 credits)

Total credits: 120 credits

Total number of CLEP/Dantes exams: 21 exams

Please note: There are many more CLEP and Dantes exams available that will do the job as well. You should check out all the exams, see which would be easier for you etc. I have, however, used all the 6 credit exams in the calculations (see below for an exception).

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Now in the title I wrote "or for as low as $3615". How do I explain that.It's actually quite simple. If you live in New Jersey, as I do, then instead of paying $2520 for enrollment, you pay only $1390. That takes $1130 off the costs, bring it down to $3915.

Now if you know Spanish well, or French or German, there is a CLEP exam worth 12 credits that will replace one of the 3 credit exams I counted. This will take $300 off the costs (3 exams less), bringing the cost down to $3615

Please leave comments and suggestions if you have any.

Why most reviews online are biased and curved (and therefore a SCAM)

Did you ever notice that most online reviews are curved to the positive? Here's why.

Most reviews let you rate a product , service, or company with a rating from 1 to 5. Sounds fair. right? Wrong!!!!

Take this example:

We'll talk about reviews for this widget.

Mister Aye thinks is the best thing to come out since toilet paper. He quickly gives it a rating of 5.
Miss Bee also bought this product and it broke before she got home. She thinks it's useless and a total waste of money. She gives it a rating of 1.
Mrs. Sea also buys the product and it simply won't do what widgets are supposed to do. What a piece of crap. She gives it a rating of 1.

The average rating is 5+1+1=7 / 3 = 2.33. The site so nicely shows a rating of 2.5 stars (rounded to the nearest half).

When Mr. Dee comes to the site and checks out the rating, it's 2.5 stars out of 5 stars. Okay, he says, half the people like it half don't, an average product. He then decides to buy it, or not.

Mr. Dee was SCAMMMED by the site. For every one person that likes it, there are two people that think it's junk. The true rating should be 1.66 (5+0+0=5/3=1.66). I think Mr. Dee may have decided against the purchase had he seen 1.5 stars instead of the 2.5 shown. In other words, stars are partly a SCAM!!!!!!!!!

How do you Open a Banana

I have solid proof against the theory of evolution. We definitely don't originate from monkeys.

I always had a big problem. My baby loves bananas. We buy them all the time and then they get soft and mushy. That's not the problem. The problem is that I bite my nails. When bananas are hard, you kind of stick your finger into the crevice near the top and pull. That rips the peel and opens the banana. When the banana is soft, all your finger does is squish the banana. If I had nails, I would dig a nail in to cut the peel, but my nails are always down to the finger. I was always out of luck. Until....

I recently read an article about monkeys that was quite enlightening. Monkeys don't open bananas from the side with the stem. They open it from the opposite end. I tried it and WOW!!!, it was easy. Hold the tip of the banana with the thumb and index fingers of both hands. Pinch and pull, the banana will open like magic.

Now, tell me. If we used to be monkeys, how did we forget such an important bit of information. Why wouldn't Papa monkey pass down the trick.

See you.

Miss Take

First Post: The word mistake

There's talk on many websites about the difference between the word 'mistake' and the word 'error'. Here's a sampling of the differing opinions on the matter:

• "Mistakes are generally one-time-only events. The speaker who makes a mistake is able to recognize it as a mistake and correct it if necessary. An error, on the other hand, is systematic-- it is likely to occur repeatedly and is not recognized by the learner as an error"
• "A mistake arises because something has been done wrongly, someone has goofed.An error may occur because it is inevitable. There is always some uncertainty, or expected error, in any measurement. Anyone who has been involved in practical experimental work, or in stats and surveys, will need no further explanation."

Here's my take on the issue of mistake. The word mistake is made up of two parts, 'mis' and 'take'. When one's take on a matter is in error, they are making a MIStake. This causes them to err. The cause of the error is because they had the wrong take or opinion or understanding of a situation. He MIStook causing him to err, or he is MIStaking.

My only problem with this take is the use of the word 'mistaken'. We use the word mistaken on the person making the mistake. According to the way I am understanding, the issue is mistaken, not the person.

Oh, well. Anyway, I plan to use this blog to point out common misconceptions that I pick up in day-to-day life or elsewhere. When the lightbulb goes off in my head, I'll try to put it to 'paper'.

Thank you for reading.

We'll be in touch.

Miss Take