Are you a college student wondering what the CLEP exams entail or how you can pass them? If yes, one of the areas you’ll be interested in is the best classes to CLEP. CLEP exams allow students to earn college credit by passing required general education courses. These courses are usually taken during freshman and sophomore years. Some colleges and universities accept CLEP credit as part of the requirements for some courses. The exam consists of study areas, including science and math, history and social sciences, world languages, composition and literature, and business. This article takes a detailed dive into the best classes for CLEP. But before we start, let’s find out what it means to CLEP a class.
What Does it Mean to CLEP a Class?
What Does it Mean to CLEP a Class?CLEP stands for College Level Examination Program. It’s a program that allows students to earn college credit for preliminary stage courses. They can achieve good scores on subject-specific tests.
The College Board oversees CLEP. This is the same College Board that administers the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT). SAT is required for seeking admission at most undergraduate institutions and available colleges. Nearly 3,000 schools in the United States accept CLEP exams to earn college credit. However, when it comes to policies regarding the number of credits a student can earn through CLEP exams, schools can set their rules. Therefore, it’s not surprising that minimum scores and required credit numbers would vary across different schools.
Students can earn up to 12 college credits by passing the CLEP exams. The total college credits earnable may vary depending on internal college policy. One of the most popular benefits of passing a CLEP exam is that it allows students to save money on tuition. Additionally, it also helps to speed up graduation time. Bear in mind that students do not necessarily need any previous academic experience in any subject areas covered in CLEP to sit for the exams. Depending on your schedule, you can acquire the knowledge necessary for the exams through independent study, job experiences, or other methods.
You can expect the exam to last between 90 to 120 minutes, and it’ll consist of multiple-choice questions from different subjects. Students should also check with their college to know their policy on granting credits for CLEP exams before completing their registration.
What Classes Can You CLEP?
Whether it’s at the elementary level or in high school, we all prefer easier exams to difficult ones. The same can be said for the CLEP exam. Everybody wants to pass the easier exams and postpone the difficult ones for later. Therefore, it’s not surprising that most students would inquire about easy classes to CLEP.
What Classes are Easy to CLEP?
To determine the easiest class for this exam, we’ll first understand the pass rate for each subject and why it is so. There’s no accurate statistics covering everybody that has written the exams. The closest we can get to accurate statistics is to review the pass rate of the military personnel that took the exams in 2020. The military pass rate is a good determinant of how simple or difficult the exam is. After all, military candidates are sponsored, and as such, military officers are more likely to offer it without making payments. They’ll also put more effort into trying to pass since their career is on the line.
Also, it’s pertinent to look at your strength academically, as this can help you decide the ideal tests to take. If you are passionate about history and things related to it, you might be thinking about taking CLEP tests related to history exams.
On the other hand, if you are passionate about solving complex equations or have a background in mathematics or engineering, you can think about leveraging these skills to pass mathematics.
Here’s a brief review of the easy subject areas contained in CLEP exams.
Principles of Marketing
Most participants believe this course to be a bit easier than Management. Preparation for this course is typically hassle-free, as so many materials are available online and offline. You can take a practice test to ascertain your readiness for the test or use other study approaches.
College Mathematics
Your history in mathematics should give you a clue if you can do this or not. But several studies have shown that military participants have a high success rate in college mathematics, with 65% of passes recorded. The CLEP mathematics exam covers several topics including,
- Algebra and Function (20%)
- Financial Mathematics (20%)
- Data Analysis and Statistics (15%)
- Logic and Sets (15%)
- Counting and Probability (10%)
- Geometry (10%)
- Numbers (10%).
Information System and Computer Applications
Don’t let the subject name scare you because you won’t necessarily need to know how to hack to excel in it. Just a basic knowledge of spreadsheets, word processors, viruses, basic programming, and the internet, and you are good to go. The exam contains questions on how to navigate through the computer. Available records show a 65% pass rate in the exams.
College Composition / College Composition Modular
This subject seeks to test your vocabulary. So, if you consider your vocabulary extensive enough, you can always try this subject. It’s also easy to go through, as there are no complicated topics or trick questions. The College Composition has two versions, one with a hundred questions and the other with two essays. There is an 81% success rate for the military in the modular one. And about 74% for the essay version. This is very high compared to a lot of top-ranked CLEP exams.
Analyzing and Interpreting Literature
There is a reading and comprehension section for SAT. It helps to determine how you’ll perform when trying to analyze and interpret literature in your CLEP exam. If you are a fast reader or can easily assimilate texts, then this is a class worth trying. Depending on your ability, you can prepare for this exam within a few days, still guaranteed flying colors. The military success rate for the exam was 71% in 2020.
What Classes are the Hardest to CLEP?
