WHAT’S ON IT
The American Literature exam covers material that is usually taught in a survey course at the college level. It deals with the prose and poetry written in the United States from pre-colonial times to the present. It tests literary works—their content, background, and authors—and also requires an ability to interpret poetry, fiction and nonfiction prose, as well as a familiarity with the terminology used by literary critics and historians. The examination emphasizes fiction and poetry and deals to a lesser degree with the essay, drama, and autobiography.
NUMBER OF QUESTIONS
This exam has 80 multiple choice questions to be answered in 98 minutes.
NUMBER OF COLLEGE CREDITS
The American literature exam has recently been changed from a 6 credit exam to a 3 credit exam. Half of the questions are specific questions about passages and half are literary analysis type questions. If you passed the Analyzing Literature exam, you’re half way there. I totally recommend studying for the Analyzing Literature exam before attempting this one.
See Locating College CLEP Lists and College CLEP Policies to help you learn about the CLEP exams your target college may accept.
PASSING SCORE
This exam is pass/fail. A passing score is 50. Read CLEP Exam Scoring.
DIFFICULTY RATING
This exam is rated as a high 3 out of 5 with 5 with being the most difficult according to websites that rank the exams. I agree with the ranking. See CLEP Difficulty Ranking based on our experiences as middle and high school test takers.
GRADE TAKEN
Three of my students have studied and taken this exam in the 10th grade. Two students began studying the material in the 8th grade and plan to take the exam later. See Which CLEP When: How We Tracked from Middle School to Graduation.
MAKING AMERICAN LITERATURE A HIGH SCHOOL COURSE
You can create a one year high school course using a comprehensive high school textbook. Divide the chapters over 32 – 36 weeks. Create a flashcard set of the important facts on Quizlet each week. If you have no time or interest in making flashcards, sets can be found on Quizlet (mine posted below). Boxed AP flashcards can be helpful too. Consult a CLEP study guide to help you determine which facts are important. Create weekly tests using the flashcard facts or facts from the textbook. Include some multiple choice questions so your student can get more savvy with them. These tests can be a source of graded material. Reinforce learning using YouTube videos for major works. Consider having your child read several American Literature classics. For extra enrichment, assign a project that fits the interests of your child.
American literature is a perfect subject to learn over two years along with US History I and II.
PLACING CREDIT ON THE HIGH SCHOOL TRANSCRIPT
It’s recommended to have four credits of English on the high school transcript. Finding four years of English courses can be a challenge. American literature is a solid option. The subject is straight forward and can stand alone for one full credit.
After studying for and taking this exam, a student can confidently place one credit on the high school transcript. If you are designating your student’s English credits as English I, II, II, and IV, you can split one American literature credit into two 1/2 credits and recombine them with work your student has accomplished in literary analysis, poetry, grammar, vocabulary, and/or writing. This can provide two English credits.
Read CLEP on the High School Transcript for ideas on how to record these credits. For ideas on how to determine a letter grade for the material studied read Determining Grades for CLEP Courses. Finally, if you need help on how to calculate a credit read Transcripts: How to Determine Course Credits.
THE FACTS THAT STUDENTS SHOULD LEARN
Students should memorize the following facts about each work: author, plot, main characters, genre, and writing style. Knowing these will help a student recognize a passage and answer the questions on the CLEP exam. My kids did not read every work in its entirety, only sections of them with the goal of future recognition. Students should also be familiar with literary devices and poetry terms.
POSSIBLE STUDY PLANS
This CLEP can fit into the one year plan, two year plan, or the condensed plan. We used all three.
For younger students (7th – 9th), this course could be spread out over two years to complement two years of US History. This is what I did with my younger son.
Older students can easily complete this in one school year. This is what I did with one daughter and her friend.
My older daughter, who is a literature and writing buff, did the condensed study plan. She studied the prep guides only (no textbook) for two months and passed in the tenth grade. She studied 4 – 5 hours a day.
See my post on CLEP Prep: Different Study Plans.
RESOURCES WE USED
We worked our way through an older edition of Elements of Literature textbook which is a high school textbook. There are newer editions and teacher guides are available. My goal was not to digest every section of this book but to learn about the authors and get familiar with the most important works of each.
In addition, I used the most highly recommended study guide for this CLEP: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to American Literature. I created flashcards on Quizlet taking facts from the REA CLEP Study Guide, Idiot’s Guide, and the textbook. Below are additional resources we used to enrich the experience and make it more like a high school course. Below are resources we found essential.
