College Credit CLEP-tomaniac

Introduction

The cost of college keeps going up, and students are facing a mounting avalanche of debt once they graduate. According to a recent article by Best Colleges, the average annual cost in the 2020-21 school year was approximately $35,500 for a 4-year degree program. The total price tag comes in right around $142K for a bachelor's degree, assuming the student is carrying 15 credits per semester. This article is intended to provide information on how to significantly reduce this financial burden using the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) to fill the general education and elective requirements for most 4-year degree programs. It is worth noting that some universities allow students to earn up to 90 credits through examinations, with the University of Purdue being the most recognized. In the Purdue example, a student would only have to complete 1 year of college at the institution to achieve their degree.

While this article focuses on CLEP, there are other testing programs available including Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES or DSST), and some institutions offer their own Advanced Standing exams.

Some of you might be skeptical, but I have a number of colleagues and friends who have used CLEP successfully to test out of 1-2 years of their college degree program. Some of my friends' colleges have since updated their policies to limit the number of credits that can be earned including Robert Morris University that now caps it at 30 credits. I was already deep into my degree program when I learned about CLEP 20+ years ago, but future Hughes family members will be taking full advantage of it going forward. My oldest son is actively working through testing out of 20 classes as he pursues his degree in Data Science.

About CLEP

The College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) was developed by the College Board, the same organization that administers admissions exams, including the SAT and Advanced Placement (AP) exams. CLEP was created in the 1960s as a way for students to earn college credit for what they already know by taking exams in various subject areas.

CLEP exams are designed to test college-level knowledge that a student may have acquired through self-study, military training, or professional development. The exams cover a wide range of subject areas, including business, math, science, and humanities. There are currently 33 CLEP exams available that will easily fulfill the first 2 years of course requirements for most degree programs. CLEP credits are accepted at more than 2,900 colleges and universities across the country, but it is important to consider each institution's CLEP credit policy. The good news is that the College Board has consolidated all of this information and makes it available on their website . After searching for a specific school, you will see a list of all the CLEP exams they accept, minimum scores required, and number of credits that can be earned. In most cases, you will be provided a website link for the particular school's CLEP policy where you can find the maximum number of CLEP credits you can receive. If the website does not have this information listed, a call to the admissions department can get you going in the right direction.

The exams are nearly all multiple choice (Composition has a writing portion) but can vary in the number of questions with 40 on the low side and 80 on the high side. These are timed exams and range from 90 to 120 minutes. There is no age restriction for taking CLEP exams, but students under the age of 13 must have a parent complete a special form. As for grading, the College Board uses a scale of 20 to 80 with 80 being the maximum score. Most colleges award credit if you score a 50 or higher which works out to be 63% or a "D" letter grade. Don't worry about a low, passing score. No matter what your passing score is, it simply shows up as a "P" for Pass on your transcript along with the number of credits awarded.

It seems that everyone is aware of AP exams, while CLEP remains a great mystery to many I talk with. Taking AP exams to earn college credit is a great path for some, but I believe there are a number of benefits of CLEP over AP.

First, the target audience of the AP exam are high school students that generally attend a year-long class in preparation. CLEP is available to anyone, and preparation can be done at home at your own pace. Preparation for most exams involves 16-20 hours of time via online lectures and practice exams. The shear time commitment for high school students, makes it difficult to think about multiple AP exams in a single year.

Second, with AP exams, your testing window occurs in the month of May, and you must wait to the following May to retake it. With CLEP, you can schedule your exam at any time you're ready with testing centers available at most colleges throughout the United States. You even have the option to take the exam at home in an online, proctored format. If you do not pass, you can retake it in 3 months which is a huge advantage over AP. This shorter retest window allows for better retention of knowledge, and you can focus in your studying and preparation on areas you did not score well in. Most students who do not pass an AP exam on their first attempt, never sit for it again due to the long retest window.

Third, AP exam results are not released until the middle or end of July, where CLEP exam results are available immediately before you exit the testing center. Knowing your result immediately, allows you to either double-down your studying efforts or move onto the next exam.

