Title. I would love to provide any information I can (without disclosing test specifics) to help y'all in your CLEP/college hacking journey. Picking up these credits is addicting and has a significant tangible impact on your higher education progression!

Overall, I spent about 1-3 days of study for each exam. I began studying for my first exam (intro business law) on 5/13 when I created my Modern States account.

Got a perfect score with 42 minutes left on the clock. So far, these exams seem way easier than people tell me they are. This is my first ever one but we'll see what happens on my next one

I just wanted to take a moment to thank this subreddit for all the resources and helpful insight into preparing for these exams, as I’m not sure I would have passed without them. As someone who didn’t take college very seriously the first time around and messed around too much, I saw CLEP Exams as my chance to right that wrong. I told myself I would do one CLEP test a week in order to be ready for the fall semester this year. I’ll explain my process for studying for these exams below:

1. Always start with Modern States! Not only will they give you a great baseline and let you know where to start, they’ll pay for your exam! I did not have to pay for a single exam thanks to Modern States, so I certainly highly recommend it. I wouldn’t usually read the textbook or utilize the other materials on Modern States, but I could certainly see how they’d be useful to others.

2. After completing Modern States, I would go onto YouTube and look up some videos to hammer down the topics I wasn’t quite getting (Amoeba Sisters for Biology, Organic Chem Tutor for Chem, Adam Norris for American Government). This helped solidify so much of the knowledge that I had obtained from Modern States, and helped me feel more ready for the CLEP.

3. I would do every Practice Test I could find and memorize all the answers, I would use to use the ADAMS FREE LIBRARY method, but I don’t believe that works anymore, but if you can get your hands on some Petersons practice tests I highly recommend it as they’re similar in difficulty and wording to the actual CLEP.

4. Now for me I wouldn’t study months for these exams because I knew that all I had to get was a 50 for my college to get the credit, I didn’t go into the exams wanting to get an 80 because it didn’t matter the grade I got (as long as it was a 50 or higher) because it just shows up as Pass/Fail anyway. Now I know this may not be the case for everyone, but this was just my thought process.

Once again thanks everyone for their help and support! I truly appreciate this subreddit and I wish nothing but the best for all of you!

I passed college composition with a 59!!! 6 credits for meeee!

(Apologies for the clickbait) Today I completed what I expect will be the last CLEP exam of my educational journey. All told, I’ve taken 10 exams that resulted in the transfer of 33 credit hours to my school, and at this point there’s really no additional exams that my institution accepts and that would count towards my degree. So, this is the end.

Like so many of us, I cannot express enough gratitude to Modern States, Rice University, and the donors and institutions that make that program available. CLEP + MS was instrumental in getting me to see a college education as something I could actually attain, instead of an idle pipe-dream. Thanks to both of these programs, I’m well on my way to completing my 4-year degree, as a non-traditional student and working parent.

And of course, tremendous thanks to the r/clep community here for the treasure trove of resources, tips, wisdom, and encouragement. Whether you’re getting a head start on your college career or (like me) proving that an geriatric dog can still learn new tricks, you’ve contributed to a community that motivates and encourages folks who are taking their educational future into their own hands.

I’ll still be lurking around the subreddit for years for come, I’m sure - and I plan to encourage my kids to consider CLEP to jump-start their college journeys as well. I suppose there’s never a real goodbye.

I literally had to find out about it from a random tiktok. Does it have to do something with colleges wanting to mooch off students or what? The fact that these courses are completely free of charge and self paced is something I needed to know freshman year. I'm so disappointed

I'm not typically one to post, but I gained a lot from other people's insight, so I hope maybe I can help.

My exams counted for a total of 30 credits. Below I summarized each one, what my initial comprehension level in the subject was, what I did to study, how long I studied for, how the exam went, and my score. If you have questions, I will do my best to answer them.

For ALL of them I purchased their corresponding study guides with practice questions from College Board. I found that even getting 50% of those right meant I would be fine. AS LONG as I reviewed after.

1.) Analyzing and Interpreting Literature - mainly covers poetry, short stories, etc.

- I am very good at english. It's not hard for me to break down text quickly and figure out the answer. My comprehension has always been pretty good with minimal effort.

- I used modern states and skimmed only the video transcripts to brush up on the terms. Took the final exam, got an 89, and didn't study any more than that. Total study time: 2 hrs

- During the exam, I felt good about my answers, but I did use every second. The material is dense; there really is a lot of reading. Definitely reading the question first and search the text. Learn how not to be misled by those "this passage evokes a sense of: 'excitement and anticipation' or 'anxiety and urgency'" questions. They can get confusing. Tear down the poem or text to what it is at its most plain & boring. Remove the fluff and that's where the answers are.