- Elements of Literature: Literature of the United States by Holt, Rinehart, and Winston (provides interesting study material)
- The Complete Idiot’s Guide to American Literature (provides an excellent summary of important works)
- REA CLEP Study Guide for American Literature (provides 3 practice tests, review, and facts for flashcard)
- CLEP Official Study Guide (provides 1 practice test)
- Quizlet (see my 776 terms under creator DocPaula)
- Instantcert online review (excellent source of review and study questions)
- YouTube literature plot summaries and analysis (find under individual works)
- Cliff’s Notes and Spark Notes (summaries and analysis)
READ A FEW CLASSICS: NICE BUT NOT NECESSARY
Along with this study, I had my kids read the Scarlet Letter, The Great Gatsby, and Huckleberry Finn. These works were heavily represented on the tests; plus I felt that no American Literature high school course would be complete without reading a few classics. I don’t think that reading entire classics like these is necessary to pass this CLEP; I just wanted a more complete learning experience. I scheduled these classics to parallel the history lessons.
An alternative to reading these stories completely is to read the Cliff’s Notes or other book summary websites instead of the book. It might seem noble to read every work completely, but the number of works in this study makes that unrealistic.
ONLINE SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS RESOURCES
Resources like Cliff’s Notes and Spark Notes not only summarize each chapter, but they provide analysis of them. Symbolism and other literary devices are discussed. If your student has a hard time interpreting the meaning of things like Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “transparent eyeball,” then he or she will benefit greatly from consulting summary and analysis guides. We used these resources to help us glean the most out of each chapter. I am so thankful we took this extra step. These resources are an excellent way to learn literary devices too.
WATCH A FEW CLASSICS
To bring some interest to the mix, we watched movies of many works as well. The movies helped cement the plots and characters in an entertaining way. The Old Man and the Sea made so much more sense when we watched the movie. We watched these movies as a family. It gave my younger kids a head start on the subject. We still talk about these movies.
YOUTUBE STORY SUMMARIES AND ANALYSIS
Whenever possible I found YouTube videos that provided entertaining plot summaries and analysis of the works. Some of these are hilarious. My favorite video maker is Thug Notes. He uses some raunchy vernacular which I overlooked for the sake of education. His analyses and summaries made me laugh to tears.
We found that videos made the stories much more memorable. Some of these videos were made by high school students which I surmise were school projects. I really wanted my son and his friend to create a video of their favorite story but they were not willing. Unfortunately, I did not discover these videos when my daughters were studying for this exam. They would have enjoyed a project like this.
THE ONE-YEAR STRATEGY WE USED
We studied the works written before 1900 fairly comprehensively using the Elements of Literature textbook. That took us through February. At that time we switched to simply memorizing the works of important authors as found in the Complete Idiot’s Guide to American Literature. Later literary works get a bit too worldly for my students, so I settled on having them memorize only the main facts of the twentieth century works.
FINAL PREP WEEKS
The best final prep for this CLEP was the online Instantcert questions. This resource offered excellent reading passages to analyze. The REA CLEP guide was not as helpful but the practice tests were essential. The Quizlet cards were an essential cram tool as was the Idiot’s Guide. Read my posts about Determining CLEP Exam Readiness and CLEP Bootcamp: The Final Weeks.
WHAT THIS EXAM PAIRS WITH
This exam pairs well with Analyzing and Interpreting Literature CLEP and US History I CLEP and US History II CLEP. American literature is found on the Humanities CLEP.
USING THESE CREDITS AT COLLEGE
Our community college accepts these credits. This could be helpful for a student looking for a quick associate degree. The four-year schools my daughters applied to did not accept these credits. If your state has an articulation agreement like North Carolina, CLEP credits not normally accepted by a state college can be transferred if an associate degree has been earned at a community college in that state. For information read CLEP and NC’s Comprehensive Articulation Agreement.
Combining American literature with other components of English like writing, grammar, and vocabulary makes a lot of sense.
FINAL THOUGHTS ON THIS EXPERIENCE
Overall, I loved studying American Literature with my kids. The videos and movies created great memories for my family.
My experience with CLEP testing. I have coached my kids and their friends through 16 different CLEP exams over a period of 9 years. Collectively, they have passed 39 CLEP exams and earned over 159 college credits. I’m still coaching my younger son through his CLEP journey. My high school graduates have received full-ride merit scholarships.
Musing: a period of reflection or thought. As such this post reflects my thoughts, opinions, and experiences on the topic. The choice to home school and the methods you choose are yours to determine.