CLEP exam advice?

March 18, 2005 8:28 PM

I'm going to college...about 10 years late. My employer will pay for school, but not for another 6 months, and I want to get started now. My school will accept up to 45 credits through the CLEP exams. Anyone take them? Any advice on studying or strategies for taking them? Helpful books?
posted by horsemuth to education (8 comments total)

If you feel you're a generally knowledgable person, some of the tests will be fairly easy for you. The english composition test is easy if you're a decent writer. The western civilization tests will probably require you read some kind of college textbook on the subject, but aren't particularly difficult. If you're somewhat well read the American Literature test shouldn't be a problem for you either.

That's all I've taken. I know there's a computer science test that seems like it would be a breeze, but I haven't tried it. I would say that the study guides they sell on the CLEP website are completely useless, and your best bet of getting a feeling for what the tests will be like would be to check out some of the clep books at your local bookstore.

What subjects are you looking at? Also, make sure to check which of the tests your school will accept. My school doesn't accept any of the more general tests, like Humanities.
posted by Doug at 10:12 PM on March 18, 2005

I don't know about CLEP, but I took an exam called EEE that exempted me from freshman English, but the physics prof who was assigned as my adviser said it only added 3 English credits to my record, and that I still had to take freshman English. He was wrong, as I confirmed AFTER the semester. The moral of the story is, stick up for yourself better than I did if you think they aren't giving you the course credit you believe you earned.

Also, don't think of it as late. I wish I had gone to work out of high school and then gone to college 10 years later with that real-world experience under my belt. I'll bet there are a lot of MeFites who feel the same. Good luck.
posted by planetkyoto at 2:11 AM on March 19, 2005

Once you get accepted, meet your advisor and be very, very nice to her/him. Get a syllabus for the courses you are trying to CLEP out of. Then see if you can borrow or buy (many universities, or at least departments/instructors, keep a browsing library of used texts - they often get samples from publishers) a used (but recent) copy of the textbook for that course. Speed-read the book - focus on the chapter reviews first, then read in-depth the parts you didn't immediately grasp via the review.
posted by SashaPT at 3:03 AM on March 19, 2005

I took CLEP tests to skip my freshman year as an older student. This was 20 years ago -- I don't know how things may have changed. To prepare, I bought sample test books for each of the tests I was taking and worked through them making sure to read the explanations for all the answers. The sample tests really helped me prepare for the actual tests.
posted by maurice at 3:29 AM on March 19, 2005

Take as many CLEPs as you can -- and IIRC, if you don't pass a CLEP, you can re-test in as little as 6 months. Many of the "Intro To..." tests are fairly simple, if you have a pretty well-rounded background. Good luck!
posted by davidmsc at 6:23 AM on March 19, 2005

I've taken the English, Humanities, World Civilization II, and Information Systems CLEP exams (all in the last three years). You can buy used/cheap study guides for all but the World Civ ones. I used this guide for Humanities and the Info Sys study guide from CLEP. For Western Civ, I recommend Free University. I used that site as my only study aid for the Western Civ exam.
posted by acridrabbit at 6:32 AM on March 19, 2005

Thanks, all!
posted by horsemuth at 8:37 AM on March 20, 2005

What acridrabbit said. I would also recommend going to the public library or a college library and looking at the textbooks they use in the classes you want to clep. I CLEP'd American History, Western Civ, and American Gov't. You only need to card about a 60% correct rate to get your credit.

Another strategy I used for "life credit" was to meet with department heads and ask to be given a qualifying exam for gen ed requirements that did not have CLEP tests (Understanding Technology, Basic Computing Literacies). After a 20 minute talk with a prof designated by the department head (sometimes the head) and 50 bucks (cheaper than CLEP, but varies by institution) I got 6 credit hours.
posted by beelzbubba at 11:04 AM on April 3, 2005