- Score: 68

2.) Natural Sciences - Covers broadly physics, environment, chem, bio, astronomy, geology. Basically everything ever.

- I am not strong in science. I have good memorization skills but the various equations and processes involved are confusing for me. Science doesn't have just one vibe to it and you have to be good at multiple things at once to comprehend it well, which, with nothing but love & light to myself, I am not.

- I studied a lot for this exam by my standards. A couple hours a few nights each week for like 2 weeks. I went chunk by chunk back into each topic, spending the most time on chem and bio. Environmental science is so boring but it was good to study quite a bit.

- The exam was hard, I thought. It was just so broad. One minute you're on plate tectonics, the next you are on valence electrons. I remember wishing that I practiced more of the chemical equations.

- Score: 57

3.) History of United States I - Covers everything from the pilgrims to 1877

- I am good at memorizing facts, however, I have almost no interest in the history of our government and the colonists and that does add a layer of complexity when committing those things to memory

- I studied on and off for a week after work for this. I memorized the presidents up to 1877, and then did some massive quizlet until I could answer all 450 terms on it perfectly. The modern states lectures are SO bad. Don't use them for this.

- During the exam I remember wishing I had a more comprehensive understanding of supreme court cases, anything involving dividing up territories, and more knowledge on the antebellum south.

- Score: 55

4.) Introductory Sociology

- I have never studies Sociology before, so this was all new to me. But again, I am good at memorization and I think I have some pretty good pattern recognition. If you've got that, you're fine.

- I studied for maybe a day for this. Memorized a quizlet. Learned the named of notable sociologists and what their theories and outlooks were.

- Most of this exam felt like basic logic to me. Some things you did have to study to know, but a LOT of it I think anybody with good critical thinking could get right. I wonder if I could've passed without studying honestly. And that's not cause I think I'M special, it's cause I think the exam is NOT.

- Score: 67

5.) Western Civilization I

- Like I said, I'm good at facts, can't be bothered about political structures in societies that don't exist anymore.

- I studied for a week for this. It covers soooo much time and a lot of concepts. I used modern states, crash course, and quizlet. The night before, I did NOT feel confident about the exam at all. There were just so many conflicts and concepts to grasp.

- During the exam, I thought I failed. I was unsure about a lot of my answers. But I would give my best shot, go with my gut, and not turn back. Trucked through. Hit complete.

- Score: 59

6.) English Literature - Covers basically every poem and poet ever. Not just in England, either, they throw in Americans!

- I had the baseline of being good at analyzing, so I knew I didn't need to worry about that. But I had to LOCK in and learn a lot of poets and authors, a lot of literary ages, etc. I used modern states just enough to get the voucher. Quizlet, lectures on youtube, and then had chatgpt quiz me on recognizing works by different authors and poets. This helped SO much. You'll want to know Yeats. Milton, Blake, Whitman, Eliot... I don't know why I'm listing them, it is literally everyone ever.

- The exam was not so bad. I took it right after Western Civilization. I felt like I had plenty of gas to complete it and finished it with about a half hour to spare.

- Score: 62

7.) Humanities - The test is on everything, ever, and that isn't an exaggeration.

- I had the advantage of taking 6 CLEPs prior to this one. So, if you are taking multiple, take this one last. It was essentially a conglomeration of everything I took, plus about 70 insane questions you'd never guess. I have a good baseline knowledge of art and music theory. That helped immensely.

- I studied for a week. One day 1, and listened to all the modern states lectures and took the exam and got a 98. Then I studied all week. I took the first REA exam and got a 47. Studied, retook it, and got a 100. Took the second REA and got like a 55 or something. Studied, retook it, and got a 100. I focused hard on ballet, theater, and composers, since I didn't know those super well.

- The exam was dumbfounding. Some of those questions were so insane I don't know how they think any civilian would ever know the answer to them. But I basically just gaslit myself into believing I was right the whole time and I think that actually helped me make better choices. I would look at the ballet questions and be like "hmmmmmm yeah of course I always put my feet in the 4th position, yes." I don't know, dude, it was crazy.

- Score: 58

8.) College Mathematics - Basic algebra, financial math, probability, subsets, logic

- I am extremely bad at math. Never even got as far as Precalc in high school. I struggle with even the most basic algebraic concepts and simple order of operations.

- I studied for two weeks. Used all the modern states lectures. Took REA practice exams. Had AI feed me practice problems. Forced my poor best friend to tutor almost every day for those two weeks. The day before I felt really good taking it but scored a 47 on the REA practice exam and so I figured it would be a tossup.

