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College-Level Examination Program: Save Time and Money On Your College Degree

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by CourseAdvisor

If you're thinking about pursuing your degree, the College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) may help you save time and money. The CLEP is a College Board testing program that provides you with the opportunity to get college credit for prior learning. The CLEP currently offers 34 different exams across a range of subjects, including college core curriculum requirements and business topics. If you've acquired knowledge of a subject through job experience, professional development, an internship, or previous classwork or continuing education, then achieving a satisfactory grade on the related CLEP exam could earn you credits towards your degree.

What are CLEP's benefits?

For busy adults holding down jobs, raising children, and paying bills, going back to school for a new degree is a worthwhile goal but a big commitment of time and money. CLEP may help you:

  • Save time, by reducing the number of courses you have to take to complete your education program. Passing a CLEP exam with a satisfactory score can earn you anywhere from 3 to 12 college credits (the exact number depends on your college's CLEP policy).
  • Save money, because the cost of a CLEP exam is only $72, compared to hundreds or thousands of dollars in tuition and fees.
  • Skip introductory or core courses, so you can go straight to upper-level classes and finish your degree sooner.
  • Put to good use the education you acquired through earlier college-level school, work, or military experience.

Who is CLEP for?

A wide range of students can benefit from the time- and money-saving advantages CLEP offers:

  • Students who want to get through school faster
  • Working adults with hectic schedules
  • Parents or adult children with time-consuming family obligations
  • Military service members and veterans who want to use their GI Bill benefits to pursue or complete a college degree
  • People seeking a college degree, additional education, or new credentials for career advancement
  • Career-changers needing a new degree or additional education
  • People who speak Spanish, French, or German fluently, to fulfill their degree program's foreign language requirement

How does CLEP work?

CLEP works by offering you the chance to take college-level tests on knowledge you may have already acquired. Assuming that your school grants college credit for CLEP exams, doing well on a CLEP test allows you to "place out of," or skip, the class you would have had to take on that subject. You choose which CLEP test(s) you want to take, if any.

CLEP exams are computer-based; that is, you will sit at a computer and take the exam online. Each CLEP exam costs $72 to take. Some exams are available in a pencil-and-paper format ($120 each). With the computer-based exam, you get your test results the same day you complete the test.

What subjects do the CLEP exams cover?

There are 34 CLEP exams: 33 exams with multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank questions, and one English Composition essay exam. Some colleges require both the English Composition multiple choice test and essay test; other colleges require one or the other.

Composition and Literature

  • American Literature
  • Analyzing and Interpreting Literature
  • English Composition
  • English Literature
  • Freshman College Composition
  • Humanities

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
  • Introductory Psychology
  • Introductory 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 and Mathematics

  • Biology
  • Calculus
  • Chemistry
  • College Algebra
  • College Mathematics
  • Natural Sciences
  • Precalculus

Business

  • Financial Accounting
  • Introductory Business Law
  • Information Systems and Computer Applications
  • Principles of Management
  • Principles of Marketing

How do you sign up for CLEP tests?

You can take advantage of CLEP's opportunities by following a careful preparation and registration process.

  • Before you sign up for any CLEP exams, find out what your school's CLEP policy is. About 2,900 schools nationwide participate in CLEP, but they don't all grant the same number of credits for each test. Make sure your school participates in CLEP in the first place, then find out how much credit it awards for each CLEP test you plan to take.
  • Also make sure the CLEP exam(s) you choose will actually do you good. No point in taking a CLEP test in order to skip a course, only to find out later that you didn't need it anyway.
  • Ask your school if you can get CLEP credit for core curriculum courses. If the credit policy isn't clear, you may take a CLEP exam that gets you out of having to take class but doesn't give you the 3 credits towards graduation that you were counting on.
  • Ask if your school's CLEP participation requires you to apply for credit through a formal application process.
  • The English Composition exam has a multiple-choice version and an essay version. If you're planning to take this test, find out which one your school requires, or if it requires you to take both.
  • Find a CLEP Test Center near you. There are about 1,300 Test Centers across the U.S. Contact the Test Center near you and confirm their test schedule, registration procedure, accommodations they can offer for any disability you may have, directions to the center, and parking availability if you plan to drive or public transportation if you don't.
  • Download a CLEP exam Registration Form (.pdf/336K) and mail it in to your Test Center with the $72 exam fee for each test you're taking and any other registration or processing fees required. (For military service members, CLEP exam and registration fees are covered by the DANTES program. Veterans must pay their own fees, but can get reimbursed for them by the VA.)
  • Leave yourself time to refresh your memory of the exam material and to study for your exam(s). See the CLEP website for downloadable study guides and study tips from other test-takers.

The CLEP has proved immensely helpful to students in all walks of life, from military service members and other adult learners returning to college to young students seeking to move through their degree programs as quickly as possible. During this time of economic uncertainty, CLEP may make pursuit of a college degree an attractive option to discouraging months spent job-searching. Learn more about CLEP and see if it will facilitate your education goals.

Find a higher education program that works for you

Sources:
1) The College Board: CLEP
2) CLEP Test Centers
3) CLEP for Military Personnel
4) CLEP for Veterans