About the CLEP Exam

How to Get College Credit Through the College Level Examination Program (CLEP)

The average cost of annual tuition in the United States range from $3,131 for community colleges and 29,056 for private four year institutions. In fact, the most expensive university charges $51,008 on tuition fees alone. It’s no wonder a lot of people look for ways around paying huge amounts of money for their degrees. College Level Examination Program or CLEP is one of the options a student has to get that college credit, and there are over 2900 colleges that grant them.

How It Works

Every institution will set a minimum qualifying score for CLEP exams. If you reach the required score, the institution will determine the credits it will award the student. It is commonplace for these institutions to place this information on their CLEP policy, so be sure to read this first.

While each institution may have their own standards and metrics for their CLEP, these are the basic standards. Upon passing the exam, students can be awarded up to 12 credits. There are some colleges that place a limit on the total credits that a student may receive. On the other hand, there are also some that grant exemption, but no degree credits.

Each college have varying qualifying scores for every exam. These scores are commonly published in their general catalog or brochure, indicating the scores that they require in order for the student to earn credits.

No Credits Awarded

There may be certain instances wherein the college will not grant credit for a CLEP exam. The two sample scenarios where this may happen:

If the exam is connected to a course. Some colleges will not credit your CLEP exam if you have already attempted to take a course that is directly related to the exam.
If you have already failed in a similar course. In some cases, the college may even not permit you to take the CLEP exam for that particular course.

Retaking the Exam

Students are allowed to repeat a CLEP exam given that six months have already passed since the first one. Retaking the exam before the six months has passed could mean a forfeit of test fees and results.

Before you even start studying for your exam, you first have to check the institution CLEP standards. Find out what credits can be earned, and other factors that may affect the test, the results and credit that you may receive.

Getting College Credit through CLEP

Earning a college credit is helpful for anyone who wishes to finish college early. CLEP is the fast track to your educational future. The College Level Examination Program is one of the examinations that students can take in order to earn college credit from 2,900 colleges that grant it. Each institution awards the credit to students who meet the college’s minimum qualifying score for that exam. Also, each institution determines the exams for which it awards the credit and the amount of credit that will be granted. Make sure to review the college’s or university’s CLEP policy to know this information.

The amount of credit you can earn from a CLEP exam can be up to 12 credits if you pass it. However, the amount of individual CLEP exam you can earn varies with each institution. There are colleges that place a limit on the total amount of credit you can earn while others may grant you exemption but no credit towards your degree.

Minimum qualifying score for earning a CLEP credit may vary from exam to exam. Most colleges publish their required scored for earning CLEP credit in their general catalog or brochure.

There are instances where colleges will not grant credit for a CLEP exam. If you have already attempted a college-level course closely aligned with the exam, some colleges will not grant credit for it. Also, some colleges will not permit you to earn CLEP credit for a course that you failed.

Before repeating a CLEP exam, be sure to wait six months. Repeating a CLEP exam of the same title earlier than six months will make the scores not accepted and test fees will be forfeited. Aside from that, colleges usually award CLEP credit only to their enrolled students.

To be sure if a CLEP credit can be earned, find out from the institution what type of credit you can receive and all other information before taking the CLEP exam.

CLEP for Soldiers

The military lifestyle is unfortunately not flexible. It is almost impossible to earn a degree to either get the skills needed to excel in the Army or to become an officer, or to make the transition to the civilian career world much easier. Fortunately, CLEP or the College Level Exam Program, exists for military personnel to get a college degree while they serve and without even enrolling in a class.

CLEP allows soldiers to earn credit for undergraduate college courses through testing rather than classwork. CLEP exams are accepted for college credit in nearly three thousand schools across the U.S. including a number of online schools. Since CLEP exams are designed to replace full-blown courses for college credit, if you pass an exam, participating colleges will likely accept those credits.

Most tests are designed to replace ones-semester courses, but some correspond to full-year or two-year courses. There are two categories for the CLEP Examinations: General and Subject. The general examinations cover broader areas while subject exams are much more specific. The exams are either conducted online or on paper depending on whether the taker register to take the exam at a DANTES test center, an on-base education, or a college campus test center.

The DANTES (Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education) funds the CLEP exams for eligible military service members and civilian employees. All active-duty and reserve military personnel, regardless of branch are eligible for DANTES funded CLEP. Although, anyone can take the CLEP, just not the DANTES funded CLEP exams.

Inactive and veteran service members are unfortunately not eligible for the DANTES funded CLEP, though their education benefits can help them pay for college classes.

CLEP exams are always free for soldiers who report to on-base and DANTES test centers while college testing centers require a small registration fee. Still, you can work toward a meaningful civilian career.

English CLEP Exam: Essay Guide

At this point, you’ve decided to either take the Freshman Composition CLEP exam or English Composition CLEP with essay. Perhaps, you’ve practiced making essays for various topics. Now you wonder: what are the topics in the CLEP exam include?

It’s only natural to feel intimidated for the CLEP Exams. The essay questions need to be answered in one hour and 10 minutes (70 minutes). Preparation may be the key to passing, but without knowing what these essays focus on – all would be futile. By being able to understand what are the possible topics in the essay, you’ll be able to maximize your performance and pass.

The essay is divided into two parts and each has its own different focus. Essay question number one lets you draw experiences, opinion, and knowledge about a certain topic. In the second essay, you are given 40 minutes to read two passages. The questions Is more on reading comprehension – level of understanding based on what you read. The key to answer these questions is to cite a quote or idea from the passage. Then, expound the quote.

