RECAP
The last week. You have earned 96 credits to date. You require another 24 credits for a total of 120 semester hours, that's only eight more examinations. All but one of the exams will be easy. We've designed it to be that way so that as much time as possible over the previous few days could be devoted to Business Policy exam preparation.

EXAMS TO BE COMPLETED IN WEEK FOUR

MONDAY
ECE Business Policy and Strategy
ECE Research Methods in Psychology
 
 

TUESDAY
CLEP Introduction to Educational Psychology
CLEP American Government
CLEP Introduction to Sociology
 
 

WEDNESDAY
DANTES Criminal Justice
DANTES Fundamentals of Counseling
DANTES Drug and Alcohol Abuse
 
 

THE BUSINESS POLICY AND STRATEGY EXAM

The most difficult hurdle we have left till last. That is the capstone test, Business Policy and Strategy. Now, although this is a difficult exam, it is by no means an insurmountable obstacle. It is an essay exam based on case studies. Relating my own experience may help dispel the notion that this exam is too hard to pass without formal tuition.

By the time I was due to take this exam I'd gotten a bit complacent. I'd bought a book on strategic planning for 20 bucks that I though would fill the bill. I put it on my book shelf until five days before the exam, but when I finally had a good look at it, it was clear it was not adequate to the task. I found another book at the book store but agonized for two days about stumping up the extortionate asking price of  $75. Eventually, I gave in and bought the book, but by that time, had only three days left before the test was due to be taken.

The book was the Addison Wesley publication,, Strategic Management and Business Policy, by Wheelen and Hunger. This  was enough to get me through the exam in less than three days. I scored a "B". Not great, but good enough under the circumstances. I had a two and a half hour drive to the test center and decided to tape my notes so that I could listen to them on the way there.

I'm not suggesting you leave it this late. However, it demonstrates the subject is far from intractable. If you are new to this subject as I was, give yourself more time to let the concepts "seep in". When you become familiar with the principles and the processes of analyses employed, it will seem pretty much like common sense. If you are active in business management, you may already be familiar with much of the material.

If there is one key above all others, I'd say it was that you become real friendly with the following process:

Environmental Scanning -> Strategy Formulation -> Strategy 

Implementation -> Evaluation and Control

and the subordinate processes and factors:
 

• ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING

·         External factors

·         Internal factors

• STRATEGY FORMULATION

·         Mission

·         Objectives

·         Strategy

·         Policy

• STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION

·         Programs

·         Budgets

·         Procedures

• EVALUATION AND CONTROL

·         Performance

 
The text you use may have slightly different terminology, but the processes themselves, will be the same.

Get a hold of these terms and their definitions. Understand how to use them by applying the principles and the process to a real-world situation (a case study). Reinforce that understanding by applying the same principles and procedures in a range of scenarios.

Other books may be as useful as the one detailed above, but there is no doubt at all about the merit of the one detailed. You could do worse than buy it at the start of your studies. Read and understand over a period of at least a couple of weeks prior to writing the exam.. Maybe an hour a day. The concepts are not difficult but might require some time to sink in properly. Over the final weekend before sitting the exam, concentrate on applying the procedures outlined above to various case models.

OTHER EXAMS

MONDAY
ECE Business Policy and Strategy
ECE Research Methods in Psychology

We've already talked about Business Policy, and since you will spend a whole three hours on it,  from 9:00 AM to 12:00 noon, the next exam should be scheduled no sooner than 3:00 PM (giving you time to recover and relax). Research Methods in Psychology should take an hour or so to complete.

Research Methods may sound an intimidating exam, but it's not. The work you did for the statistics exam will stand you in good stead here. Use the Princeton review "Cracking the Psychology GRE Exam" to brush up on the requirements. The coverage of this sub discipline in that book may seem sparse, but it contains exactly what you need to know, no more, no less. Ensure you understand all of it (there's not much) and you'll do just fine in the exam. As always, DO THE MOCK EXAM FIRST!

TUESDAY

CLEP Introduction to Educational Psychology
CLEP American Government
CLEP Introduction to Sociology
 

Three easy exams today.

