by Pat Heyman | May 17, 2012 | Essays, Pat
There are basically three traditional ways to get out of college courses. All three involve taking a test that shows basic competency in the course material. Many high school students are familiar with AP (Advanced Placement) courses. You take a course in high school, then at the end of the school year, you take the AP test, and if you score high enough on it, you get college credit.
The main problem with AP courses is that they are only available to high school students. Once you’ve graduated, it’s too late. Another problem is that it takes a whole school year to get your credit. This is where CLEP (College Level Examination Program) and DSST (Dantes Standardized Subject Tests) come in.
Both of these can be taken any time before or after college graduation. Better yet, you study at your own pace, so you can knock out two or three in a very short time if you put your mind and effort to it. There are some limits. Generally speaking:
- You can only test out of 60 credits total. Most people will never reach this limit.
- You cannot test out of a class you have taken, even if you withdrew. You can however sign up for a course, pass the test, and then drop the class if it has not yet started.
Which one should I choose?
Some subjects are covered only by one of the companies. In that case, you choose what is available. If both companies have the test, do some reading on forums and choose one.
How do I do I sign up for one?
- DSST
- Find a DSST test center.
- List of subject tests
- CLEP
- Find a CLEP test center.
- List of subject tests
How should I study?
Generally speaking, you get a text book and study it. Many subjects have dedicated CLEP study guides or CLEP text books. For math tests, I would highly recommend Khan Academy.
It would also be a good idea search online forums for other people’s recent experiences with the test. For example, the Public Speaking test requires you to submit a video taped speech. Apparently one of the most important things is that the speech be within the time limit.
Additional tips below under specific tests.
Which courses should I take?
Here is a PDF document of the exams that most Florida colleges and Universities will accept. However, just because a school will accept your credit does not mean that it will help you graduate.
The following recommendations are specifically for Palm Beach Atlantic University (because that’s where I work) nursing students:
- Composition I
- Biology
- Public Speaking
- General Psychology
- Lifespan Development
- Algebra
- Statistics
- English Composition
- You absolutely cannot go wrong taking this one*. Practically every school requires it. You need to take the test in the Summer before you start as a freshman, because it is almost always taken in the 1st semester. It is almost impossible to get out of taking Comp II. Your best bet is to CLEP a literature course and see if your school will count it, however, if your school also requires a literature course, you can’t have the CLEP test count for both Comp II and the literature course. You could CLEP two literature courses.
*Actually, if you’re planning on doing the Honors Program at PBA, then it won’t matter if you take this or not. You’ll still have to take the Honors version.
- Western Civilization I and II
- This is a safe bet for most schools as they require Western Civ I and II plus a literature course. PBA is not most schools, and requires “Humanities I, II, and III”. They will however accept Western Civ I as Humanities I. Unfortunately, they will NOT accept the Western Civ CLEP for Humanities I. You’ll have to take this one through dual enrollment.
- Biology
- Biology I is required at PBA for A&P I and II and Microbiology. By taking this before you start as a freshman, you can get a jump start on these science courses.
- Public Speaking
- Oddly enough you can test out of public speaking, but you can’t get out of giving a speech. You have to submit a video of yourself doing one. If you’re planning on doing the Honors Program at PBA, then it won’t matter if you take this or not. You’ll still have to take the Honors version.
- General Psychology
- Students have told that this one is fairly easy. Here is a student’s experience with the test:
“I bought an AP Psychology prep book, and read it diligently while also taking notes on it. I then got on quizlet.com and used the flashcard for the Intro to Psychology Clep Test to practice my vocab. I studied about 2 hours a day for 2 1/2 weeks. I scored a 53 on the test.