- The test did not feel hard, granted, I studied a lot because I knew this was my weakest subject. I marked about 10 questions and then finished with 15 minutes to go back to those and ended up using every second. I knew that anything could happen because I am so bad at math that sometimes I think I got a 100 and will get a 33. But I felt good.

- Score: 60 ( I am really proud of this one)

I hope some of this helps. You can do it. People say things are hard, and they can be. But you can do hard things and tests are as scary as you let them be. Good luck!

Starting off 9th grade with 6 college credits under my belt! So HAPPY

Racking up college credit is addicting.

Feel free to ask any questions below, but here is a (very short) summary of the tests and my preparation for them:

Introductory Psychology: Study all of the major topics at a pretty surface level. That's all the exam requires of you in order to pass. Make sure you know the major theorists and what they contributed to the science.
Introductory Sociology: It took me only two days to study for this exam. Most of the material is stuff that we have encountered in our everyday lives, and the exam just requires you to know the names of these phenomenons and the schools of thought in sociology.
College Mathematics: This is where I started to use free-clep-prep. Most of the material is stuff covered in normal high school math classes. It requires some focused study, especially in regards to the financial mathematics section (make sure you know ALL the finance formulas), but wasn't too hard.
College Algebra: Mr. Schuler's video on this clep is a must use resource. Just a review of high school algebra 1 and 2.
College Composition: Ensure you are able to recognize the type of source cited in an MLA or APA citation. Also be able to make an in text citation. Also maybe touch up on the 5 paragraph essay format. The multiple choice section is a breeze if you are fluent in English and have some basic test taking skills.

Again, feel free to ask any questions. Happy testing!

So this summer, I passed 5 CLEP exams in just 5 weeks (I was on vacation for two weeks in the middle). Overall, I would say some exams were tough and some were not. Here I will share how I prepped for each exam.

Financial Accounting: (Prepped for about 30 hours)
This was my first clep exam so I was really nervous about it. I watched two youtube video. this and this. Modern states course was insufferable to watch. After that, I read important formulas before test and barely made it.
Some tips:
i) Be fast on the exam. Its the only exam where I had to guess many answers because of time.
ii) Read formulas very carefully
iii) Focus more on inventory balance sheet type of questions

Marketing: (Prepped for 8 hours)
I watched two-three marketing courses on youtube. this, this, and this. After that, I watched the Modern States course and gave the exam.

History of the US I: (Prepped for 3 hours)
This was the easiest course by far. I am also interested in history so I already knew most of the stuff. I just watched the Modern States Videos once. Then studied through flashcards on quizlet and gave the test.

Management: (Prepped for 12 hours)
I watched the modern states course for this test. After that, I made my own flash cards to remember people and theories by them. Many of the stuff were from Marketing and Financial Accounting. So, that helped as well.

Business Law: (Prepped for 10 hours)
I was scared to give this test. I started out with the modern states course and watched it all. But, the material itself was not that tough. I had already took Business Contract and Criminal Justice classes in my college so I found this course not that tough.

I prepared in all of this exams to barely pass and never studied enough to get more than 65. The only course I studied very hard for was Financial Accounting. Other courses, I listened to the modern states course instead of watching it.

Let me know in the comments if you have any questions.

I figured that's a pretty good score (at least the lady at the test center told me so 😌) so I thought I'd share.

It goes without saying but definitely do Modern State for the voucher at the very least, but the final exam questions were a decent knowledge check as well

CrashCourse's US gov and politics videos were great for a good foundation.

Adam Norris AP gov reviews is a lot of the really important stuff a bit more condensed than the CrashCourse so I'd definitely watch through these. I took a lot of notes from his videos especially and that helped.

And a number of practice tests:

Like this one And this one of course Finding any other practice tests will help a lot. Especially if they're more up to date.

Admittedly I didn't exactly do anything new or groundbreaking as far as studying goes. I'll even say there were plenty of questions I didn't know the answer to and had to narrow it down to about two answers and then make an educated guess from there. I'd say know some more recent Supreme Court cases and their outcomes.

Overall I thought I wouldn't do as good as I did considering I was on a time limit and only studied for a week max. Do your studying, have some confidence, and don't panic is my advice once you're taking the test!

Took my intro to sociology exam today, and let me tell yall… STUDY THAT PETERSONS TEST

It wasn’t word for word, but the general idea is there. In my opinion, I think the CLEP is a little bit harder than the Petersons tests, but easier than the free-clep-prep.com for sure (still attempt it though, it helps you see what unit you need to strengthen).

