THE COLLEGE LEVEL EXAMINATION PROGRAM (CLEP)
Over the years, I have had parents ask about the advantages of having their child take a test under the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) – or as some of my students would say “CLEP out of a Course.” For those not familiar with the program, the 90-minute CLEP tests are administered by The College Board at any of their more than 1800 test centers or at one of the 2900 colleges or universities that accept them.
The College Board states it is a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. It was founded in 1900, and the association has a membership of more than 5,600 schools, colleges, universities and other educational organizations. Each year, the College Board serves more than seven million students through major programs and services in college readiness, college admissions, guidance, assessment, financial aid, enrollment, and teaching and learning.
While most homeschool educators are more familiar with the College Board’s SAT® and AP® programs, their CLEP Program can also save students considerable course fees if they can pass the appropriate tests. For a fee of $80.00 per course, students can take CLEP tests in any of the more than 33 subjects in the areas of Literature, Foreign Languages, History and Social Studies, Science and Mathematics, and Business.
One word of caution – the College Board advises students that:
“Before you take a CLEP exam, learn about your college’s CLEP policy. Most colleges and universities grant credit for CLEP exams, but not all. There are 2,900 institutions that grant credit for CLEP and each of them sets its own CLEP policy; in other words, each institution determines for which exams credit is awarded, the scores required and how much credit will be granted. Therefore, before you take a CLEP exam, check directly with the college or university you plan to attend to make sure that it grants credit for CLEP and review the specifics of its policy.”
Not every university or college may accept every College Board CLEP test score, and not all have the same scoring levels for credit. For example, while one university may award three credit hours for a score of 55 on the college algebra CLEP test, another may require a higher score, while still a third university may not accept the College Board CLEP results for that particular test at all. It may require that students take their individual university CLEP test for a particular subject.
In the area of mathematics, parents also need to know what levels of high school math courses correspond to what level CLEP test. For example, the student who takes the college algebra CLEP test before mastering John Saxon’s Algebra 2 course will, in all likelihood receive a failing grade. Each of the CLEP math tests indicate the subject matter included in the tests. Following the math book’s index will give you a pretty good idea of whether or not the student can handle that particular test.
I will say this about John Saxon’s second edition of Advanced Mathematics. All students who have mastered the first ninety lessons in that book should easily pass the College Board’s CLEP test for College Algebra and College Mathematics. If they have mastered the entire Advanced Mathematics book and also finished the first 25 lessons of calculus, they can easily pass not only those same two course tests, but the College Board pre-calculus CLEP test as well.
I recall that when I was teaching in the high school, one of my calculus students went down to the OU campus and took the calculus CLEP test and passed it. While in my senior calculus class, he was happy with just a “C” because he was going to study “Communications” at OU and openly admitted that he did not really need the math. He never took another math course in his life. When I asked him why he did not just take the college algebra CLEP test, he smiled and said, “I just wanted to be able to tell people that I had passed college calculus at OU.”
The College Board tests are a great way to get a few basic courses out of the way and save mounting college tuition costs, but if the students are going into engineering or research science, I would recommend they not use the CLEP tests to replace core courses in their field. They need to revisit these courses at the collegiate level.
NEXT MONTH’S ARTICLE WILL DISCUSS THE NEW “EQUITY-BASED MATHEMATICS” STARTING TO CREEP INTO OUR PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM