How to Pass a CLEP Test

SpeedyPrep has become an industry leader for CLEP study guides and test prep materials—we’re passionate about giving people the tools they need to learn more effectively, save time and money, and graduate faster.

But what if we told you we also had the secret recipe—the proverbial cheat code—to passing any CLEP exam of any subject matter?

In the next two blogs, we’ll break down everything you need to pass a CLEP test—it’s easier than you might think. Follow this advice, and you could save thousands of dollars and shave semesters off of your college career!

Take a CLEP practice test.

Sometimes, the best way to set yourself up for test success is to gain an understanding the test format. That’s why taking CLEP practice tests is an effective way to prepare for the real thing. You’ll get a better idea of the thought processes and methods behind CLEP questions, and you’ll gain perspective on how prepared you really are for the CLEP test ahead of you. It’s great to learn what you know—but it’s discovering what you don’t know that will improve your CLEP exam scores. If you’re going to be successful in the academic world, you must have an awareness and understanding of your weaknesses and lapses in knowledge, and there’s no better way to find what those weaknesses are than by getting a bunch of questions wrong on a practice test.

You might understand a lot about the American literature when it comes to the colonial and early national period—but your recollection of realism and naturalism period pieces might be a bit fuzzy once you take a practice test. Use this as a guide for future studying—hit the realism and naturalism books hard, and give yourself a better chance for CLEP exam success.

Remember that C’s (and D’s) get degrees.

CLEP exams have no effect on your grade point average—all they do is allow you to receive course credit. That means any passing grade on a CLEP test earns you the same amount of college credit—no matter if you get a “C” or an “A” on the exam. (There’s one exception to this rule, as certain foreign language CLEP tests will offer more credit for higher scores.)

Don’t get too excited here—we didn’t just hand you a get-out-of-studying card. You will need to check with your school to see if they have a minimum score requirement for your exam.  50 is considered a passing score, but your school might require, say, a 54.  If there is a higher requirement, you can plan your preparation accordingly.  If you get the standard passing score, or the score required by your school, you will get college credit. The score itself will not affect your GPA—which will probably make you feel a little less stressed when test time comes around.

Check out the CLEP exam outline.

When taking any test, it’s important to figure out what kinds of concepts will be covered so you can study efficiently and be adequately equipped to pass the test. This is easier for some tests than others—but with CLEP, it’s fairly simple. All concepts in CLEP exams are the same as what would be covered in a normal college course—so flipping through the textbook of the course that coincides with your CLEP exam would be a good place to figure out what will be covered on the test.  The College Board website has outlines for each exam which you can review and you will see how the content of textbooks correlates to the outline.

CLEP prep guides from SpeedyPrep are another great way to get a basic outline of your CLEP exam. SpeedyPrep study guides are designed to help you learn information that will be on the exam, and are tailored to your learning needs so you can learn faster and more effectively than ever before. Get started with SpeedyPrep today!

Stay tuned for part 2 of our blog on passing CLEP tests, and until then, check out our other educational blogs!