CLEP Languages - French

[desuu]

Well well well. I thought I wouldn't be back on these forums so soon, but here I am!

I've decided on taking the CLEP French exam. While I learned Spanish throughout high school (and, honestly, forgot a massive portion of it), I would like to branch out into another language. Also, a prospective graduate school of mine is in Quebec, so I feel that French would be the best choice.

It doesn't seem there is much information on this test in this forum. I found a thread posted back in 2007 with some relevant information, but I wanted to get some feedback from new users or recent takers of this exam.

I have a ton of information on how to learn French and other languages, so I'm really looking for what will be tested on the CLEP French exam. Any input is appreciated! Thanks.

[zefrench]

Feedback is in the exam feedback threads, I put lots in there as I took it.

[NAP]

Zefrench – Thank you for posting feedback. I appreciate it.

Desuu – I am planning to take the French and German CLEPs, so I am excited to find a fellow studier. Please let me know how your test goes.

Be sure to check the CLEP Official Study Guide; it should give you a good idea of what is covered on the test and how the test is set up.

Also, search the board for Spanish and German. I would expect the tips and info given to be helpful for French, too. One thing that I have noticed is that several people have said that the sound quality is poor on the Spanish test.

Have you considered getting credit for the Spanish you learned?

If anyone else has any more info to add, thank you for the help.

[desuu]

Zefrench – Thank you for posting feedback. I appreciate it.

Desuu – I am planning to take the French and German CLEPs, so I am excited to find a fellow studier. Please let me know how your test goes.

Be sure to check the CLEP Official Study Guide; it should give you a good idea of what is covered on the test and how the test is set up.

Also, search the board for Spanish and German. I would expect the tips and info given to be helpful for French, too. One thing that I have noticed is that several people have said that the sound quality is poor on the Spanish test.

Have you considered getting credit for the Spanish you learned?

If anyone else has any more info to add, thank you for the help.

I doubt I'll seek credit for the Spanish. If, for some reason, I have to take the CLEP French multiple times, I'll consider getting credit for Spanish. The college I'm under requires up to intermediate level of a foreign language (essentially 14 hours), and I have way to many hours anyway.

[desuu]

Bumping my years old thread to say that I will FINALLY take this CLEP exam in the coming months.

Right now, I have:

ULTIMATE French Beginner-Intermediate by Living Language
Easy French Step-By-Step by Myrna Bell Rochester
Schaum's French Grammar 3rd Ed.
Official CLEP guide for French

Any other recommendations are appreciated. I'll be putting in upwards to eight hours a day for the coming two months in preparation for the exam.

[NAP]

Welcome back!

Check out these links for more possibilities:

Français interactif

French Language CLEP Study Guide

I'm sorry to say I got off track on this during my other studies and won't get to take this exam like I had planned.

I hope it works out well for you!

[af2012]

Ok I took the French CLEP in August and failed. I pretty much lost it over the listening portion of the exam and by the time I got to the written part I was forgetting things left & right. So as much as you are studying vocabulary and verb conjugations, etc I would really highly EXTREMELY recommend you listen to as much French conversation as you possibly can. You do not have to respond so don't worry about pronunciation but you do have to be able to follow a conversation between two people speaking French. Also, the part that really freaked me was I didn't know that not only do you have the audio conversations to listen to, a narrator comes on after the conversation and gives you the question you need to answer in French and also the choices of answers, then you have 10 seconds to choose the correct answer. There is nothing written on the screen but the letters A, B, C & D. I think I would have been ok if the questions and answers were on the screen from the audio portion but not seeing anything completely did me in. I'm not telling you this to scare you but to make you aware that you REALLY need to be able to grasp a French conversation between two people speaking quickly. You can't make them slow down, you can't replay the audio, it's a one shot only on the audio. Had I known this before going in, I would have put the test off until I was better able to do the audio portion.

My suggestion would be to get any French audio you can from your library, be it French language CDs, or movies and TV programs in French. I would also recommend going to Resource: French in Action# and listen to all the French In Action episodes. A few times would definitely be better than just once. There are also places online where you can hook up with a native speaker and talk to them for a few minutes over Skype.

Hope this helps. Bonne chance!

Amy

[deucess]

Open Learning Initiative | Open Learning Initiative has a great french course. It has the elementary version which is what I need for now. Although I spoke it and new the grammar structure very well growing up, we don't speak it much at home. I am using Carnegie open courseware and some other materials I have around the web, my old books. I give my self a month to pick it up fluently again.

[desuu]

Ok I took the French CLEP in August and failed. I pretty much lost it over the listening portion of the exam and by the time I got to the written part I was forgetting things left & right. So as much as you are studying vocabulary and verb conjugations, etc I would really highly EXTREMELY recommend you listen to as much French conversation as you possibly can. You do not have to respond so don't worry about pronunciation but you do have to be able to follow a conversation between two people speaking French. Also, the part that really freaked me was I didn't know that not only do you have the audio conversations to listen to, a narrator comes on after the conversation and gives you the question you need to answer in French and also the choices of answers, then you have 10 seconds to choose the correct answer. There is nothing written on the screen but the letters A, B, C & D. I think I would have been ok if the questions and answers were on the screen from the audio portion but not seeing anything completely did me in. I'm not telling you this to scare you but to make you aware that you REALLY need to be able to grasp a French conversation between two people speaking quickly. You can't make them slow down, you can't replay the audio, it's a one shot only on the audio. Had I known this before going in, I would have put the test off until I was better able to do the audio portion.

My suggestion would be to get any French audio you can from your library, be it French language CDs, or movies and TV programs in French. I would also recommend going to Resource: French in Action# and listen to all the French In Action episodes. A few times would definitely be better than just once. There are also places online where you can hook up with a native speaker and talk to them for a few minutes over Skype.

Hope this helps. Bonne chance!

Amy

Super helpful! Thanks for the information!

[desuu]

I'll probably be tackling this beast on a part-time basis this coming year. Yay, employment! But it will still happen!