The College Board promotes this test with the statement, “The knowledge you've gained from your education or professional experiences can take you further than you think.” This is true. CLEP can turn your current knowledge and experience into college credit(s).
What is the CLEP?
CLEP is the acronym for the College Level Examination Program. CLEP is a College Board program that provides 33 standardized tests on different areas of study. The program includes 2,900 colleges and universities that award credit for qualifying CLEP Exam scores. Read about some real life CLEP success stories from the College Board.
The 33 exams are divided into the following five subject areas:
- Composition and Literature
- Foreign Languages
- History and Social Sciences
- Science and Mathematics
- Business
The tests are administered online at 1,700 colleges and cover material taught in the first two years of college. Each exam takes approximately 90 minutes and is primarily multiple-choice. Some exams require essays. The language exams include listening sections.
A big reason to consider taking a CLEP Exam is to save you time, since you can earn up to 12 credits with a satisfactory score on just one exam, depending on the college.
Other reasons to take CLEP Exams are:
- Save on tuition fees.
- CLEP Exams are just $77 each.
- They can help you avoid taking classes you don’t need and allow you to be challenged by more advanced material earlier.
- They can help you graduate on time if you’re behind by a few credits.
How to take a CLEP Exam?
- Use the CLEP College Search to determine if your college accepts CLEP scores, then contact the admission office.
- Decide which of the 33 exams to take.
- Make an appointment to take the exams at one of the CLEP test centers.
Find more information on CLEP at: http://clep.collegeboard.org/
