About Flying Prep

Built by someone who tested out of three years of college, so you can too.

Alex Stone, founder of Flying Prep

Why Flying Prep exists

By Alex Stone, founder

I'm Alex Stone. I founded Flying Prep after earning my bachelor's degree from Thomas Edison State University using 27 CLEP and DSST exams. That's 99 college credits, roughly three years of coursework, earned by sitting for standardized exams instead of taking classes.

I didn't take that path because it was easy. I took it because I had a job, real responsibilities, and no patience for sitting through general education courses to prove I'd already learned the material. Credit-by-examination was the fastest path to a credential that would actually count.

What I didn't have was a single tool that took the path seriously. Every CLEP and DSST resource I tried was either a free volunteer effort, a flashcard pack from years ago, or a forum thread of disconnected tips. None of them treated test-prep like a professional discipline. None of them told me when I was actually ready to test.

So I built one.

How Flying Prep works

Flying Prep is a precision tool, not a course. Three things make it different from the resources I had to cobble together:

Question-led teaching

Every concept is anchored in real exam-style questions, not lectures. You learn how the test thinks by working through the test's pattern of questions. Each answer, right or wrong, comes with a full explanation of why, including the qualifier words and distractor patterns the College Board uses.

Spaced-repetition flashcards

Concepts you've nearly mastered come back rarely. Concepts you're shaky on come back daily. The system tracks every individual concept's strength, not just whether you're studying.

Confidence scoring

You don't have to guess when you're ready. Flying Prep estimates the score you'd get if you took the exam today, broken down by content area. When the predicted score crosses the pass threshold with margin, you book the exam.

Who Flying Prep is for

Flying Prep is built for people who want a credential efficiently and have no time for academic theater:

  • Working adults (25-45) finishing a degree on their own schedule. The largest segment by far.
  • Service members and veterans using DANTES funding to test out of credits between deployments and PCS moves.
  • Homeschool families preparing teens and young adults for credit-by-exam before they enroll anywhere.
  • Career changers who need a degree credential to unlock the next role and don't want to spend four years getting it.
  • Enterprising, self-driven students who want to get ahead in college by earning credits on their own, before or during their degree.

If you learn best in a classroom with a fixed schedule and an instructor present, traditional courses will serve you better. Flying Prep is for people who can learn on their own, at any age and any stage.

Why CLEP and DSST

CLEP (College-Level Examination Program) and DSST (DANTES Subject Standardized Tests) are nationally recognized standardized exams that translate directly into college credit:

  • Cost. Each CLEP exam is $93 (College Board fee), plus a $20-30 test center fee. The equivalent course at a state school typically runs $400-$1,500.
  • Speed. You test when you're ready. No 16-week semester. Most exams take 30 to 60 hours of focused prep.
  • Acceptance. More than 2,900 colleges award credit for CLEP exams; most also award DSST credit. Always verify with your specific institution.
  • Credit value. Most CLEP and DSST exams are worth 3 credits; some, like CLEP Humanities and CLEP Natural Sciences, are worth 6.

Where Flying Prep runs from

Flying Prep is operated by Urban Algorithm LLC. We handle your data carefully (see our Privacy Policy) and we don't sell anything you didn't sign up for. If you have questions, Contact us.

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