subject: Most Common Clep Tests Students Choose To Take [print this page] If youre looking to get your college general education requirements over with in a short period of time, CLEP (College Level Examination Program) tests are the only way to go. These simple exams allow you to get college credit for stuff that you already know or will have little trouble studying for. This can allow you to save money on tuition, shelling out only $72 to take each CLEP test versus the hundreds of dollars it would take for the actual course. There are 34 CLEP tests available in total, but here, only the most popular ones will be examined.
Literature and English
Freshman Comp. and English Lit. are often known as The Classes of Doom among college freshman regardless of what you call your freshman level English courses, you can often bypass all of them through CLEP tests. For the Analyzing and Interpreting Literature CLEP exam, you have to understand literary concepts and terms and be able to read literary passages and figure out things such as implications, meanings, symbols, purposes, and tones. The Freshman College Composition and English Composition CLEP tests focus primarily on aspects of grammar and syntax that the literature exams dont touch on. Which exams you choose to take should depend on your universitys course requirements.
Algebra and College Algebra
It seems like college algebra is one of the hardest general education courses for most people to get through, which is why it is one of the most popular CLEP exams people choose to take. Most of the knowledge involved in this CLEP test is learned in a high school algebra class. Thus, you can pass your high school algebra course and immediately take the algebra CLEP test in order to earn the math credits you will need in college before you quickly lose the knowledge.
History
History is another one of those courses that most students already have knowledge of but are required to take during college. There are several different history CLEP exams available based on different courses that colleges offer. These include tests on Western Civilization I and II and US History I and II. You should find out what history classes you will have to take in college so you can take the correct history CLEP. You dont want to waste money on an exam that youll gain no credit for.
There are a variety of other CLEP exams available, with foreign languages being another popular alternative. Whatever CLEP you choose to take, just be sure to adequately prepare, even if that just means that you glance a little over the materials. CLEP exams were designed to allow students to obtain credits for material they already know, even if that knowledge is obtained through a brief period of independent study.