As far as the test is concerned, a majority of it was giving you a scenario and you are asked what psychology concept is being used in the scenario. If you understand the vocabulary for Psychology, you should be able to successfully take the test. After taking the test, I reviewed what I studied, the only other thing I wish I had done, is there is a plastic card sold at Barnes n Noble for Intro to Psychology, it has every psychology vocab word used on the test.” — C.B., 2012, Freshman Nursing Student
- Lifespan Development (Human Growth and Development)
- Opinions vary on this one. Students that took General Psychology at PBA have told me that it is not a difficult test. It is essentially General Psychology with an emphasis on developmental theories/theorists, such as Erickson. Students who CLEPed both General Psychology and Life Span Development have told me that it was harder (but they still passed it.)
“The Lifespan Psychology test was quite simple for me to study and pass. I bought the review guide for this test and read the book in about 3 weeks. It was an easy read because the previous fall I had taken General Psychology which was a solid foundation to Lifespan. The material was not too difficult to understand and majority of it was interesting for me. I passed this test with a score of 59, in which passing is 50.” –T.M., 2012 Freshman Nursing Student
- Algebra
- Almost everyone has to take “College Algebra” these days, but let’s be honest. It’s more like 9th grade algebra. You should be able to do this one in your sleep. Interestingly, PBA nursing does not require College Algebra, but does require Statistics. You could just go straight for Statistics, but if you change majors, you’ll probably have to go back and take College Algebra.
- Statistics
- Required for just about every nursing program out there.
“Principles of Statistics however was much more difficult for me [than Lifespan Development]. I had never taken any statistics classes and therefore I was not able to understand it as well. Not having a teacher or tutor for an unfamiliar subject can be very frustrating at times. I researched the test and found many people suggesting “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Statistics” as a good research that simplified the material. I found the book to be very helpful despite the difficult content. I passed the DSST test with a 447 with the passing score of 400. –T.M., 2012 Freshman Nursing Student
- American Government
- NOT RECOMMENDED for PBA. PBA requires its own course “Freedom in American Society.” This CLEP will not help you at PBA, but should at most other schools.
by Pat Heyman | Jan 31, 2012 | Essays, Pat
This past weekend I joined thirteen others in taking a Close Quarters Tactics class at Southern Exposure Training in Lakeland with Randy Cain.
The class has two major focuses (foci?):
- Some hand to hand techniques to retain your firearm or disarm an opponent.
- Incorporating the hand to hand techniques into the overall firearm system.
Training Days
Each training day began and ended with live fire shooting with the hand to hand techniques taking the balance (and bulk) of the time. (The amount of shooting will depend on the level of the class. Classes with better shooters will tend to shoot more as Randy doesn’t have to spend as much time correcting errors.) The first day’s morning shooting was primarily a review of Randy’s Tactical Handgun 101* and Randy made adjustments to individual shooters as needed. As the days progressed we incorporated some of the hand to hand techniques into the shooting. Randy explained how things we learned in TH101 were now made important in light of the CQT techniques–in particular, step 2 of the draw stroke (retention). Randy stressed that hand to hand techniques must not only be effective but must fit into the overall system.
*TH101 or a similar class from someone Randy respects is a prerequisite for the CQT course.
The major hand to hand skills taught in the class include:
- Basic movement and positioning
- Buying time to draw a gun against a basic knife attack (not against a skilled knife fighter)
- Preventing someone from taking your gun out of the holster.
- Preventing someone who has a grip on your gun from taking it.
- Taking a gun from someone else.
- Preventing a gang banger from drawing on you.
- What to do when you run empty at CQT distance.
- Randy also demonstrates how these same techniques can be applied to long guns.
- Some “parlor tricks” (You’ll think twice about using Sul once you see how easy it is to disarm.)
You don’t need to have any martial arts training to be able to learn the techniques, although it would certainly be helpful. The techniques are very forgiving and will often work even if you don’t execute them quite right. The class is somewhat demanding physically, and everyone broke a sweat despite the perfect 70 degree weather. Expect to get a little banged up (you’ll be slamming your shoulder into someone’s arm A LOT), however, you do train at your own level, and if you follow Randy’s instructions and advice, you won’t get hurt. If you’re sedentary, I’d recommend being able to walk at least a mile without getting winded to get more out of the class.
