This week, our 16 year old homeschooled daughter body-slammed the Macroeconomics CLEP, earning another three hours of college credit for the whopping cost of less than a hundred bucks. This one is an especially satisfying victory because macroeconomics is one of those voodoo subjects; it isn’t intended to make any practical sense, it is just another way of propagandizing college kids. By testing out of it, she now gets to sidestep what would otherwise be a semester-long exposure to deep state Keynesian poz, including having to write papers on how much the Federal Reserve loves the little children, and why tax policy serves the noble and glorious purpose of herding the ignorant and bumbling populace this way and that for its own good.
To prepare for the CLEP, she used the 2007 version of the REA CLEP study guide. In addition to text material, this study guide features two tests, both of which were much harder than the actual CLEP test. Our son, who passed the test about five years ago, made the same comparison.
In addition, between taking the two practice tests, she also watched this half-hour amped-up video in which the host is single-handedly making up for several generations of Ben Stein economists. She also watched several related videos from that same channel.
A typical student, spending about a quarter school year in a macroeconomics immersion program, including reading and writing assignments, should do well on this test. One key point for the student’s mentor is to remind the student, when the inevitable frustration hits, that economics, and macroeconomics in particular, is not a science, no matter how much economists may wish it to be. Although macroeconomics masquerades as a science behind formulas and graphs, it is all fundamentally meaningless when compared to an actual science like physics or chemistry, or actual math like algebra, geometry or calculus. Macroeconomics is politics and propaganda, nothing more. When viewed from this perspective, including an appropriate cynicism when approaching the necessary rote memorization, the material will click into place, and success on the test follows.
For more information about CLEP and homeschooling, also visit the following articles:
Homeschool CLEP: 8 College Chemistry Credit Hours at Age 14
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2 Comments on "Homeschool CLEP: Macroeconomics"
Thank you. I am too late for myself, or my children, but NOT too late for my grandchildren.
[…] make a lot more sense in many ways than establishment thought”. Regular readers may recall this article about the Macroeconomics CLEP, with some tips about how to coach kids to pass “establishment […]