Sometimes, participants have a hard time organizing their thoughts with the pressure of completing before the time. You can efficiently utilize your writing time by making an outline. In a separate or scratch paper, organize your ideas and make an outline. Decide what idea or information you’d like to include in the introduction, body, and conclusion.

Along with well-organized ideas and concepts, the CLEP Exam also assesses each student’s vocabulary. Use words that perfectly conveys the message you want to convey. Do not use filler words – nice, very, so, and quite) as often. Unless you’re certain, you are able to use words in their correct context.

Advantages of CLEP

CLEP is a good way to earn a college credit saving you time and money. Having a good score on the CLEP test enables you to earn college credit for any course without really needing to spend some time and cash to sign-up and finish it. It offers a superior opportunity to receive credit for things you already know, stuff you learned through on-the-job training, internships, or perhaps personal study.

One of the advantages of CLEP is that students don’t have to spend money on subjects that they don’t need. It helps you to save money by not having to pay the schooling and also the miscellaneous for the subjects that were credited by the CLEP. Students that earn college credit through CLEP exams can graduate in 3 years rather than four, or finish a whole semester early than students who take the traditional classes. That’s an additional year or semester, which gives you more opportunity to earn more courses.

You may also jump straight ahead to higher-level courses if you are able to pass through the required CLEP exams to satisfy your lower-level needs. By doing this, you will not have to spend your time re-learning material when you may be investing that very same time learning something new. You don’t have to spend an hour attending a class you already know. Using CLEP exams to obtain credit for opening courses provides you with a good amount of time to enroll in the courses you really wish to take. This advantage of CLEP exams can make your time and effort in college more meaningful.

About your CLEP Examination Scores

Taking the CLEP exam requires a lot of preparation and focus. There are some who finish and pass without any hustle or retake. However, there are those who don’t pass or score below credit minimum. It’s necessary to know how the scoring works in order to make good test taking strategies for yourself.

Most of the questions are multiple choice. These questions are reviewed and checked by the computer. The essay portions are graded by English professors from different colleges who are specifically picked by the College Board. The score you receive from the essay will be combined with your score on the multiple choice portion. It will then appear as a scaled score in the report.

You’ll notice that there are portions of the exam that are optional. Most of them are essays and are required by specific colleges. The college or university that requires the question will personally check the answers, rather than the College Board.

On the multiple choice questions, you will get one point for each correct answer. When your answer is wrong for a certain item, it will not be deducted from your total score, as well as the unanswered items. It is important to answer every item to get a chance of getting a correct answer than leaving it blank and get no chance. Your totaled scaled score will be shown on your score report. Your score will be in between 20 and 80. If you register for a CLEP exam online, you can name the college or certifying agency that you desire to receive your CLEP test scores. You don’t have to pay for your transcript request; the payment will be included in your exam fee.

Humanities in CLEP

The humanities subject includes numerous subjects, including history, literature, music and art. For those who have a humanities background, you might want to go ahead and take the CLEP test. Passing the CLEP, also called the college-level examination program, provides you with the chance to earn as much as six college credits, which might apply toward your degree. Understanding how to pass this test may reduce the number of classes you have to take throughout your college career.

The initial step in planning for that test is to be aware what the exam entails. The humanities CLEP test covers music, art and literature. You will have to know and find out the works of specific authors and be aware of the qualities of their writing. In addition, you will have to know the specific types of poetry along with other writings. The exam will ask you questions made to test out your general understanding of certain artists, pieces of art and also the history surrounding these, along with other subjects within the humanities. You may even have to identify works of art, sculptures along with other artworks. The exam includes 140 questions that you’ll want to accomplish within 1 hour 30 minutes.

Knowing you’ll go ahead and take the CLEP humanities test later on, spend some time reading through a number of works. Concentrate on classics and popular modern works. You will have to read poetry, plays, short tales, books and nonfiction works to have a good start. When you don’t have time to read a number of works, you might want to study books that provide an introduction to subjects in the humanities. You might not have just as much success using the test just like you browse the works themselves; however, this may give a better approach in studying when time is a concern.

To organize, you need to listen and focus on a number of music styles that will help you get ready for the exam. Review music styles and ideas, and acquaint yourself with a number of artists. You might request buddies or relatives to listening to a bit of music so that you can practice determining the composer or song. Make flash cards with questions regarding artists and composers. Just like other parts of the humanities, you will need to study a number of visual arts. This can include works of art, sculptures and designs of architecture. You must also know the concepts behind film and dance, in addition to being capable of identifying specific good examples. Make yourself familiar with the method and your good to take the exam. The technique is to be familiar with the common, significant and noteworthy details related to humanities.

The College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) was developed by the College Board, and is the most widely used credit-by-examination program. It is available at more than 2,900 colleges and universities. After passing any of the 34 CLEP exams, you can accomplish your college and career goals in nursing. The program is very helpful because it requires a smaller amount of money compared to paying the whole college course fees.

There are many organizations that offer courses for preparation of CLEP and DSST exams. They provide helpful online study guides that give you the content to prepare for CLEP test. The content of these guides has been focused and is easy to follow. It assists students to prepare for exams without pressuring them too much. The College Board also publishes study guides containing sample tests for all exams. These sample tests are important because they are in similar form with the actual exam.

There is a specially designed CLEP Testing phase in which one can take 4 course tests in one month with a 100% pass rate. This equals to 24 college credits. The main advantages of CLEP exams for a student are to save money that is approx $21,600 per student and also save time. Taking the necessary preparation is needed to pass the CLEP exam. Make sure you are fully equipped with knowledge and some techniques before the examination.