Randy is a both a very patient and demanding instructor. He’ll take the time to help individual students fix shooting problems even though that’s not the focus of this class. Once he knows your level, he’ll push you to continue to improve.
Before you come to the class, I’d also recommend de-horning your practice (blue) gun. Take the sights off, round the sharp edges (including safety, slide lock, take down lever, hammer, and beavertail).
It was a fabulous class, incredibly eye opening, and highly recommended.
by Pat Heyman | May 15, 2011 | News, Pat
I just got back from taking Louis Awerbuck’s Tactical Shotgun I class. My only previous experience with the Shotgun is Randy Cain’s Shotgun I class (see my write up here) about two years ago, and a few trap shooting outings with friends.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Louis Awerbuck, he served in the South African Defence Force and has been training firearms for over thirty years. Randy considers him the best in the business, so naturally, I came into this class with big expectations.
Day 1
The course started out with a three hour briefing on safety, range etiquette, and all manner of information about the shotgun, everything from desirable features on a shotgun, idiosyncrasies of various models of shotgun, and ammunition selection to the mechanics of loading and unloading the weapon and the most common reasons for malfunctions. Before the briefing, Louis warned us that he talks more than anyone in the business and shoots less.
Louis is a bit of a character with a wry sense of humor and self deprecatingly refers to his “magnetic personality.” He is soft spoken and despite repeated admonitions of how much a jerk he is, we never witnessed it during our three days. His style is very low key, and he is very patient helping students to improve.
After lunch, we headed out to the range to pattern the shotguns with buckshot. I was using some really cheap buckshot that had an enormous pattern. After the second shot at seven yards, my pattern was about seven inches across. Other targets were had two inch patterns. He used my target to show just how much ammunition selection can affect the pattern. A second shot at seven yards with Federal Tactical 00 buck showed a 3 inch group, “Fastest barrel job you’ve ever seen. I just saved you several hundred dollars.”
After patterning the guns, we moved over to steel targets and ran a variety of drills including the ever popular Rolling Thunder.
Day 2
We started with some warm up drills on the steel and then did several variations of Rolling Thunder that involved a very small amount of teamwork and communication. Then we zeroed the shotguns on paper at 25 yards. Somewhere during this time, the class started dragging because people weren’t listening or paying attention. At this point, Louis really let the class have it, “Gentleman, I can’t run an unsafe range.”
After lunch, whatever had infected the group seemed to be gone, and we did a variety of slug drills and select slug before getting rained out.
Day 3
Again, we started with shot on the steel, only this time, it was complicated by having paper targets in front of and behind the steel. We were not allowed to hit the paper targets, forcing us to think about foreground and background, the size of our pattern, and how changing angles changes the target availability. Louis stressed that often, the best choice is not to take the shot.
Then we moved to Louis’ special moving rig target. We had to shoot an erratically moving bad guy with a bystander just behind him. Then we repeated the drill with a partner and three innocent bystanders.
Then we set aside the shotguns for handguns. Louis had set up targets at various angles to stress that the position of the target changes what constitutes a good hit. Four inches low on an upright straight on torso might still be a good hit. Four inches low on a torso at 45 degrees might be a miss altogether. Moreover, the targets were bowed outward to simulate a three dimensional person, stressing that the breastbone isn’t always center mass. This drill also had a second purpose. If we could not shoot handgun groups tight enough, we would not be allowed to actually fire the handguns on the next drill—handgun transitions.
First we learned how to dump the shotgun safely in order to draw the handgun. Then we went through the transition drills without shooting, then again with shooting. As a team, we had to hit every steel plate with buckshot from ten yards without hitting paper, then transition to handgun and hit every paper target without hitting any steel. Then we repeated the drill with select slug instead of transitioning to handgun.
Finally, we did long distance slug shooting at 50 and 75 yards on a steel target.
