CLEP Precalculus - HELP @_@

[legosaurus]

Ok so Im taking the CLEP precalculus (or scheduled to take it) this friday (the 16th of December) which is 2 days roughly from this post.

I have gone through a precalculus textbook (Precalculus by Larson & Hoestler 6th edition), I have taken the clep practice test from the Official Guide, and got 58 out of 71 total questions right (there were a 100 questions; on my first peterson test (which i skipped 29 questions because crap, 100 questions in 1 hour, I just felt drained rushing through, so i said screw it.)

anywho, I have been practicing for a total of a week maybe, a little bit more.

I have seen the other threads about this CLEP exam and I still cant gauge the difficulty of it. I fear whats going to get me is the time, because I'll get each answer right once I have time to think about it but its the fact that im on a time limit that im rushing through.

I know how to plot a graph, find intercepts, zeros on the calculator portion and calculate trig functions and logs as well on the calculator so I think Im ok, unless theres something more.


I know my logarithms and natural log properties and what not
Im refreshing on polynomials, and understand how to solve them as well as functions (getting the zeros of a polynomial are a B***** because of how time consuming they can be when your using the Rational Theorem)

I know trig accounts for almost half the test.

I want to know what kind of trig problems am I to expect. If its such like in the official guide, I might be ok. The graphs of trig functions are tricky, there are some that I cant figure out why they are such.

Anywho these have been my study material for the total of a week roughly. I have been cramming for the last 2-3 days.

College precalc book (Larson and Hoestler 6th edition)
Official CLEP Study Guide practice ----- I understand a majority of the questions however when I first took it, I nearly bombed it (this is without any studying) now I understand why they are as such though I wish I had more practice exams. I just dont want to pay for it.
Precalc Demystified -- This is a long book, I jump around a lot.


Sorry if im rambling but I am scared I wont pass this test. I really need this test as well as the test date so I can sign up for Calculus 1 spring term (mech engineering major). I understand the concepts of trig, I just hope its not as hard as the official guide.

[dcan]

I did not take this, but I have taken a few other CLEPs and the Official Guide (the one from College Board) is dead on accurate for the ones I took in terms of difficulty and what to expect on the test -- verified after the fact. 58 of 71 on the official practice test may well smoke that test.

[legosaurus]

I read multiple threads that the Peterson exams are easier than the CLEP ones. I tried 1 practice exam from the DoD Petersons (my dad is ex-military, so thankful for that). The actual test has 2 sections of total 48 questions;

Calculator section of 25 questions for 50mins
Non-calculator section of 20 questions for 40mins

I know how to use the calculator, so I feel ok about that. But if what you say is true, then im scared crapless. I dont know if Im describing this right, but the Official Guide had some tricky questions to it, I mean dont get me wrong, I got them right but it took me a bit to think through and knowing that the fact that I'm timed is making me feel Im going to fail.

There is no time to double check my answers.

I reallly reallly hope that the Petersons exam is almost like the CLEP one, despite people saying its easier. 60mins to answer 100 questions is exhausting so I stopped at 71 and found that I got 58 of them right.

[legosaurus]

can anyone gauge how hard the actual test is in comparison to petersons? Or what kind of questions to expect. I heard from different people that the Official Guide is harder than the real test, but the real test is harder than Petersons.

I bombed the Official Guide test (decided to take it as a Pre-Test) because I had no idea how to do them.

Now I can intuivitely reason why each answer is right.

[legosaurus]

I took the CLEP exam and it was ridiculously easier than I expected, then again this is coming from a math oriented person lol.

I scored a 67 on it, was expecting 70+ but oh well. I got the credit!

[fopefoluwa]

Please i am about to take the clep pre calculus, what should i expect , is the test similar to that on peterson test ??