The work already done in Psychology should prepare you well enough for the Educational Psychology exam. Do the mock exam and see how you fare. If you require further study, look at web resources in the first instance via a google search - there are many. The exam should present little difficulty.

American Government should be passable by every intelligent American citizen. If you are from another country, some revision may be needed. HarperCollins "Introduction to Government" will proved the information needed to pass. Don't get too involved, this is a basic exam. Do the mock test to see how you will score in the real one.

Introductory Sociology - another freebie. Use HarperCollins, "Introduction to Sociology", if you find you need help.

WEDNESDAY

DANTES Criminal Justice
DANTES Fundamentals of Counseling
DANTES Drug and Alcohol Abuse
 

Well, this is the last test day, and it's the easiest. You probably will require no study or revision to pass any of these three exams. If you do, any basic text on criminal justice will do. For counseling, your adult common sense and the prior study in Psychology, will take you far. If you need to brush up on particular points, do the mock exam, then fill in the deficits using the web to search for the specific information required.

Again, for Drug and Alcohol Abuse, your mature common sense and the work you've already done in Psychology will almost certainly be enough to see you though. If you require more help, any suitable primer on the subject should suffice.

RECAP - CURRENT STATUS VIZ. REQUIREMENTS FOR BS IN GENERAL BUSINESS

·          120 semester hour credit required - completed

·          At least 60 hours in the Arts and Sciences - completed

·          General Education requirement - completed

·          Ethics requirement - completed

·          Business core requirements - completed

·          Advanced level Business credit requirement - completed

·          Total Business credits component - completed

SUMMARY
Well, that's it. Congratulations, you've just earned a regionally accredited Bachelor of Science degree in Business!

Next time we'll look at look at how to earn a degree in computing using similar methods. Don't miss the next in the BA in 4 weeks series:

COMING NEXT - BS in Computer Information Systems by examination

BS GENERAL BUSINESS

EXAMS TAKEN AND CREDIT AWARDED
CLEP Introduction to Educational Psychology
CLEP American Government
CLEP Introduction to Sociology
DANTES Criminal Justice
DANTES Fundamentals of Counseling
DANTES Drug and Alcohol Abuse
ECE Business Policy and Strategy
ECE Research Methods in Psychology
 

BOOKS
Addison Wesley, Strategic Management and Business Policy, by Wheelen and Hunger
HarperCollins Introduction to Government
HarperCollins Introduction to Sociology
Barron's EZ-101 Psychology $6.95
Princeton Review Cracking the GRE in Psychology  $20
 
 

COMPLETE LISTING BS GENERAL BUSINESS
EXAMS TAKEN, CREDIT AWARDED, EXAM LEVEL
ECE World Population  3 U
ECE Abnormal Psychology 3
ECE Foundations in Gerontology 3 U
ECE Ethics Theory and Practice  3 AR
ECE Organizational Behavior 3 AR
ECE Research Methods in Psychology 3 U
ECE Business Policy and Strategy 3 C
ECE Labor Relations 3 A
ECE Production/Operations Management 3 C
ECE Management of Human Resources 3 A
ECE Statistics 3 R
ECE English Composition 6, L 
DANTES Business Law II 3 A
DANTES Management Information Systems 3 A
DANTES Drug and Alcohol Abuse 3
DANTES Here's to Your Health 3 L
DANTES Criminal Justice 3 L
DANTES Fundamentals of Counseling 3 L
DANTES Principles of Supervision 3 C
DANTES Principles of Finance 3 C
CLEP Principles of Accounting 6 C
CLEP College Algebra 3 R
CLEP Introductory Business Law 3 C
CLEP Macroeconomics 3 L
CLEP Microeconomics 3 L
CLEP Principles of Management 3 C
CLEP Principles of Marketing 3 C
CLEP Introductory Psychology 3 L
CLEP Introduction to Educational Psychology 3 L
CLEP American Government 3 L
CLEP Introduction to Sociology 3 L
CLEP Information Systems and Computer Applications 3 C
CLEP Humanities 6 L
CLEP Natural Sciences 6 L
CLEP Social Sciences and History 6 L

A=Advanced level Business credit; C=Core Business credit;
L=lower division; U=upper division