Conclusion
If I had to sum up the class in two words, it would be “Rule Four”. Being sure of your target was really the focus of the whole class. Louis’ class is very cerebral, with a lot of judgment calls about angles and thinking about what’s behind the target. Know your shotgun’s pattern at this distance and know whether you can safely make the shot.
The class had a relatively low round count, around 200 shot, and maybe 30 slugs. I don’t think I would recommend it for someone’s first shotgun class, not because of the low round count, but because the barrage of information can be overwhelming if you are completely unfamiliar with the shotgun and its concepts. Also Louis sometimes would say, “here’s the right way to do it” and then expected us to be able to do it without much practice. I think Randy’s class would be a better choice for a complete shotgun newbie because you just get more repetitions, and Randy goes slower on the initial skills. (On the other hand the lower round count is much easier on the shoulder). Either way, I do not think any shotgun student could call their education complete without taking Louis Awerbuck’s class. Randy Cain says that Louis Awerbuck is the best in the business, and I can understand why.
Thoughts about shotgun selection
Randy Cain is very clear that he prefers the Remington 870, and everything else is inferior. Louis Awerbuck seems much more appreciative of other shotguns, although most of the problems in our class stemmed from the autoloaders (as Randy predicted). The few Remington 870 issues we had stemmed from aftermarket parts. I set my 870 up according to Randy’s recommendations, and it ran like a champ. I had no problems. One thing I learned from listening to Louis’ comments to other students is that the Mossberg’s main advantage is its safety. (It’s on top, so you can turn it on or off without breaking a firing grip (including lefties).) However, if you put a pistol grip on a Mossberg, then it completely negates that advantage, because you can’t access the safety unless you break the firing grip.
Thoughts about the range
This is the fourth class I have taken at Southern Exposure Training. I can see a definite pattern. The classes are a mixture of law enforcement/law enforcement, security personnel, and regular folks with a large amount of repeat customers. Most have trained at other facilities and with other instructors, but keep coming back to Southern Exposure because of the high quality of instructors that Irv Lehman brings in combined with the relaxed but professional atmosphere. In every class that I have taken, at least one student has traveled from out of state to train there. I will be definitely be back.
by Pat Heyman | Feb 23, 2011 | Essays, Pat
Ideas Matter. What you believe affects what you do.
Introduction
Welcome to “The Work.” I am not yet sure what the end result of this effort will be, but I invite you to participate along the way. The idea for this blog series was originally an effort to improve my teaching. At Palm Beach Atlantic University, our Provost, Joe Kloba, had the wild and squirrelly idea that a Christian university should not merely provide a Christian atmosphere but should provide something uniquely Christian in terms of intellectual life and ideas.
Lacking a better plan, the Provost asked that faculty use worldview thinking (**write a worldview article later and link here) as presented in James Sire’s book, The Universe Next Door, as a way to bring Christian thought to the traditional university curriculum and material. Naturally, this caused a bit of controversy. Some faculty embraced the effort, many tried the best they could to bring Sire into their course material, and some rebelled.
Over time, the de facto policy became to have one or two courses in a major introduce and discuss Worldview and then ignore it for the rest of the curriculum. In the School of Nursing, I became the go-to person to provide the Worldview lectures, but I became more and more dissatisfied with both Sire and the Worldview approach as a whole. The season of my discontent came to a head Spring 2011, when I heard nursing seniors discussing The Universe Next Door, completely bewildered by what it meant and confused as to how it could it possibly have any impact whatsoever on their lives.
I first thought about redoing The Universe Next Door, addressing its perceived inadequacies, however, the problem goes much deeper than Sire’s work. The problem is in our culture. For better or for worse, as a society, we have abandoned philosophy to professional philosophers. We have divorced thought from reason. We have isolated technology from science. Science has been rent asunder from the arts. We have no historical perspective, and when we do, more often than that we fall into the twin traps of disdain for primitives or ancestor worship. No. The work I intend to write goes far beyond revising and systematizing Sire’s worldview questions. I will settle for nothing less than understanding why the answers to these question matter, how the answers to these questions have affected the course of history, how they color the pursuit of science and politics.