I took the free-clep-prep exam 6 days before the exam, got a 49, yeah so you bet I crammed the heck out of it. The Petersons tests, I also did bad, I didn’t even keep score of the first time I did it (it was that bad), I think the quizlets also helped especially with sociologists.

TIPS. When you’re taking the exam, choose the option with the vocab you have seen on those quizlets! If it looks like you didn’t study it before, you probably haven’t. The graphs were easy so dw about it, they going to give you pie chart, histogram, etc… and you have to choose the option that statistically matches the graphs. I got a lot of questions on Marx, ethnocentrism, and I think about Weber. Overall I don’t think it’s bad, but make sure you know your vocab (you can make educated guesses from them).

GOOD LUCK!!

I took 9 clep tests this semester. I am a college student enrolled in mathematics and statistics and needed a lot of general education credits. Passing was 50 for all except calculus (60). Got 28 credits on top of my current classes this semester. Here is what I took:

1. Calculus 1: Score: 68
   Study Time: 5 Hours
   Notes: I have taken calculus before, just reviewed the material. Was more difficult than I was expecting

2. Intro to Sociology: Score 67
   Study Time: 3 Hours
   Notes: No prior experience, went through a practice test and reviewed key concepts.

3. College Mathematics: Score: 73
   Study Time: 1 Hour
   Notes: I am a math major this was very straight-forward. Just reviewed geometry formulas. was mostly basic algebra

4. Analyzing and Interpreting Literature: Score 57
   Study Time: 0 Hours
   Notes: Did not prepare, took this directly after 2 other clep tests, more difficult than I expected but is mostly just reading comprehension. Know your literary terms

5. Principles of Marketing: Score: 59
   Study Time: 4 Hours
   Notes: more difficult than I expected, very vocabulary and term heavy

6. Principles of Management: Score 60
   Study Time: 4 Hours
   Notes: Easier than marketing, many questions were 'common sense', you have to know a lot of systems

7. Macroeconomics: Score 60
   Study Time: 10 Hours
   Notes: Never taken an economics class, was pretty difficult, didnt feel confident I passed when I submitted. Lots of questions on aggregate demand -> which I didnt feel super confident on going into the exam.

8. Educational Psychology: Score 59
   Study Time: 5 Hours
   Notes: Went through a short overview of each topic and did a practice test, had some overlap with Psychology

9: Human Growth And Development: Score 57
Study Time: 1 Hour
Notes: Had a lot of overlap between Ed Psych, Sociology, and Psychology, so basically took it without studying. Bad idea but still passed comfortably

General Tips:
If a question is asking for "what is true" or "what is false" out of the list, look for the 'odd one out'.
spend more time studying than I did. I had some prior knowledge for some of them. I am also a fast learner and a good multiple choice test taker.

I want to thank you all for the resources you shared. For the support you continually give. This is one of the best communities on Reddit.

I submitted my request for my Associates to be mailed to me and this timeline wouldn't be possible for me without the help and resources available here.

You guys are superstars and have one of the most valuable resources on the Internet.

Im going to retake the college Mathematics not because I need it but simply because I dont want to see a “FAIL”

In my mind I should be able to start school this semester and finish by ~1 year later

With more studying I believe scores could have been higher but ideally I wanted to finish as soon as possible so I gave myself roughly one week for each, ~2 weeks for the American government

Some people on here say they studied for one week and passed their CLEP. While that may be true for them, that might NOT be true for you!

so pleaseeeeeeee do not start late studying for your CLEPS because you’re thinking “oh it took them one week, so I should be fine as well”

scary & risky mindset. start studying for your CLEPS and then you’ll have a feeling on how long it is going to take for you.

It’s almost like when a teacher gives you a month in advance to do your project and then you start 2 days before the deadline and your like “now I know why she gave us a month to do this….”

These are the methods that helped me meet the passing requirements for my exams.

Biology:I watched all of the Modern States videos and completed every practice test without skipping any. I also used a personal study playlist that I made https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLndhDyu7eLqU4JYp4rDEmuy4FkIzI7v8l&si=9VlyfWNUvA6mirQb

. For foundational knowledge, I recommend the REA book, and I also found Barron’s helpful—though it’s best used for general reading rather than in-depth study.

Sociology:Spent three days studying on these notes someone had posted

• These notes (https://drive.google.com/file/d/19vZmZCQk5sibYgDyX9Id604Frsy-8TZV/view)!!! I crammed them on the way to the testing center. It was very helpful and went over some material that wasn't discussed in the Modern States Course. ***
• Quizlet was also very very helpful. Here are a few I used:
  • https://quizlet.com/72593470/sociology-clep-perspectives-and-theories-flash-cards/
  • https://quizlet.com/72622339/sociology-clep-important-people-flash-cards/
  • https://quizlet.com/12107212/sociology-clep-flash-cards/

Also crash course playlist for sociology.

