The College-Level Examination Program, unlike Advanced Placement, is not built around a curriculum, but rather is designed to test students’ knowledge on a variety of college-level subjects, regardless of where they may have learned the material. CLEP exams are developed by committees of college faculty who design questions based on what is typically covered in lower-level college courses and who set passing standards for the exams (scores are no longer based on studies of student performance in college courses). With the new computer-based tests, new questions are constantly being added, especially in rapidly-changing fields such as Computer Science. The typical passing score on computer-based CLEP exams for general education purposes is 50, although paper and pencil versions will be different.
Who should CLEP examines contact if they did not indicate a score recipient institution at the time of testing?
Candidates should send an email to clep@info.collegeboard.org and include the information below. There is no fee is if the request is made within a 30 day period of taking the exam.
Complete name, date of birth, address, phone number, the last four digits of their social security #.
On July 1, 2010, CLEP launched two new exams: College Composition and College Composition Modular. The two new exams replaced English Composition, English Composition with Essay and Freshman College Composition, which were retired on June 30, 2010.
Effective May 2010, the ACC Credit-by-Exam Equivalency List for 2010-2011 includes the new exams and increase the amount of credit awarded to students who score 50 or above. Students who attend a Florida public college or university and successfully pass the College Composition exam will now earn 6 credits for ENC 1101 and ENC 1102 credit. This exam is 120-minutes and includes a 50-minute multiple-choice section and two mandatory online essays that students must respond to in 70-minutes. The essays are part of the computer-based exam and immediately follow the multiple choice section. The essay portion will continue to be scored every two weeks. Students will receive their score report 2-3 weeks after taking the exam.
Students can also receive 6 hours of credit for taking the CollegeComposition Modular (CCM) exam and scoring a 50 or above if colleges supplement the CCM exam with an essay section available from CLEP or with a writing assessment of their own. The CCM exam is the 90-minute, all multiple-choice version. Students will receive an immediate score upon completion of this exam. The CLEP optional essays are an additional 70-minutes and must be ordered in advance for a cost of $10. These essays are handwritten by students and are graded by faculty at the institution that will be awarding credit.
For more information about the new College Composition exams, visit www.collegeboard.com/clepcomposition for detailed specifications, sample exam questions, and a comparison between the old and new exams.
Effective July 2008, ACC approved guidelines and guaranteed minimum award for Credit-by-Exam postsecondary course and credit equivalents. New revisions included.
The passing score has changed for the French Language CLEP exam. Students who earn a score of 59 on this exam are now guaranteed additional credit.
The passing score has changed for the German Language CLEP exam. Students who earn a score of 60 on this exam are now guaranteed additional credit.
Effective Spring, 2007, Florida's State Board of Education and Board of Governors approved new credit-by-exam guidelines and minimum credit recommendations for postsecondary course and credit equivalents. (Note: Board of Governors approval is pending). Based on a careful review of exam content, the following revision was made to the CLEP guidelines:
The Passing score has changed for the Spanish Language CLEP exam. Students who earn a score of 63 on this exam are now guaranteed additional credit.
Financial Accounting exam was approved.
Note: The 2006 list did not include CLEP Financial Accounting which became available in January 2007. CLEP Financial Accounting assesses student mastery of the skills and concepts required for success in a first-semester financial accounting course. The new exam will replace CLEP Principles of Accounting, which will be discontinued on June 30, 2007. The new exam is comprised of 75 questions. Financial Accounting is 90 minutes in length and administered via computer. The American Council on Education (ACE) has recommended a credit-granting score of 50 for this examination. For more information, please visit: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/clep/ex_fa.html
Effective August 15, 2006, Florida's State Board of Education and Board of Governors approved new credit-by-exam guidelines and minimum credit recommendations for postsecondary course and credit equivalents. Based on a careful review of exam content, the following revisions were made to the CLEP guidelines:
The passing score has changed for the eight CLEP exams listed below. Students who earn a score of 50 on these exams are now guaranteed credit.