How similar are the real CLEP exams to the practice tests?

[mseldomridge]

I have taken some REA practice exams and i got a 57 on my last one (Intro to Psychology) and i wanted to know how that relates to how i would do on the real exam?

Thanks. Any feedback welcome!

[OfficerA]

To me it depends where you pull your practice tests from, as well as the exam.

The sources I've used in the past were:

Comex books (good at reinforcing a chapter, but the questions are sometimes too easy)
free-clep-prep.com's practice tests (free, but needs registration; heard good reviews all around and helped me with Macroeconomics)
Peterson's (won't let me post link here for some reason; very hit or miss, as an example the Ethics in America's practice tests' latter halves can be skipped IMO)
5 Steps to a 5 books (AP prep books, I used specifically for both Economics exams, and were excellent in both teaching and testing the material)
REA practice exams (varies; gets too indepth at times)
Passbooks (http://www.passbooks.com/dantes-subject-...s-dantes/; not a personal fan, as it's mostly just test questions and some are ridiculously specific, and the answers don't explain how)

The sentiment I've seen around here is that if you can do well enough on the practice exams, the actual exams are usually easier. That being said, some of the study materials I've seen/studied don't really reflect the actual exams at times; it was only with heavy reading/studying that I did as well as I did on the Ethics in America exam as well as Analyzing and Interpreting Literature.

[NAP]

Be sure to get the Official CLEP Study Guide at your library or Amazon. It is the best example of the content of the tests and will help you determine when you are ready to take them. (If you are taking multiple CLEPs, it is better to buy the book for about $16, but you can download the individual subject guide for $10 from the CLEP website.)

Also, for many of the exams, the REA is easier and Peterson's are harder than the real exam, but I haven't taken this one, so I'm not sure what the consensus is about these practice exams.

[Lemurian_Spirit]

I agree with getting the Official CLEP Study Guide. I also used REA practice exams for the CLEP tests. I used Peterson's and Prometric practice exams for the DSST exams for which they were available. The thing I found about DSST exams is that there were fewer study materials for them generally, and even fewer practice exams, but I always studied the subject matter until I thought I might be ready to take the exam. Then I would take practice exams like mad until I knew I would pass the exam. I hope that helps. I found that the similarity of the practice exam to the actual exam varied a lot from subject to subject, but there generally seemed to be more consistent similarity between the REA practice exams and the CLEP exams to me. Just a thought.

[clep3705]

The official CLEP guide is a worthwhile resource for the practice tests. You don't need the latest version. Buy an older edition for a few dollars. The College Board isn't going to spend the money to write new practice tests for each new edition of the guide.

[Leebo]

I don't know if it's simply because I've been improving as I use the practice exams, but I always seem to score better on the real CLEPs than I expect to from the practice exams. In some cases I've gotten in the 70% range on the practice questions and then passed with a very comfortable margin.

I wonder if CLEP is just different from other exams like that. On an Excelsior exam, 70% is just barely passing.

[Lemurian_Spirit]

Thanks for reminding me of yet another reason why I never took an Excelsior exam. Between that, being accepted at fewer schools, and probably being the most expensive exams you can possibly take Excelsior exams, like the school itself, just seemed too expensive and rigorous for my tastes. Besides, as long as there were less expensive options that were rigorous enough, that suited me just fine. This is nothing against anyone taking Excelsior exams or going to that school. If I had the money and time I think that might actually be a preferred route--I just didn't.

[Leebo]

I don't know what it's like for non-Excelsior students but for me the vast majority are $95 with no proctoring fee. As opposed to CLEP which for me are $80 + $25 and DSST, which also cost more with the proctoring factored in.

Maybe you found cheaper proctoring options?

I know there are a handful of really expensive Excelsior exams, but they aren't the commonly taken ones.

It's no skin off my nose if people don't like Excelsior exams, but they're the best option for me. They're the cheapest and they're all graded, so they help my GPA.

[dewisant]

I took 14 CLEP, 7 DSST, and 4 ECE tests. Of the 4 ECE tests I paid $95 for 2 of them and full price for the other 2. I took 25 total tests for my BA.

[Leebo]

Not sure what you mean by "full price". For the $95 exams, that's full price. The exams that are more expensive vary in price.