Finally, there is a nominal price difference in the exam costs with either option costing a little under $100 per exam on the College Board website. With that being said, a non-profit called Modern States provides vouchers to cover the costs of CLEP exams after completing their content and practice test. In addition, current or former military members can take CLEP exams at no cost.

Preparation

In the prior section, I mentioned Modern States and it is the go-to resource for CLEP preparation. Modern States was established in 2014 by Steve Klinsky, who is a philanthropist and a thought leader in reforming education. Through his generosity and dedication, Modern States has helped countless students pass more than 50K exams equivalent to more than 75M in saved tuition costs and fees. His philanthropy is "intended to increase global access to high quality education" and is "partnering with edX , the leading online learning platform founded by Harvard and MIT. Modern States has given edX the money to complete the development of more than 30 high quality freshman college courses, taught by some of the world’s leading universities and professors."

• Go to Modern States and create an account. It is free and will give you access to course content, materials for download, and practice exam questions for every CLEP exam.
• Select a list of colleges to research their degree programs and CLEP policies to identify your best options. I would strongly recommend contacting the admissions office to verify any information on their website. If you are reading this article and exploring CLEP, I'm assuming financial prudence is one of your top goals. Because of this, always choose in-state schools or online programs, because out of state tuition can be brutal to the bank account. Here are just a few of some recognizable universities that have very generous CLEP policies.

• Once you have identified a few universities and degree programs, you need to confirm which CLEP courses can fulfill the degree requirements. I'm providing some links to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and PDF document we created for my son detailing the courses required for Arizona State University's Data Science program. You can also work with the admissions office to confirm this information, and this will provide you a list of exams to complete.
• Choose your first exam and it is super critical to choose a subject that you are most interested in, and the difficulty level is on the lower side of the scale. Nothing is more frustrating than investing time and not passing your first exam. To become a CLEP machine, getting an early "win" is important to develop future motivation to keep working through your list. Some of the exams that have the highest pass rates are College Composition , Principles of Marketing , Introductory Psychology , Introductory Sociology , Human Growth and Development , and Principles of Macroeconomics .
• Enroll in the selected course at Modern States and watch the online lectures and complete the practice exam questions. Most courses show a 4-week timeframe to complete the preparation, but the amount of time you can invest can drastically shorten this duration. You can find examples on the internet where some test takers completed 1 exam every week. For best results, focus on a single exam at a time to direct your energy and knowledge retention to a single subject. Multi-tasking is a very poor approach here. Discipline is important and you should block off specific time in your schedule for dedicated preparation sessions (Mon, Wed, Fri from 7-9 PM as an example).
• After you complete the lecture content and practice exam, you can request a voucher from Modern States to cover your exam fees. Modern States keeps track of your progress, and you must complete their content to get an exam voucher. Once you have your voucher, you can register for you exam at the College Board website . You have the option to schedule your exam at an in-person testing center or use the remote proctored option to complete the exam online.
• Take the exam and move onto preparing for the next one on your list. You will get your results immediately, so you will know if you need to retake it in the future. There is a 3-month waiting period for exam retakes, but you will know which areas you need to focus your future preparations on. Don't get discouraged with a non-passing score, as it is likely to happen a few times in your CLEP journey. The good news is that the vast majority of exam retakes, result in a passing score.

Additional Resources

College Classes for $35 - CLEP Exams - YouTube video talking about this process including the Modern States voucher process.

CLEP College Credit Policy Search - Tool provided by the College Board to lookup specific education institution's CLEP policies.

Modern States - Free preparation resources on all CLEP exams.

The One-Year Diploma: Start Your Career without Student Loan Debt - Book written by Mason Aksamit who used CLEP to finish his four-year degree in a single year. He completed 1 exam every 1-2 weeks as part of the process.

Disclaimer: All views and opinions expressed in this article are my own and do not represent those of any entity, whatsoever, with which I have been, am now, or will be affiliated. The content is for educational purposes only and shall not be understood or construed as legal, financial, tax, medical, health, or any other professional advice.