About Free Clep Prep

I've been getting a lot of questions about Free Clep Prep from curious visitors and interested advertisers. While I answer some of these questions in the About Me page, this is an attempt at putting all of the other frequently asked questions about the site in one place. More may be added as time goes by.

If you have a question that isn't answered here, please feel free to reach me via the Contact Us form. I truly don't mind answering these types of questions, but I'm trying to cut down on some of the Emails by putting it in an easy to reach place.

Commonly Asked Questions

Why make a website about CLEPs and DSSTs?

As I cover in the About Me page, FCP was originally created to help the US military personnel at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, Cuba. I wanted to give them a free place to go in order to prepare for their CLEP and DSST exams. Within a few months, others found us on the internet and here we are.

These days, FCP gets visitors from over 100 countries each month and many of those are from US bases overseas. It's nice to think that others are getting some use out of something that started so small.

Why are some study guides more detailed than others?

The easy answer is that I lack the time to fully flesh them all out, but it's also because I was still experimenting with what you, the visitor, wanted. I do plan on standardizing the format for all of them, but it's going to have to be done piecemeal. I'm still working close to 60 hours a week so the time I can spend on this is limited.

Why don't you have my all-time favorite study resource "XXXX.com" listed?

We get asked this a lot. I used to link to every resource that I found, but I've had to be more careful lately. The reason is that CLEP and DSST study is starting to turn into big business. Hardly a month goes by that a new company doesn't open up and start selling CLEP and DSST study materials. Some even offer their products for free at first, and then change to a pay system after they've reached a certain point with brand recognition.

FCP's been around for a while. We often get contacted by these new companies who are looking to advertise or get links to their sites. The problem is two-fold. First, I have no way of knowing if their product is actually any good. I've used InstantCert for my own college degree, and we create our own Quick Prep Sheets. I know how much work has gone into those and how effective they are. Those are products I don't mind staking our reputation on. Brand new company? Not so much. I tend to take a "Wait and see" approach with those.

"But what if they're free!" you ask? That brings us to the second point as well. We don't know how long those companies are going to be around or stay free. We've watched many simply disappear off the Internet. They looked great, they seemed to provide a good service, and then suddenly.... *POOF*.

If a new company sinks $200+k into a great website, professionally produced study videos, and a serious advertising campaign; where's the money coming from? What's their plan to recoup that investment? Maybe they're just naturally kind-hearted, but once again, we're going to take the "Wait and see" approach before helping them out with links. If they keep doing a great job for students, then we'll link them once we know they're one of the 'good guys'. Call me cynical, but we've seen too many of the other sort to trust blindly these days.

By all means, keep Emailing me links with your favorite study resources. We appreciate those and have included many on our free study guides. That being said, don't get too upset if we decide to watch your favorite resource for a while before linking to it. It's nothing personal.

Why do you only have a few Excelsior study guides?

Because Excelsior keeps an iron grip on its study material and the ECE's are so broad in nature. This isn't an exaggeration. My notes for the Anatomy and Psychology ECE has over 300 resource links! Besides the sheer labor in keeping 300 links active, that study guide would be entirely too long.

Excelsior currently has very nice study guides for many of their exams. The problem is they keep them behind a password protected area on their website. I've been trying to work with them to host the study guides on FCP, but it's not looking good. I haven't given up though and I'll let everyone know if they change their minds and let me host some here.

Why do you use so many links to Wikipedia?

Mainly to save me the aggravation of having to repair links all day. Contrary to popular belief, the Internet is not a static creature. Websites are always changing their content and how you reach that content. Colleges absolutely love to rename their web pages for no reason I've been able to discern. Every time they do, I have to go find where they moved the page to and fix the link in the study guide. I don't mind doing this every now and then, but it was getting pretty bad. Wikipedia, for all of its other issues, seems to stay in one place.

You may have noticed I try not to link to Wikipedia when the CLEP or DSST is anything of a controversial nature. I want you guys and gals to get factual information, not someone's opinions. That being said, it's always a good idea to double check. That's one of the many reasons I stress multiple sources of study.

I've taken all my tests. How do I cancel my InstantCert subscription?

Okay, first of all, I don't own InstantCert. I recommend it because it's great, but I can't personally cancel your subscription. :P That being said, I can help you do it as I've gone through the process a time or two myself. Just follow these steps:

• Log into InstantCert at www.InstantCertOnline.com just as if you were going to use the flashcards.
• At the main menu, look at the top left hand of the screen and click on the "Contact Us" link
• At the bottom left of the popup box, it has a link that says, "To Cancel your membership, click here"
• Make sure you go all the way to the end and confirm the cancellation like it tells you to (don't close the window too early). You should get an Email confirming you've been cancelled.

That's it. If you have any trouble you can contact the webmaster, Steve, at the address found in the contact us box and he can help you out. He's a great guy and is usually pretty fast at responding. Just be sure to try the steps above first.

Do you ever plan on charging money or turning FCP into a membership site?

Nah, I'd have to change the web site title and I'm entirely too lazy for that. ;) We may offer some products in the future that go beyond the free resources, but nothing you can't do without. It'll be more of a convenience thing if you want to save some work. The goal with FCP has always been to provide resources so you can study and pass for free.

Do you exchange links?

The short answer is no, but if you have a website that would help out our visitors, please contact me.

What this means:

If you run a free website on US History that covers the same material needed for the History of the US I CLEP, I'd be happy to include a link to your site on that study guide. Likewise any other subject that would help someone study.

What this doesn't mean:

If you run a website that offers to fix my computer's registry, don't ask for a link on the Intro to Computers DSST study guide. Just because it has the word "Computers" in there does not mean it would be a good fit. ;)

We're interested in advertising with FCP, who do we contact?

You can reach me for rates and placement by using the "Contact Us" form at the top of the page. Please note, I've been accused by certain parties of having an overly strict set of standards. ;) It's really quite simple - Your product or service will need to provide an ethical and tangible benefit to people attempting to earn credit by exam. If that's you, then send me an Email and we'll talk further.

As other questions get asked enough, I'll add them to the list.

Good luck on those exams!

-Justin

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