Find a college textbook and CLEP study guide or two. If the CLEP exam you have chosen to prepare for would benefit from a college textbook, try to find a popular one. To save money, consider buying a later edition. I found that the information doesn’t change much from year to year. We relied completely on later editions.
As for study guides, the REA CLEP study guides typically have been my go-to resource. Barrons and Princeton study guides are fine too. You can even use an AP study guide. For a final practice exam, I relied on the exams found in the CLEP Official Study Guide from the College Board. This resource, which can be found in a public library, contains one practice exam plus answer key for each CLEP subject. It contains no explanations for answers or study material. Calling this resource a “study guide” seems misleading. I listed the resources we used for each exam in separate posts. The REA study guides typically have two practice tests.
Divide the book into manageable sections. College semesters are typically 16 weeks in length and most college textbooks we used were divided into 16 chapters plus or minus a few. If you spread the study out over an entire school year, divide the number of chapters by the number of weeks you want the study to be. A typical school year is between 30 – 36 weeks. If you selected a textbook with 16 chapters, then you would study half a chapter a week for 32 weeks.
Another option is to learn the material in one semester like at college. The student would study one chapter a week in a 16-chapter textbook. This would be good for a student who already has a good grasp of the material or for a student who is motivated and has great study habits. CLEP exams that are ranked easier than others can be handled in one semester. Find out which exams we thought were easier than others in my post CLEP Exam Difficulty Ranking.
Make flashcards for each chapter. I made flashcards on Quizlet for my younger kids. Facts for flashcards come from the textbook and study guides. It’s a lot of work to make flashcards but they can benefit other students and siblings as well. Older students can make their own flashcards. I have created Quizlet flashcard sets for most of the CLEP exams my kids took. You can find them under creator Doc Paula. If you don’t want to make flashcards, you can purchase boxes of AP flashcards. I have used Barron’s AP flashcards to supplement our study resources. Making flashcards on Quizlet has advantages over the boxed flashcards though. The facts can be copied and used to create hard-copy tests. Furthermore, when students learn how to make flashcards on Quizlet, they will have learned a valuable skill for college.
Create weekly tests (optional). For some subjects, I turned CLEP prep into a high school course complete with tests. I create weekly tests with fill-in-the-blank and short answers using the flashcard facts from Quizlet. Like I mentioned above, facts from Quizlet can be copied and pasted into Word documents. The purpose of hard-copy testing is to help my students memorize important facts and improve test taking skills. The tests can serve as graded material too which a lot of families appreciate. Read my post Determining Grades for CLEP Courses and CLEP on the High School Transcript.
Typical week. I read the material with my younger kids. It’s quality time and I enjoy it very much. By the eleventh grade they are comfortable reading the textbook alone. I find that we can get the reading and flashcard review done in about 1 1/2 hours each day for three days a week. The fourth day is review and testing day. We take Fridays off.
Boot camp flashcard review. When the end of the study is reached, we begin the boot camp portion. This can take anywhere from 2 – 4 weeks depending on the subject. We start off with a systematic review of the Quizlet cards. Hopefully, your student will have retained many facts from previous study of them. The more challenging ones are marked for later review. Sometimes I copy and paste these challenging facts into a Word document and use as a study guide.
Boot camp practice tests. After a run through the flashcards, I have my student take a practice test from a study guide. The first test serves as a barometer. Did my student reach my benchmark score? How much more study is required? How many new concepts need to be learned? Do we need additional study resources? See my post Determining CLEP Readiness to find out the benchmark score that helped us predict exam readiness.
If the benchmark score is not achieved on the first practice exam, we purchase a month of access to the online Instantcert study questions. I write down new concepts and facts that we find on Instantcert on a study sheet. Then another practice test is given. I prefer to administer at least three practice tests. REA Study guides typically have two practice tests. The test we save for the third test, as mentioned earlier, is the test found in the CLEP Official Study Guide. After each test, we go through the questions and analyze each option. Why is this one correct and this one incorrect? I believe that this exercise improves testing skills which will play forward. For more specifics, read my post on CLEP Prep Bootcamp: The Final Weeks.
Order the exam online and schedule an appointment at a local testing center. If the scores on the practice tests are in the target range, we order the exam through the College Board CLEP website, print out the CLEP ticket, and then schedule a slot at a local testing center. On testing day, bring the CLEP ticket and a photo ID. Find out the rules you will need to follow at your testing center. They can be picky about what can be brought into the testing room and what can be worn. For example, hoodies are not allowed at our testing center.
Since the Covid pandemic, the College Board started allowing online CLEP testing. My son has taken online CLEP exams and now prefers that method over a testing center. Online testing may be a great option if you don’t have a testing center near you and your student is comfortable handling technology at home.
See CLEP Q & A post for info on ordering exams, obtaining a photo ID, and testing center requirements.
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 38 CLEP exams and earned over 156 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.