In some respects, I am writing this book for my son, Logan as a guide to what he should get out of high school and college. Personally, I believe that our education system does us a great injustice, filling our children’s minds with facts and information, much of them quite vital and important but without any understanding of how the ideas interconnect, why they are important, and why they are worth remembering. It teaches them that science is copying the results of an “experiment” in a text book.
As I begin to write, I am heavily influenced by two historical scholars. The first is Murray Rothbard, who’s Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought was mind blowing. I am amazed at how much epistemological perspectives have influenced schools of thought. The other scholar is historian Ralph Raico, who’s podcast lecture series History: The Struggle for Liberty shared one of Rothbard’s insights, that one of the great tragedies of the English (language) dominated world is that more English and American scholars do not speak French. Otherwise, they might have known that the French economists Cantillon and Turgot were far more cogent and developed than Adam Smith (Rothbard’s insight) and they might have known that the French Liberal class warfare analysis predated Marx’s Hegelian analysis of class struggle. I, however, do not speak French, but I will try to step out of my anglocentrism for a few moments.
I have also been tremendously influenced by Richard Feynman, the Nobel laureate physicist. He truly understood science in a way that I believe most scientists today do not. Despite his protests that he did not like the humanities, I think that he understood the humane tradition and its relationship to the sciences better than most liberal arts professors. What he did not like was the formal study of humanities…and who can blame him?
Richard M. Gamble, a former colleague helped open my eyes to the need to study history, art, and politics together through reading Dante’s Divine Comedy. It has taken me years of post school study to begin to glimpse how the broad web of history is integrated with philosophy, history, economics, science, art, and religion. Hopefully, this work will help others to get to the glimpse faster and with less effort than I have expended.
In this work, I will attempt to answer the philosophic “worldview” questions mentioned above and show that how they have been answered throughout history has had enormous impact on history, science, religion, and on our culture today. It is an enormous task to do all that and wind up with a readable book. I may not be up to the task. We shall see.
by Pat Heyman | Feb 13, 2011 | Pat, Recipes
Here is yet another reason not to see movies at the theater. In Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Robert Rodriquez’ sequel to Desperado, Johnny Depp’s character is just crazy about Puerco Pibil. On the DVD extra “Ten Minue Cooking School,” Robert Rodriguez shows how to make Puerco Pibil. (Of course, now with the magic of youtube, anyone can watch the extra.) Having made the dish several times, I’d like to present this dish along with some tips and modifications.
Hardware:
- Coffee grinder
- Large Baking dish or Roasting Pan
- Zip-lock bag
- Blender
- Banana leaves (optional)
Software:
- 5 tbs Annato Seed (note)
- 2 tsp Cummin Seed
- 1 tbs Peppercorn
- 1/2 tsp Cloves
- 8 whole Allspice
- 2 tbs salt
- 8 cloves garlic
- 1-3 habanero chiles (note)
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 5 lemons
- Splash of the finest tequila you can find (note)
- 5 lbs of Pork Butt
Preparation:
- Using the coffee ginder, grind Annato, Cumin Seed, Cloves, Allspice, and Peppercorns into a fine powder.
- Remove seeds and inner membrane from habanero.
- Add vinegar, orange juice, habanero, salt, garlic, and spice powder to blender. Blend on high for 30-60 seconds.
- Add juice of five lemons and Tequila and blend for another 30-60 seconds. Congratulations, you’ve just made achiote paste.
- Cut pork into 2 inch cubes and place in a large ziplock bag; pour achiote paste over pork. Seal bag and mush bag around to spread the paste over the pork. Refrigerate for 2-4 hours.
Cooking:
- Line the baking pan with banana leaves (or foil if you don’t have leaves).
- Pour pork and achiote paste into pan.
