03-06-2009, 01:40 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-24-2009, 12:04 AM by parabolate.)
English Composition w/Essay:
I am planning to take quite a few CLEP exams to help speed up my graduation process as a returning college student. After much internal debate as to what CLEP test I should take first, I decided to go with English Composition w/Essay as the ice breaker..
I chose this test simply because I have always been decent at English and most people on this discussion board seem to agree that it is the test that requires the least amount of study time, and perhaps one of easiest.
My personal overall impression of the test: Much easier than anticipated. On a scale of 1 - 10, with 10 being extremely challenging and 1 being a complete no-brainer I would give the test a 4.
Total Study Time: ~8 hours spread across ~2 weeks
Study Aids: Instant Cert Questions & REA CLEP Book for Eng. Comp w/Essay - NOTHING else
Study Regime: I did the IC Flash Card Questions one time, reviewed a couple that I got wrong - didn't review all of them. Went through REA book practice tests one time only, examining the harder questions.
Test Difficulty in Comparison to Practice Questions/Tests: The actual test is HARDER than the first sets of questions given to you by the IC Flashcards. The stuff in later sections of the IC Flashcards is more helpful to study. The questions in the REA book are HARDER than the actual test! Some of the REA book scared me a bit.....the actual questions were closer to the "harder" IC Flashcard questions.
Types of Questions: 46 questions in 45 mins. First section was individual sentences w/four words or phrases underlined. You click the word/phrase with some type of error. You can also choose a fifth choice "no error" - there were about 4 out of 46 total with no error.
Second section was to read a passage and make corrections to various sentences or determine where a new sentences would best be added to the passage.
Third section was similar to the first, more sentence corrections.
The first and last section was easy, the second was the hardest and I would venture to guess that they set it up like this on purpose.
Time: I took my time on the test and tried not to look at the clock. With 1:00 left I still had 2 questions. I guessed on the last one with 0:16 to go. When taking the test I recommend not worrying about the time you are spending on a question too much. Some you will answer in under 30 seconds, some you take 2 minutes on...it pretty much evens out but this test is designed to be tight on time as you generally must read every answer.
Essay: Hardest part of the test. The prompt was a little abstract which made picking 3 main ideas a little hard. 45 minutes to respond to it. I ended up with a solid intro, two paragraphs, a squishy conclusion, and a choppy third paragraph. BUT, I stuck to the intro, 3 main idea, conclusion format. Stick to the 5 paragraph format and STAY ON TOPIC, watch grammar and spelling, you should do fine. Look up a few fancy words before you take the CLEP and throw them in your essay, you may impress some English snob who grades it. My snob-pleaser was "plethora", lol
Grade: TBA. I'll update the thread in a couple days when I get my score - gotta wait for essay grade. I'm confident I couldn't have missed more than 3 or 4 max on the multiple choice so that should carry through any weaknesses in my essay. Will update soon.
Hope this is useful to anyone out there who takes this test in the future. Feel free to ask any other questions on the test I may have left out.
**UPDATE**
Scores came in. Passed w/a 54. 47 required for credit at my school.
Cheapest college credit I've ever got!!!
Taking Information Systems and Computer Applications this thurs.
One down *phew*....
I am planning to take quite a few CLEP exams to help speed up my graduation process as a returning college student. After much internal debate as to what CLEP test I should take first, I decided to go with English Composition w/Essay as the ice breaker..
I chose this test simply because I have always been decent at English and most people on this discussion board seem to agree that it is the test that requires the least amount of study time, and perhaps one of easiest.
My personal overall impression of the test: Much easier than anticipated. On a scale of 1 - 10, with 10 being extremely challenging and 1 being a complete no-brainer I would give the test a 4.
Total Study Time: ~8 hours spread across ~2 weeks
Study Aids: Instant Cert Questions & REA CLEP Book for Eng. Comp w/Essay - NOTHING else
Study Regime: I did the IC Flash Card Questions one time, reviewed a couple that I got wrong - didn't review all of them. Went through REA book practice tests one time only, examining the harder questions.
Test Difficulty in Comparison to Practice Questions/Tests: The actual test is HARDER than the first sets of questions given to you by the IC Flashcards. The stuff in later sections of the IC Flashcards is more helpful to study. The questions in the REA book are HARDER than the actual test! Some of the REA book scared me a bit.....the actual questions were closer to the "harder" IC Flashcard questions.
Types of Questions: 46 questions in 45 mins. First section was individual sentences w/four words or phrases underlined. You click the word/phrase with some type of error. You can also choose a fifth choice "no error" - there were about 4 out of 46 total with no error.
Second section was to read a passage and make corrections to various sentences or determine where a new sentences would best be added to the passage.
Third section was similar to the first, more sentence corrections.
The first and last section was easy, the second was the hardest and I would venture to guess that they set it up like this on purpose.
Time: I took my time on the test and tried not to look at the clock. With 1:00 left I still had 2 questions. I guessed on the last one with 0:16 to go. When taking the test I recommend not worrying about the time you are spending on a question too much. Some you will answer in under 30 seconds, some you take 2 minutes on...it pretty much evens out but this test is designed to be tight on time as you generally must read every answer.
Essay: Hardest part of the test. The prompt was a little abstract which made picking 3 main ideas a little hard. 45 minutes to respond to it. I ended up with a solid intro, two paragraphs, a squishy conclusion, and a choppy third paragraph. BUT, I stuck to the intro, 3 main idea, conclusion format. Stick to the 5 paragraph format and STAY ON TOPIC, watch grammar and spelling, you should do fine. Look up a few fancy words before you take the CLEP and throw them in your essay, you may impress some English snob who grades it. My snob-pleaser was "plethora", lol
Grade: TBA. I'll update the thread in a couple days when I get my score - gotta wait for essay grade. I'm confident I couldn't have missed more than 3 or 4 max on the multiple choice so that should carry through any weaknesses in my essay. Will update soon.
Hope this is useful to anyone out there who takes this test in the future. Feel free to ask any other questions on the test I may have left out.
**UPDATE**
Scores came in. Passed w/a 54. 47 required for credit at my school.
Cheapest college credit I've ever got!!!
Taking Information Systems and Computer Applications this thurs.
One down *phew*....
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