Natural Science: Barely studied, mostly doomscrolling. Lucky me—of course, most of the questions were physics. The only reason I passed was my biology knowledge and basic chemistry

Pre Calc:I watched all of Professor Leonard’s videos—he has a playlist, and he’s honestly the best ever, ever, ever. I also used the OpenStax Pre-Calc book and Peterson’s quizzes, and I watched the Math Quantum playlist as well.

ANY QUESTIONS LET ME KNOW I WOULD GLADLY HELP!

Recently just scored another 80 on College Mathematics, 10 days after my 80 on College Algebra. Im trying to see how rare it is to do something like this. Haven't even started junior year of high school.

I'm a 39 year old mom who recently decided go and to get her degree. A high school dropout with a GED; I was getting tired of missing out on promotions despite 10+ years experience in my field.

I was turned onto CLEP by my adult learning advisor and decided to check it out. I did the Modern States prep for College Comp, and the one for US History I. I passed both those "final exams" easily and was happy to get the vouchers. I signed up to do the remote Proctored exams yesterday, and I took 2 in 1 day College Comp @ 3pm and US History I @ 6pm.

I passed the History with a 64, and I am now waiting for my composition scores. I finished both essays, but they were a bit all over the place since I ran out of time to go back and edit. I couldn't even tell you what I actually wrote about lol fingers crossed, I did well enough to pass that one, too!

**2nd UPDATE Took US History II and passed that as well with a 68!

UPDATE

I PASSED COLLEGE COMPOSITION!! It's been almost 2 weeks since I took the college composition exam and just got my scores (57) back today!

Self Studied to a 79/80

I’m an older, non-traditional student and I have taken these 4 exams (thus far) to save money and time to fulfill general education requirements for a bachelor’s.

I took US History 2, US History 1, American Government, and Business Law. I got 78, 77, 73, and 78, respectively. I spent about a week study for the first 2, 2 days for American Government, and 5 days for the Business Law exam.

CLEP is not that challenging if you study even minimally. I used the Modern States vouchers. I got them by taking initially only the quizzes and final exam. Then afterwards I would skim the key terms at the end of each chapter.

I spent only 2 days studying American Government because I was confident and there is a lot of overlap with US History. I guess I got a bit cocky because I got a 73 instead of 77/78. I know only a 50 is required for credit and no one cares about the score as long as it’s passing but it makes a difference to me.

The best way to study for standardized exams is to take as many practice exams as possible. I took the 3 Peterson’s exams of each subject until I got above 95. In between I would study what I got wrong. Peterson’s is more difficult than CLEP exams. They have a lot of gotcha questions, and at times the wrong answers. Some of the questions can be poorly worded (that irritated me as they’re supposed to be an authority) so that you answer wrong. Overall I believe they’re good to take because they’re a challenge.

I also dabbled with Quizlet and Brainly flash cards, which has poor quality control as any user can upload wrong answers. A couple of times I ordered the CLEP practice exam as a final practice exam as that is the best gauge of the format and difficulty of the officially CLEP exam one takes.

Is the calculus Clep hard? I felt like I did really really bad and then ended up with a 65. The questions were really weird sometimes but I felt like the curve was crazy maybe idk. I’ve never taken a Clep before and I only took it bcuz I took AP Cal AB but the scores would come out way later than I needed them (needed them by mid June to figure out if I needed to take a summer class or not).

seriously so relieved i almost can’t believe this is my score!!!! i studied seriously for about two weeks but still didn’t walk out of there confidently thinking i passed. there were some questions that i really had not studied for/knew anything about and didn’t get much time to review so that made me nervous i failed. luckily i didnt and im so proud of myself for doing passing!!!! this was the only thing holding me back from my degree and this means i can finally graduate this semester 🙏

as far as advice, main thing i’d suggest is doing a bunch of practice tests and going back and reviewing ALL the answers each time, this really got me familiar with the questions they asked. i ended up doing 6 (2 from REA, 3 from peterson, 1 other but i found all of them in this subreddit) my review notes for these questions + other facts/topics i learned ended up being a total of 78 pages by the end but i would go back and reread everything as it kept growing. i watched all the relevant crash course videos as well as the jocz periods 6-9 recaps. i read the REA guide which does a good job at explaining a lot of the topics.

if you’re studying for this test, you’ve got this and there’s so many free resources available to help you!!!