Like easy classes, the CLEP exams also contain a few difficult classes. Bear in mind that difficulty is relative and what you consider difficult may be easy to another person. However, we’ve compiled a list of some of the most difficult CLEP subjects based on general consensus and pass statistics. One of the tricks for passing the test is avoiding the difficult subjects as much as possible. Choose the subjects you think you can do better in and prepare for them well.
Despite the perceived difficulty in these subjects, you can still pass them if you do the right thing. However, it’ll take more effort to prepare for them and extra care during the exam.
Some of the most difficult CLEP subjects include Chemistry, Calculus, Business Law, Western Civilization II, History of the United States II, American Literature, English Literature, Financial Accounting, and Natural Sciences.
Under the composition and literature section, you may also encounter difficult aspects like:
- American Literature
- English Literature
- American Literature and English Literature
Under social sciences and history exams, you’ll also encounter some difficult aspects, including:
- American Government
- Western Civilization I
- Western Civilization II
- US History I
- US History II
- Macroeconomics & Microeconomics
How to Prepare for the CLEP Exam?
Different exams come with different difficulty levels for different people. Depending on the exam type, it can be difficult for some people and easy for others. The same applies to the CLEP exams, but you can take certain steps to get a smooth passage through the exams. Here, take a look at some of the steps.
- Start by reviewing all the specific information that has been provided to you by the college board about the different subjects.
- Push yourself to think out of your comfort zone and take a free or paid CLEP practice test online. When done, review the results to know where you’re lagging and where you need to add more effort during preparation.
- Fix your study session during your spare time. Consider the times of the day when your brain is most relaxed to assimilate and pay attention to details. It will help to do away with every distraction.
- Set smart study goals that can help you achieve better results. Be specific with what you want. Measure your goals and ensure that they are attainable.
- Apart from studying harder, ensure that you create a conducive environment where you can study better to achieve your goals.
How Much Does It Cost to Take a CLEP Exam?
If you intend to write the CLEP exams, there are many subjects to choose from. As we’ve explained above, the subject helps you earn college credits. The score can help boost your credits in pursuit of a college degree.
It costs only $89 to take the exam, but military personnel won’t need to pay for the exams as the board would take care of their fees. Please note that you might pay an administration fee to the test center to take the examination. But the administration fee is waived for examiners that take the examinations at fully funded centers since all the necessary fees have been taken care of.
Where to Take the CLEP Exam?
After you have determined your readiness to take the CLEP exams and believe you have what it takes, the next is for you to check out your center.
Remember that it’s an opportunity to earn college credits by taking a test instead of attending and completing a college course. Therefore, it’s important to ensure total convenience during the test period. One of the ways to ensure total convenience is by choosing a center that you can easily access.
After you have registered and paid for your test, it’s time to discover a test center available to you, especially in your area and schedule for the exam.
Several candidates use the CLEP test center search tool to locate centers close to their residential areas. You can use the search tool to find the name and address of the nearest center. The tool also helps you figure out the easiest route to each center.
Immediately a test center comes up in your search result; you would notice a box that contains a label. Choose the labels that best suit your preferred conditions and click submit. After submission, navigate through your “My account portal” and print out your ticket.
5 Factors to Consider When Choosing Your CLEPs
Since the CLEP exams consist of different subjects, it’s always best to choose subjects you can do well in. Here are factors that you should consider when choosing your CLEPs. These factors would help you choose subjects that are tailored to your personality.
1. Which credit do you need? This should be your first consideration when you are choosing which CLEP exams to take. Check out the program’s requirements and see what exams are right for you.
2. The credits your school accepts. Before you begin, contact your chosen school to know whether they accept CLEP exams as a credit requirement. If they don’t, consider choosing another school.
3. What can you afford? Check the cost for registering and preparing for each subject. Choose subjects that you can afford.
4. Which subject can you learn independently? Remember that you won’t always have teachers and friends to help you during study time. Therefore, it’s vital to choose subjects you can learn by yourself. It all boils down to your area of interest and how well you can do in them.
5. Ask a trusted class teacher or school counselor for recommendations on what would be best for you.
Wrapping Things Up: What Classes Can You CLEP
Whether you are writing the CLEP exams to earn college credits or to gain pre-college experience, it’s essential to choose classes you can do well in. The CLEP exams consist of several different subjects. You’ll have the liberty to choose your combination of subjects based on your experience and objectives. While choosing your CLEP subjects, you’ll need a bit of research into each subject to know what it entails and how to approach them.
This article offers a detailed review of the available CLEP subjects and how you can choose what would suit you. We’ve also reviewed the difficulty level of each subject to give you an idea of what you’ll likely face in the exam hall. Hopefully, this guide will help you make the right choice as you select the best classes to CLEP.
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