Using CLEP Exams to Earn College Credit

We’re all pretty familiar with college credit earned through testing like Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB). Students can also earn college credit through testing with the College Board’s College-Level Examination Program® or CLEP. The intent of CLEP exams is to provide you with a way to receive college credit in areas of knowledge that you have already acquired.

CLEP exams have been around for 50 years. Students with an advanced level of knowledge in certain topics should check out CLEP exams. Almost anyone, including adults, can take a CLEP exam. (A child under 13 requires additional steps.)

Are CLEP exams difficult?

It totally depends on the student’s knowledge of a subject. This article has some data about exam success rate. Spanish ranks as being the “easiest” with a 91% pass rate, and Chemistry is the “hardest” with a 39% pass rate.

These exams are meant to cover material on a first-year, introductory college course level. Knowledge should be more substantial than what is learned in a standard high school class.

You can read more in-depth about each exam on the College Board site. For example, this page provides an overview of the topics covered in the American Government exam.

What courses/content are exams offered in?

The College Board currently offers 34 different CLEP exams. The broad exam categories include history and social sciences, composition and literature, science and mathematics, business, and world languages.

You can find the complete list of exams here.

What colleges accept them?

Currently, more than 2,900 colleges and universities in the US grant credit for CLEP exams.

Be aware that some colleges may not provide ANY credit for CLEP exams like Duke, Harvard (and other Ivies), University of Chicago, Vanderbilt, Case Western, MIT, and other selective universities.

Some may limit the types of exams they’ll accept. For example, the University of Michigan only awards credit for four CLEP exams: Human Growth and Development, Psychology, Sociology, and Chemistry.

Finally, colleges may cap the total number of credits you can earn via CLEP exams.

How does scoring work?

The maximum score you can earn on a CLEP exam is 80. Wrong answers are not penalized. The exam score will be displayed on the test screen at the end of the exam. A download of the score report will be available within 24 hours. Scores for College Composition and Spanish with Writing won’t be available until two to three weeks later.

Each college can set their own policy with respect to a credit-earning score. For example, the University of Cincinnati requires a 64 for Calculus, a 53 for American Literature, a 65 for Financial Accounting, and more.

Click here to search for any college’s CLEP credit policy. Colleges will require an official score report to award credit.

Registration

Click here to register and select the exam you want to take. If you’ve taken the SAT or AP exams in the past, you can use the same College Board username and password for the CLEP exam registration.

When registering, students can opt into sending two free official score reports to colleges of their choice. Once you take the exam, sending a score report to a college will cost $20 each. If you can afford to, we suggest you wait until after receiving your exam score before sending it to a college just in case the score is not what you hoped.

Those requiring testing accommodations can read more about that here.

Cost

Each CLEP exam is $95. If you have the advanced knowledge needed to pass an exam, the $95 cost is substantially lower than the cost to take the college course itself. Military personnel can take CLEP exams for free and receive free preparation materials.

You must wait three months after taking an exam before you can sit for the same exam again.

Where do you take the CLEP exams?

Exams can be taken year-round at a test center or via remote proctoring.

In Ohio, CLEP exams are usually offered at universities rather than area high schools. You can search for CLEP exam centers near you here.

Remote proctoring means that the student takes the exam online while a human monitors them via video. Remote proctoring requires an additional $30 fee as well as “high speed internet, a PC computer, webcam, speaker, microphone, and quiet secure testing environment.” Students must also be at least 13 years old. The complete remote proctoring requirements can be found here. Colleges are not informed when a test is taken via remote proctoring. They won’t know the difference.

Preparation

CLEP exams are online. Watch this video tutorial ahead of time to be prepared for the format of the test.

“Test takers aren’t allowed to bring their own calculators into the testing room.” We highly suggest you practice using their ETS calculator ahead of time.

When students register for an exam, the College Board will recommend the appropriate optional examination guide to purchase for an additional cost (typically $10). The guide is a PDF and includes practice questions.

Also, take the time to thoroughly review the practice materials provided on the College Board site. For example, check out the resources including downloads and sample questions included on their French CLEP exam page.

None of our preferred test prep companies include CLEP on their list of provided services. The College Board advises you to use caution with third-party test prep services for CLEP exams.

Day of the exam

Be sure to review the list of required items including your registration ticket and ID for test day. Homeschool students should pay close attention to the ID requirements.

Exams take 90 to 120 minutes to complete, depending on the subject. No breaks are provided during the test.

Are the CLEP exams a good choice for your high school student?

In most instances, high school students acquire the knowledge needed to pass an entry-level college course while taking an AP or dual enrollment college course. They earn college credit by taking the AP exam and achieving a certain score at the end of the course or by passing the dual enrollment class. CLEP is not needed in these cases.

If a student already possesses the level of knowledge required, then CLEP can be a good solution.

Here are some examples:

• Students who speak a second language fluently like Spanish, German, or French can take a CLEP exam for credit.
• Students with a passion for a topic may have studied the subject on their own.
• Homeschool students who do not have access to AP or dual enrollment can study the coursework and take a CLEP exam for credit.
• Students who previously took the corresponding AP exam but failed to score high enough for college credit.

Those high school students could all be good candidates to earn college credit via a CLEP exam.

CLEP exams can also be a good choice for adult learners continuing their education.

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