Collin College Frisco Campus — Local services in Frisco

I am profoundly disappointed at the Collin College Frisco Testing Center.

Recently, I just taken the CLEP English Modular Exam at the testing center. During the end of my exam, there was two prompts provided. On the first prompt I clicked send score. And on the second prompt I clicked accidentally clicked canceled score button due to the proximity next to send score button. (This was a bad UI design choice on College Board end as the second prompt took precedence over the first prompt as opposed to acting as a confirmation for the first prompt). Further more, no warning, confirmation, or ability to move backward was provided before the exam was automatically submitted. It wasn't until the end, I realized that there was an issue with my exam as I did not see an official score unlike the previous different CLEP exams I have taken before. And I waited two days to confirm that the scores were not sent to College Board. And they did not display in my account. Canceling a score means that I cannot schedule another exam until 3 months pass the date of examination. But, I need to take my second exam part at another institution to claim the credit before school starts again in the Fall Semester.

I asked the proctors a couple of question revolving about the prompts to figure out a resolution. Nevertheless, they kept deflecting my questions by pushing the responsibilities towards College Board. To the people who think that I cheated or performed some kind of shady actions to gain unfair advantages, I passed and claimed credits for all three of my previous CLEP exams without any issues from this institution. And I am confident that I passed the College Composition Modular exam as well even without viewing my score.

The push to get the majority of graduating high school students into college and universities means that introductory non-STEM college level courses are not any harder than 11th/12th High School classes. And most of the class content can be learned through YouTube FREE. Modern States will even pay for the entire exam including the testing center fee. But universities and colleges are a business and thus they do not want you know this as they want to make more way money by having you take courses in house as opposed to taking credit by exams. And thus colleges have very little incentive to provide good customer service for the credit by exams they administer, even if they are mandated by the government to be nondiscriminatory towards both approved credit by exams and regular college courses.

I choose to take my exam at a testing center, due to the privacy concerns of these proctoring software remotely checking your local network connections, files, and CPU processes in order to prevent cheating. This is a fair and just as College Board is responsible for the integrity of the exams they provide. But, what is not fair is paying for something that can be done for free. To the people who want to take the exam without having to deal with the privacy and security concerns of proctoring software, it is best to go to a public library and take an online test on one of the public desktop. At least if you mess something up, you do not have to worry about spending an additional $15 along with your tax money that funds these public institutions.

EDIT: I was able to get College Board to send my CLEP score to the institution that I was attending. And College Board paid for my transcript send score as well. On College Board website, they state that there is no way to extract a canceled scored. You need to file a complaint w/ College Board customer support and collect the help desk reference ID and record the call just in case. Make sure the testing center files a CPR report, so that College Board can extract scores from the testing center. And you should receive an email from College Board after a couple of days confirming that a score was sent. The score should show up within 24 hours on the...

As a high school counselor I have to say this college campus and this entire institution is absolutely stellar. Workplaces don't care where you matriculate from. Unless you plan to rub elbows with the super rich, and you have to have Harvard on a piece of paper in your office, it doesn't matter where you graduate from college. What matters is that you do. On top of that, most people don't seem to realize or understand that it is the height of insanity to pay top dollar to go to places like a four-year college where they offer your student fewer amenities and care. Colllin College offers more in the way of equipment alone than I have seen at many four year college and for much less money. They have more opportunity for training and they even offer full-scale libraries. Their Makerspace area is jammed full of 3d printers, programmable embroidery machines, graphic design & print machines, and more free to all students including material! You have to pay for all of that material at a four-year university! There is no point in doing the first two years of college at a four-year university when you can get way more at Collin College or a similar 2-year college and come away with the same degree. Additionally, you don't have to worry about credits transferring 95% of the time when you're transferring in with a fully completed Associate's degree. I attended five different colleges myself to different states, and I know that to be a fact. You want to get your child used to attending a college? There's a lot less stress attending a 2-year college than there is attending a four-year college. Your student can live at home and still have a full college experience without wasting all of your money partying and not attending class. They're not learning anything when they're partying and not attending class. I personally know a place that rents rooms to college students where you have the supervision of those students built-in, and they are expected to go to class and come home and do the work but they're not living at home. It's a safe environment, and you're still in charge. It's a win-win because the student has more freedom, and the parent has more control. There are so many parents who are set on "my child must attend a name brand 4 year college." It's not realistic for the student. So many of today's students have been "protected" to the point that they do not know how to be resilient anymore. They need a stop-gap measure, and this particular college and colleges like it are really great stopgap measures for a lot less money and increased care/amenities....

I attended the Preston Ridge Campus years ago and the pathetic instruction and lousy customer service left a very bad mark on me. The classes are inexpensive but I was not impressed by the instructors' imperious and abrasive attitudes and their unreasonably strict grading systems. Music Appreciation, English, Biology, Intro to Psychology, and other intro courses were taught like upper-level doctorate courses. Some of the instructors couldn't even speak comprehensible English. The hypocrisy is outrageous. The personal and career counseling services was horrible and worthless. The Dean of Students Office was always very unhelpful. It seems that they hire passive-aggressive bullies who have no empathy at all. The Spring Creek Campus in Plano, Texas is even worse. Malicious administrators are quick to call the police and prosecute students through the Collin County kangaroo court system for small pranks. Yet hypocritical counselors, instructors, and administrators antagonize students to create an atmosphere of fear. The students in general are obtuse, cowardly, and scared and bow down to incompetent instructors. This was a complete waste of...