Clep Composition Exam Tips and Difficulty?

[mz192]

Hi im new on the forum and still getting a handle on the website, but has anyone taken the clep composition test. I am taking it in two weeks and really need to pass. Any tips or recommendations about the test would be greatly appreciated. Also those who have uses this program to study for the clep composition or other clep test, did u find it to be less dificult than you had expected. Thanks for the help.

[Publius]

You may want to start review theses...
http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...-help.html
http://www.degreeforum.net/general-educa...-comp.html

Be sure to examine the Specific Exam Feedback for this here: http://www.degreeforum.net/specific-exam...-clep.html

[mz192]

Ok thank you very much. Did these help you and did u have two essays to do on yours?

[Publius]

Ok thank you very much. Did these help you and did u have two essays to do on yours?

Yes, all versions of the CLEP's College Composition contain 2 essays. Now, the essay topics will vary, but you'll have 2 essays. The breakdown is found here College Composition | CLEP.

[cooperalex2004]

I'm waiting for mine to be scored but the simple breakdown is:

-50 questions in 50 minutes
-Essay question which uses your background knowledge (and opinion) - 30 Minutes
-Essay question which uses two sources given to you and requires citations and you to choose a side on a given topic - 40 Minutes

The information on the CLEP website (College Composition | CLEP) is an accurate picture of what to expect. For me I finished each section with a few minutes to spare and turned in a five paragraph essay for both topics. Keep in mind it takes a while to grade it and you don't even get the score for the multiple choice portion when you are done.

[Publius]

I'm waiting for mine to be scored but the simple breakdown is:

-50 questions in 50 minutes
-Essay question which uses your background knowledge (and opinion) - 30 Minutes
-Essay question which uses two sources given to you and requires citations and you to choose a side on a given topic - 40 Minutes

The information on the CLEP website (College Composition | CLEP) is an accurate picture of what to expect. For me I finished each section with a few minutes to spare and turned in a five paragraph essay for both topics. Keep in mind it takes a while to grade it and you don't even get the score for the multiple choice portion when you are done.

Depending on when you took it here's their (the CollegeBoard's) "schedule" for scoring and mailing: http://professionals.collegeboard.com/pr..._Dates.pdf

[af2012]

Hey all!

I'm going to take this CLEP tomorrow and the only thing I've used so far are the Instacert flashcards and I've done really well with them. My question to those who have taken the College Comp w/essay is this. Where there any questions on it that resembled this portion of the IC flashcards, see below:

The family is spending their vacation in Maine this year.

Type the letter corresponding to the correct answer choice below (Help?)
A) Misplaced Modifier
B) Pronoun Error
C) Subject/Verb Agreement Error
D) Parallel Construction Error
E) Faulty Comparison
F) Redundancy
G) No error

Or are they all like the first three sets of flashcards where you decide if the sentences are wrong and decide which is the correct answer?

Thanks!

Amy

[cindirella]

I took the CLEP CC test today and the time ended prior to completing the multiple choice questions. I did not finish 6-8 questions, the time flew by. I have taken 3 DSSTs and have had time to spare and got an A on 2 of the tests and a B on the third but this test threw me. I didn't have a lot of practice time due to work and school and my question is, has this happened to anyone else that has passed??

[slep]

I took the CLEP CC test today and the time ended prior to completing the multiple choice questions. I did not finish 6-8 questions, the time flew by. I have taken 3 DSSTs and have had time to spare and got an A on 2 of the tests and a B on the third but this test threw me. I didn't have a lot of practice time due to work and school and my question is, has this happened to anyone else that has passed??

I also ran out of time on the exam questions. It was difficult to determine how many questions were left. The sections each had a different number of questions and some of the questions took much longer to analyze. I believe I had to guess on last 4-5 before time ran out.

I thought the essay was doable and thought I did pretty well. The time flies by, so can't spend much time reviewing.

Btw- I ended up with a 48 ( Sucks. I spent way too much time on flash cards...should have use the study guide more. Flash cards advance area were very difficult for me. They were not directly connected to the exam.

[SoliDeoGloria]

I took this test a month ago, and just got my score back last week: 62. For me, it wasn't that hard because I enjoy correcting grammar and revising papers, so I hardly had to study for the multiple choice portion. I took a week to study for this one. The 2 mandatory essays are probably the hardest part. You have 30 minutes to write an argumentative essay about either a quote or an argument given to you. Then you have 40 minutes to read two sources and write an essay backing up your view while integrating/quoting the two sources into your essay.
For the argumentative style, I reviewed the section for writing essays in the Princeton Review Cracking the ACT, which I had used for my ACT and found quite helpful for explaining how to write argumentatively.
For the source essay, make sure you know how to cite sources. It is also important to practice being timed while writing your essays, because 30 minutes goes by very quickly!
If you need more help with the multiple choice portion, check out English Composition CLEP Free Study Guide - Free-Clep-Prep.com. It is for the old CLEP, but looks like a good study resource. And I know several people have mentioned that Princeton Review's Cracking the CLEP is very helpful too.

The most helpful thing for me was the Peterson's Practice Tests. I took all three of these (along with the Official CLEP study guide), and they were right on for the actual test. They give you good practice for writing essays and has good sample essays to look over.

I also went through the CLEP Official Study Guide practice test. This is always a good representation of the actual test. If you don't have access to Peterson's PT, see if you can get a couple of different versions (from 2011 onwards because that's when the CC test was changed) of the Official Study Guide from the library to give you different tests on which to practice.

All that said, this is not a bad exam for 6 credits! Hope it goes well!