Modern States – Freshman Year for Free™

Take these free, self-paced, online courses and someone else will pay for your CLEP exam. What’s the catch? When asked this question, Modern States Executive Director David Vise answers, “You have to do the work to complete the course.”

Modern States is a New York-based non-profit organization dedicated to making a high quality college education free of cost and accessible to any person who seeks one. To achieve this goal, they have funded production of online courses taught by college professors.

The courses prepare students for the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) exams. A nationally-recognized credit-by-exam program offered through the College Board. CLEP exams are accepted for credit at over 2,900 institutions.

Courses include lectures, quizzes, and tests. Online textbooks and materials are also be provided free of charge. To make this a truly free program, Modern States is paying the CLEP exam fee and scheduling fee for students who complete any of their courses.

Get Started

1. Create an account at ModernStates.org

2. Choose a class from their catalog. Homeschool students are encouraged to first complete their high school course and use a Modern States course as a review. (See the Parent Review below)

3. Enroll and complete the course. Watch the videos (or read the transcripts) and answer all of the practice questions. A progress bar is provided as you work through the lessons.

4. Request a voucher once you have completed the course. You will need to upload a screenshot that shows the progress bar at 100% complete. Within a few days, you will receive an email from Modern States with the voucher code when registering for the exam.

5. Register for the CLEP exam on the CollegeBoard site. At the checkout, enter the voucher number you received from Modern States. Your total will be $0! Print the CLEP Exam Registration Ticket and bring it with you to the testing center.

6. Make an appointment at your local testing center to take the exam. (I like to do this before registering for the exam, but it can be done either way.

7. Take the CLEP exam. Most test centers will charge an administrative fee (approximately $20), paid at the time of testing. Get a receipt for the test center fee and Modern States will pay this too! Submit a reimbursement request with Modern States. You will need to attach a copy of your score report, the test center fee receipt, and the test voucher number you used to pay for the exam.

Personal Review

From Cheri – As a homeschool parent, I valued teaching my students using resources and methods of my choosing. The materials I chose were often biblical-based, aligned to my student’s learning style, and accommodated their base level of knowledge.

As a consultant, I recommend parents use credit-by-exam as a “final exam” to the courses they have already studied. Preparation for that exam may include Modern States as a review course. In general, I don’t recommend it replace your homeschool course.

If your student has already completed a course, I recommend the 5 Steps to Earning College Credit. This starts by taking a practice exam to assess test-knowledge. Your student may not need a comprehensive review.

If you find a complete review is needed, I encourage homeschool parents to review the course content and homework requirements for any course assigned to their student. This includes Modern States courses. While these courses are intended to be used by high school students, the courses are delivered by college professors and may contain more reading than your student is used to.

Also, parents are encouraged to review the literature specifically assigned in the Analyzing and Interpreting Literature course. Some parents have reported displeasure in the instructor’s choices. A parent writes: “One word of caution – the reading material for Analyzing and Interpreting Literature had some material that I considered highly inappropriate. I had my children skip over this section, emailed the company to let them know, and had my children finish the rest of the course.”

Copyright 2019. Please introduce others to Credits Before College and help them earn a debt-free college degree.

Category: Blog, Getting Started