Academic Skills

How are OASC and CPST different? OASC includes 71 online lessons designed to address basic academic skills. More than 26,000 service mem bers used OASC to improve reading comprehension, math, and vocabulary skills in FY19. Many have used their new skills to improve their word knowledge, paragraph comprehension, arithmetic reasoning, and mathematics knowledge scores on the Armed Forc es Qualification Test (AFQT). Improving AFQT scores often helps service members qualify for advanced training opportunities in their current occupation, reclassification into a new occupational field, or to be come eligible for officer and warrant officer candidate training. CPST is designed to prepare Service mem bers for college level coursework with 116 available lessons. More than 10,000 Service members used

CPST last year to improve their skills in English and language arts, essay writing, and college level math. The goal of CPST is to ensure that students are able to successfully place into college level math and English courses and avoid the extra time and tuition costs associated with taking non-credit bearing, develop mental courses.

How are they the same? OASC and CPST are two different courses with one registration. Although they are separate courses, they

DANTES Information Bulletin have the same design. Both courses offer pre-assess ments to determine a student’s strengths and weaknesses. The courses are self-paced and customized according to answers on the pre-assessment. Person alized learning paths are designed for each student with lessons that specifically address their weakness es. Participants may choose an abbreviated review with shortened lessons or add to their customized lesson path. Lessons are supported by interactive exercises such as drag-and drop matching, video game style multiple choice and dynamic flash cards. Quizzes and practice problem sets also help students gauge their mastery of the material. OASC and CPST post-assessments demonstrate how well a student has improved after taking the courses.

OASC and CPST not only offer skill-building lessons, quizzes and tests, but also provide helpful articles covering such topics as “How to Beat Test Stress” and “Last-Minute Study Tips ” that support military student success. Both courses are available at no cost to all active duty, Guard, and Reserve military mem bers (Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard), DoD civilians, and their family members. Users have the ability to take both courses with the same login and they can return and access the course at any time.

Questions? Help is Available Education center personnel have the ability to manage their students progress and receive addi tional training as OASC and CPST course administrators. As an administrator, personnel can run reports to see how students on their installation are progressing through the courses and how they are performing on the pre-assessments, practice sets, and post-assessments. These reports cover all service members, DoD civilians, and family mem bers assigned to the military installation. In addition to reporting, administrators can also access course content such as assessments, lessons, quiz zes, and practice tests. Detailed explanations for each question in the course are available to assist in providing students additional support. Online training is available to teach administrators how to use both the student and administrator portals. For more information, go to: dantes.doded.mil/service-members/prep-for-college/oasc-cpst.html

The Program Manager, Kiwanis Short, states, “DANTES is excited to incorporate new research findings into the future Academic Skills training model for service members. This will take at least a year to develop, so please call or email us your ideas, so that we can ensure we are meeting the needs of the service member.” In the coming months look for exciting additions to the OASC and CPST courses, including webinars and new sup plemental content. If you have questions, you can email the program manager at DANTES_AcademicSkills@navy.mil or call 850-452-1913.

Kiwanis Short, Academic Skills Program Manager