CLEP Study
One of the best ways you can earn, quick and easy, college credits is by passing a CLEP test. Obviously, the only way to pass any test is to be prepared and study. The benefits of taking a CLEP test is that it gives you a change to test out of an entire semester worth of class, assignments, homework, mid-terms and finals. This is a huge savings of time and money.
There are 34 subjects that you can earn credits for, some test range from 3 credit hours all the way up to 12 credit hours (one test I took and passed, the spanish CLEP test, gave me 12 credits). Each exam costs roughly $70, plus a sitting fee depending on where you take the test. There are testing centers all around the country and most likely, you can take the CLEP test at your own universities testing center.
My personal experience is to use the official CLEP study guide, I personally used this for every single CLEP test that I took and was able to pass every test I took. Each study guide has 3 practice exams, by studying the guide and taking each test UNTIL you pass it I was able to work through each question until I was comfortable enough to move on to the next CLEP study test.
CLEP exams are for lower level credit hours, typically, a majority of the 120 credit degree plans require 90 of those credits to be achieved through lower level courses, the rest of the credits are taken during the senior year. By taking the CLEP exams you can test out of a lot of lower level classes, if you are looking to test out of upper level credit hours, DANTES is another great option in addiction to CLEP testing. I would recommend that you do both.
Make sure to look at the list of subject that are available to test out of, you want to start with either the easier tests or the subject you have experience with. There are a few CLEP Study guides that you can use to determine the easiest tests to start with. You can pick up a study guide at a local book store or online, be sure to call before you go to your local bookstore, as I found that they only carried a few subjects on hand, but could special order any of the other subjects that I needed.