File Size: 1130 KB
Print Length: 210 pages
Publisher: Research & Education Association; 2 edition (December 17, 2012)
Publication Date: December 17, 2012
Sold by: Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B00CRWLKMQ
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray: Not Enabled
Word Wise: Not Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Best Sellers Rank: #438,004 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) #21 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Education & Teaching > Test Preparation > College & University > CLEP #49 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Sociology > Rural #102 in Books > Education & Teaching > Higher & Continuing Education > Test Preparation > CLEP
I ordered this book one week before the exam and received it six days before the exam. I went though the two sections in four days and spent three days working on the practice exams and testing what I didn't know. I am a biology major and have zero experience with psychology or sociology. With less than a week of taking notes, studying, and testing myself from this book I was able to score a 61 on the sociology CLEP. I only studied from this book.
The practice tests were the only thing that helped in this book. This book is divided into 2 overall sections: an overview of the materials, and 2 practice exams that are also available online for auto-scoring. I took the diagnostic exam cold, and scored just below 50. Then I read the materials, took the 1st full-length exam, and got a little over 50. The overview of the materials is way too broad to be of any significant use. I had to google/wikipedia a lot of the important people and terms so I'd be more prepared. Simply reading the material from the book wasn't enough, at least for me. Taking all the practice exams, going over their answers in detail, and doing my own supplementary materials online ultimately netted me a good score, but I did think the actual test was harder than the practice exams.
The book needs a good rewrite. Although there is good information in the book,it is disturbing that a book focused on sociology could contain sexist pronouns and nouns to the extent this book uses them. For example, the almost exclusive use of the masculine pronoun or the use of nouns such as "mankind" demonstrate a book that doesn't, at the very least, follow APA standards. The section on families is also outdated. For example, page 58 states, "The nuclear family consists of people of the opposite sex who are in a socially approved sexual union and living with their children." Come on! Yes..there is useful information, but I felt like I was reading source material from the 1950s.
I read this book, studied the terms and then took the practice exams. The content doesn't even prepare you for their own practice tests, let alone the real test. Also, their practice questions are nothing like the real exam. I ended up passing the sociology CLEP, but this prep book didn't cover many of the topics covered on the real test. I wish I could get my money back. Research other books before buying this one. This won't help you.
Airmen will be glad to know that I scored a 53 - cutoff for CLEPs in general is 50 - after just studying for one night, and a couple of hours of sleep. The test was done in March 2014. I supplemented this book with "CLEP Sociology - 2012: Condensed Summary and Test Prep Guide" by David C. Haus and Michael D. Haus. Do not be like me and actually take at least 2 weeks to study. Do all the practice tests and understand the concepts.Good thing that Arizona State University and Air University (USAF) accepts 50 for this particular subject. Remember, all colleges have their own criteria on CLEP scores and some do not accept them. The test is more of a you know it or you do not kind. No real in-depth questions. Sort of like military CDCs and PDG.Yes, I did both CLEPs for sociology and psychology in March with only one night of studying per test. I used up the entire 1.5 hours of allotted time both tests had.48 IS
Good. I got a 61 which is passing (I needed 50 for my college). This book was my principle study guide as the subject was foreign to me. The book is concise and to the point so if there is a subject covered in the book you feel you don't quite have a good grasp you need to google it and read it a little more in depth. The only problem I had with this book was the test was more difficult than both of the practice tests the book provides. The practice tests this book provides are often easy enough to where you can use the process of elimination or common sense to answer but that wasn't the case with the actual test. I recommend getting this book at least 2 weeks before the CLEP, read it, go over the glossary, and Wikipedia all the names mentioned in the book to get a better grasp on their theories and contributions these characters made to the subject, and finally make sure to figure out any concept in the book you don't quite understand by googling it. Make sure to understand all the points and characters in the book and you will have a good enough grasp on the subject.
So happy I got that class (test) out of the way. I followed the CLEP program's suggested study format and passed with a 70%. You only need a 50% to get credit and it's less than 15% of tuition cost to get out of a semester of fact recitation.
Overpriced, but a good reflection of what will be on the exam. Take an hour to skim the book, take another hour or so to do the practice tests (you probably won't need the full allotted time), then take an hour to review your answers with REA's commentary. If you have some common sense and are good at standardized tests, that will be more than enough to pass (scaled score > 50). If you lack those qualities, you may need to work harder and use a real sociology book.I skimmed the first chapter of the book, got a 64 scaled score on the first full practice test, 70 on the second, skimmed the rest of the book, and then got a 66 on the real exam. I do feel that skimming the book was at least slightly useful towards ensuring a passing grade, though reviewing the practice tests was more important. I had no prior knowledge of sociology beyond what one picks up reading the newspaper.Note that the online versions of the practice tests, which I recommend over the paper versions, are not free if you buy this book; they are discounted to be a total of ~$3.
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