- Cover with more banana leaves and then foil. Crimp foil around pan to make sure steam doesn’t escape.
- Bake in the oven at 325° F for 4 hours.
And bam, a dish so good you might just get whacked for making it.
Serving Suggestions:
This dish is very strong in flavor, and some people might want to dilute it a bit. Ideal candidates are white rice and pico de gallo. Shred the pork and mix into or serve on top of white rice and pico.
Notes:
- Annato seed (also called achiote) is often available in grocery stores in small plastic packets (Badia brand in Florida). A one ounce packet holds about 2.5 tbs, so two packets should do the trick.
- Lately, I’ve stopped putting the spice powder in with the liquid blend. When you pour it out of the blender, a lot of the spices are left behind. So I just pour the spice blend direcly on top of the pork in the ziploc bag and then pour the liquid over it.
- Habanero is the hottest chile in the world, so you might want to "wimp it down a bit." Here are some tips: 1) use less habanero or even a half or quarter of one; instead of blending the habanero, just slice into strips and place them whole in the ziplock bag; make sure you don’t get the seeds or membrane into the dish. Don’t pick your nose or touch your eyes or contacts for two days after handling the inside of Habanero (or just wear gloves while cutting it).
- It doesn’t really matter what kind of Tequila you use as long as it’s real Tequila. This means it should say 100% agave, and no Cuervo Gold or any other "gold" Tequila. For me a "splash" means a 1/4 cup.
- For you Alton Brown fans, the achiote paste is technically a marinade, so it will not really tenderize or penetrate the meat. You don’t need to let it soak for long periods of time, although I usually make it the night before I cook it for convenience. Also because of the acid, you probably won’t want to line the pan with aluminum foil.
- The slow moist cooking over low heat, however, will tenderize the pork. The pork will be very tender and is easily "pulled."
- I have also made this recipe with rib end roast instead of pork butt with excellent results. Cut the meat off the bone, but leave at least some of the bone in the mixture for added flavor. I’m going to try this with whole chicken some time. Just butcher it according to Alton’s instructions.
by Pat Heyman | Nov 28, 2010 | Pat, Reviews
What’s Games for Windows Live?
It’s supposed to be an online account that allows users to save their game progress online, purchase games, play online with friends, etc. It was announced five years ago, but MicroSoft has never developed it properly. It started out as XboxLive, and embarrassingly, five years later, when you actually sign up for Games of Windows Live, it takes you to XboxLive. Does Microsoft have any idea what message they are sending?
Hot off the heels of my story about Google’s incompetence comes a display of Microsoft’s ineptitude. One of the great joys of Thanksgiving time are the fabulous discounts for computer games offered by Steam. Discounts from 50% – 90% are common. So naturally, when Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition went on sale for 75%, I snapped it up. Unfortunately, the good folks at Eidos have saddled, Batman: AA with Windows Live.
You can’t save your progress unless you use Games for Windows Xbox Live. Okay, so sign up for an account. But you have to do an e-mail verification…wait a little longer…ask it to resend the confirmation…check to make sure the e-mail address is correct…check the e-mail server…send a test message to yourself…20 minutes later, still no e-mail…sign up again with a different e-mail.
Okay, it worked. Let’s play…no, there’s an update for Games for Windows Xbox Live, and I can’t continue unless I let it install…wait five minutes, it looks like it finished, let’s play!. Wait, no…it wants to install the update again! After two more cycles of this, I’m beginning to wonder if Steam will give me refund. Finally, I close all windows including Steam and try to run Games for Windows Xbox Live by itself, and it takes me to Windows Update. I have to patch Windows before I can update Games for Windows Xbox Live…why didn’t it tell me this earlier?? I’m now installing the patch, which will hopefully allow me to update Games for Windows Xbox Live, which will hopefully allow me to play Batman: AA. Now reboot…Wait! Logan’s up from his nap. I’m beginning to wonder if Eidos really wants me to play this game or not.
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