A great way to squeeze a little extra college credit out of this academic year is through a winter break minister. We see a trend among colleges to fill each and every blank spot in their school year. You’ll see a mix of online and on-campus options using these accelerated schedules.
Buckle Up!
A mini-mester is going to be very accelerated, and if your teen participates in one, you’ll want to be sure they have a clear schedule for the entire time period. Be sure they aren’t trying to handle other schoolwork, college classes, work, travel, etc.
One of my favorite college classes was offered as a minimester through my local community college. The class took place entirely inside of Christmas break. I completed a 3-credit course that I transferred back to my regular degree program at my 4-year university. The course lasted only 14 days! I didn’t find the workload impossible (brisk, but doable).
Check your local community college as well as your teen’s online dual enrollment provider to see if they offer any of these special term lengths.
Another Way to Earn College Credit in December
If your student has just finished any of these high school courses, you can have them try to take the corresponding CLEP exam. You’ll want them to spend the majority of their break studying, since it’s unlikely that your high school curriculum was a perfect match, but all of these 3-credit exams are doable with some condensed test prep.
- Literature –> take Analyzing and Interpreting Literature CLEP
- Government –> take American Government CLEP
- Psychology –> take Introductory Psychology CLEP
PRO TIP: You can take the CLEP exam for free by obtaining a voucher from Modern States. https://modernstates.org/ The process requires buzzing through one of their free online courses, but doing so will save you about $100. If you’d rather dedicate the time to just test prep and don’t mind spending the money, a 1-month subscription to Peterson’s CLEP prep will be the best use of your time. https://www.petersons.com/
