English Comp

[derf1840]

I would like to hear from anyone who has taken the English Comp with essay CLEP test. I have been studying using instantcert (exclusively). Should I be focusing my studies in other areas?? Was the test difficult. Is the instantcert format very close to the real test?? Can anyone tell me their experiences of the test, and anything that I should focus on?? Any tips would be really appreciated.
Thanks so much
Fred

[snazzlefrag]

I would like to hear from anyone who has taken the English Comp with essay CLEP test. I have been studying using instantcert (exclusively). Should I be focusing my studies in other areas?? Was the test difficult. Is the instantcert format very close to the real test?? Can anyone tell me their experiences of the test, and anything that I should focus on?? Any tips would be really appreciated.
Thanks so much
Fred

Hi Fred,

Welcome to the board!

The IC English Comp section appears to cover the skills necessary to pass the multiple choice section of the exam.

Obviously, it doesn't provide any training in the writing of the essay. I can promise you that if you can write a basic 4-5 paragraph essay in 45 minutes, you will do fine. Your essay should follow the following guidelines:

1) Stick closely to the given topic (answer the specific question that is asked).
2) Use correct grammar and spelling.
3) Include an Intro paragraph, 2-3 middle paragraphs explaining key points of your argument, and a conclusion paragraph which ties your argument together.

To be honest, I had a complete brain freeze when I got to the essay portion of my exam. I didn't write ANYTHING until the last ten minutes. My essay was a total piece of crap! But I made sure my grammar/spelling were correct, and I made sure that I had a VERY BASIC intro/middle/conclusion.....and I still was able to pass! So don't be overly afraid of the essay portion. The key is to do as well as possible on the multiple choice portion, and then be able to write at least a very basic, ORGANIZED essay. They are not so much looking at WHAT you write (as long as you don't go off topic), but HOW WELL you write it.

If you can do well on the Instantcert questions, you will likely do well on the real exam too. It is a pass/fail exam, so you will just need to make sure you get more than half of the questions correct (more if your essay-writing skills are below par).

Here are a few links that you might find helpful:

http://web.ku.edu/~edit/index.html

http://www.tcc.edu/students/resources/wr...gument.htm

http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/reaction.html

http://depts.gallaudet.edu/englishworks/...tical.html

http://www.bartleby.com/141/index.html

http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb.html


In addition:

If you PM me your email address, I will send you the official CLEP fact sheet for this exam (which includes a 71-question mock exam).

If you plan on taking a whole bunch of other CLEP exams, you should think about buying the full CLEP Official Study Guide book, which includes mock exams for ALL the CLEP exams. It only costs about $16, and it will prove invaluable to you.

Hope that helps,
Snazzlefrag

[derf1840]

Thanks so much for the info.
Fred

[ChosenFateXXX]

I had a total brain freeze on the essay version too.. I had read your post and wondered why it would take you so long to write something, and then I went and did the exact same thing...

I studied hard for the multiple choice questions, but there were still a few questions that I just couldnt make sense of them, so I probably struggled a bit with those..

my essay question was 'climbing the ladder of success will leave you with bumps and bruises, write whether you agree or disagree and include examples from observations, experiences, and readings'

I had no idea what to write and finally frantically wrote a basic essay, but I finished with only a few seconds left and didnt get to proof read much..

I would say when you get to the essay part, take a deep breath, relax, write down a basic outline on your scratch paper and get to writing..dont worry so much about the content, worry about the structure, and the grammar.

Good luck, its not a very hard test, but dont panic, just relax on the essay, and start writing.

[tcc]

I'm preparing for the College Writing exam and am reading a book by Sanford Kaye called "Writing Under Pressure", which I got at my local library. One of his suggestions is to make a list of what he calls "because" statements about the subject matter of the essay when deciding what to say. So for instance, if the subject is "How Has the Automobile Affected Our Culture?", the statements would go "the automobile has changed our culture because......". He recommends making a list of those (more than are actually needed), and then put them in order of importance, using them all to build the essay. This helped me with the brain freeze part of the concern about taking an essay test. It made it easier for me to think of things to say.

[derf1840]

Thanks all for your posts. I am going to see about getting the book "Writing Under Pressure"
Fred

[snazzlefrag]

Incidentally,

While I did pass CLEP English Comp, my score was only a 57. That wasn't a problem in the beginning. But, as I took many more exams, that 57 began to look out of place amongst the higher scores I acheived on all my other exams. It was the only exam score below the 60s, so it stuck out like a sore thumb.

As a result, I recently decided to take CLEP Freshman College Comp (without essay). I scored a 74 on that exam, and thus was able to 'throw away' the much lower score for CLEP English Comp.

This might be a viable option for any of you who don't do as well as expected on the English Comp exam. Or it could even be an alternative exam to take, if you don't feel like having to write an essay.

It cost me an extra $60, and 90 minutes, to replace the low score. I think it was well worth it.

Hope that helps,
Snazzlefrag