CLEP EXAMS

CLEP stands for College Level Examination Program. It is a registered trademark of Collegeboard. Study at Home with Joy is in no way affiliated with Collegeboard. CLEP is a standardized testing for a specific college course so that you do not have to take the actual college course or step into a college classroom. Yes, you can earn the college credits just because you know a specific subject in college.

You can derive this specific knowledge from a college course in many ways. You might have a good high school textbook and teacher. In other words, you have prior coursework.

You might also have some job experience related to this college course. In other words, you have professional track record or on-the-job training in a specific area.

You might also have great memory and retain information better for a specific topic. In other words, you might have some cultural experience and undertaking that helps you retain the information in a college course like Humanities.

CLEP exams help you obtain college credits without stepping in a classroom. CLEP exams also saves you time. CLEP exams also saves you money.

Here's how...

Where to find a college CLEP Policy?

There are around 3,000 colleges and universities accepting CLEP tests. However, each college has a different CLEP policy. You have to dig through their college manual or student handbook to get this information. If you cannot find it by doing a Google Search, you will have a better chance looking for it in the "transfer students" category of their website or in the College Policy.

SAVE TIME

A typical college course earns you 3 credits. It means that you need to sit in class for at least 3 hours a week. It means that you can have 3 one-hour schedules on Monday, Wednesday or Friday or you can have two one-and-half schedules every Tuesday and Thursday. When you do a CLEP exam, you sit for 90 minutes and take a multiple choice test. If you pass, you earn 3 college credits - savings in man-hours of studying and attending classes.

SAVE MONEY

A community college can charge anywhere from $200 to $395 for one college credit. So that boils down to at least $600 per course. A private university can charge from $400 to $1,500 per college credit. CLEP exams charges you $77 only per 3-credit and some 6-credit courses. The proctor or the school administering the test bills you around $10 to $40 in testing administration fees. Thus, CLEP exams can average around $100 to $140 per course. So scout around for a test center location with the lowest test administration fees.

How to Schedule a CLEP Exams

The schedule to test on a CLEP course varies. Some colleges only allows 2 slots in the morning and another 3 slots in the afternoon. It really depends on the employee of the college. This may be considered just among the jobs of the CLEP proctor, thus, this is a part time work for them. For example, a coach in Limestone College, SC is assigned to administer the test. A student intern is the room monitoring the test takers in the room. The coach does his other work and just supervises the billing and initial logging in the computer.

Limestone College administers CLEP exams on the following schedule:

Morning

9:00 am

11:00 am

Afternoon

1:00 pm

If the test-taker can take the CLEP exams in 45 minutes, then he can move forward to the next CLEP exams that he plans for the day. If he can finish 3 CLEP exams before the CLEP Proctor eats lunch, so be it. It depends on the relationship you are going to establish with the test proctor.

Other universities allows as much CLEP exams as you can take as long as you schedule it prior to testing time. It is advised that you call the testing center prior to taking the CLEP exams. Get a feel of the personality of the test proctor.

GET CLEP SCORES ASAP

Right after you take the CLEP exams, the proctor will give you a print out of your scores. This is the unofficial score report. You take the CLEP exams in a computer so test results are given faster than if it was a paper-based exams. You can request your scores to be transferred to your school, employer and certifying agency.

If you are still undecided about which college to go, you do not have to specify a college right away. Collegeboard and the CLEP administrators will hold the scores in their database up to twenty years. When you are ready to enroll in a college, you can now request these reports to be sent to your prospective colleges. Meanwhile, you can bank all your college credits in Collegeboard.

CLEP and the COLLEGE EXPERIENCE

Parents shy away from the CLEP due to their ignorance. They think that CLEP destroys the overall college experience. In fact, taking CLEP exams will make your child's college experience more fruitful. If your child is well motivated, taking these introductory courses out of the way, academic life can be more challenging for your student.

CLEP exams allow the students to skip those subjects where they had strong academic background in high school. Your child can focus on coursework that they are passionate about.

CLEP is IDEAL for HOMESCHOOLERS

CLEP exams enable homeschoolers to provide evidence of their high school coursework. Homeschoolers can take dual credits, that is, make it part of their high school subject and college general education coursework as well.

CLEP is great for Returning Students

If you are one of those who had to work to earn a college degree and have less time for studying, you can jump right to the bandwagon and start taking introductory courses and electives to meet the core curriculum typical in the first two years of college.

FOREIGNERS CAN DEMONSTRATE THEIR WORK THROUGH CLEP

If you are a foreign student or worker who had taken some previous coursework on a particular subject in your home country, CLEP is a good way to demonstrate your studies or work experiences. This will greatly reduce your cost as an International Student or as a new immigrant.

List of CLEP Exams Available

Composition and Literature exams

• American Literature

• Analyzing and Interpreting Literature

• College Composition and College Composition Modular

• English Literature

• Humanities

Foreign Languages

• Foreign Languages

• French Language (Levels 1 and 2)

• German Language (Levels 1 and 2)

• Spanish Language (Levels 1 and 2)

History and Social Sciences

• American Government

• Human Growth and Development

• Introduction to Educational Psychology

• Introduction to Psychology

• Introduction to Sociology

• Principles of Macroeconomics

• Principles of Microeconomics

• Social Sciences and History

• History of the United States I: Early Colonization to 1877

• History of the United States II: 1865 to the Present

• Western Civilization I: Ancient Near East to 1648

• Western Civilization II: 1648 to the Present

Science

• Biology

• Chemistry

• Natural Sciences

Mathematics

• Calculus

• College Algebra

• College Mathematics

• Precalculus

Business

• Financial Accounting

• Introductory Business Law

• Information Systems and Computer Applications

• Principles of Management

• Principles of Marketing

CLEP Exams Format

The anatomy of the CLEP exams is simple. It consists of multiple-choice with five potential answers for each questionaire. Some questions ask you to fill in the blanks. Some questions asks you to identify a term and other questions will ask you to complete the sentence. Thus, if you are trained to make educated "guesses", you will do well with the CLEP exams.

There are some CLEP exams with an essay format such as the Freshman College Composition.

How to Obtain Credit for Your CLEP TEST

To date, not all colleges and universities accept CLEP. But this should not discourage you. Most likely, you will meet the CLEP criteria of around 3,000 colleges nationwide. Thus, before you embark on the CLEP testing route, be sure about your target destination which is your prospective college. Will your target university honor your score? Find out, call them.

In other circumstances, a college may accept CLEP subjects only for electives and not count it towards the major courses.

Each college has a different passing score for each subject. For example, Belmont Abbey College accepts a 35 for its CLEP Biology for 3 credits. While another university will accept a score of 50 for 6 college credits. Another college will accept 60 for 4 credits. If you cannot find this information in the college catalog, call the Registrar of the school.

SBI!