A History Major's Journey

[Westerner]

CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Literature

This was my first Clep, and I passed it in September 2011. I took the first REA practice test with no prior study, and got 62. Then I went through the REA book and some of the LN, took the OCSG and got 86%. On the real CLEP I got 74. Reading Comprehension is easy and fun for me, so I think that's an added bonus :-D

Unfortunately for some, this test is full of grey areas. But you can develop the skills to conquer it! Ultimately, it comes down to Reading Comprehension. You read a passage, you pick out the main players and settings and you figure out what the author was trying to say with that scene.

One very helpful thing that I'd done to prep for this test was to read Anthologies and collections of short stories and excerpts from books. We have several that were done by ABeka and they are terrific! We have ones designed as textbooks for elementary, middle school and high school which have questions at the end of the stories to test reading comprehension. If you don't have anything like that, I'd suggest getting some from the library to practice that all-important skill of figuring out "the moral of the story."

Also, when studying those important literary terms, try to recognize instances of them in readings. They'll test on things like that. Like, "Is this a Hyperbole?" "What literary device is the author using in line 5: Simile, Metaphor...?" The terms are pretty much the only concrete things in this test, but learning them can really help in narrowing down options and increasing the chances of answering correctly.

Happy testing and God bless!!!


CLEP American Literature

I passed this test with 73 in October 2011, after under 2 weeks of study.

Resources: online flashcards, REA, AlphaOmega's Lifepac American Lit, Wikipedia, Sparknotes! OCSG

Scores: REA—79%, 82%, OCSG—88%

Tips:
1. I used primarily the REA book and its PTs, and SpeedyPrep
2. I have read lots of actual stories and excerpts and that really helped. But reading more would've been better :/
3. Several people like the "Idiot's Guide to American Literature" to prepare--I didn't use it because I didn't get it in time, but I found I was adequately prepared anyway
4. One thing I was so thankful for was the AlphaOmega American Literature LifePac. I'd done it in 12th grade (it's only 1/2 a year) and I was soooooo glad I did it--it covers authors well, includes original texts, & makes you understand and analyze them. Made some parts of the test super easy.
5. I got some questions on black authors, and almost none on very contemporary or recent ones...maybe that was just because of my particular test, but I think I worried about them too much
6. Study up on the authors the Official CLEP Study Guide advises--Hemingway, Emerson, James, Chopin, Twain, Crane, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Morrison, etc.--and their works, preferably reading original texts (or parts of them). Some of the nonfiction pieces were rather difficult for me because I wasn't too familiar with them.
7. Use timelines to understand the big picture in history.—how History influenced Literature and vice versa

Also, I found links to some really great timelines for American and English Literature:

~broken down into time periods
~more about the literary time periods
~a PDF timeline
~this one is more visual
~this one’s interactive

Hope this helps! I like Literature so this was a very fun test for me :-D

Happy testing and God bless!


CLEP English Literature

I passed this test in November 2011.
Score: 72
Length of study: ~1.5 weeks
Resources: online flashcards, OCSG, authors list, AlphaOmega LifePac English Lit, online quizzes
Tips: Again, my LifePac high school course was what made this test easy. Lack of PTs is a problem but this info might help:

A helpful Degree Forum thread. (Some TERRIFIC tips farther down the page!)

And a few mini PTs: College Board, Finish College Fast, Test Prep Review, Quizlet

--The Official PT is harder than the real Clep. I got somewhere around 65% on the OCSG (definitely not my comfort zone) and passed the Clep with 72.
--The best study resource I used was the Barrons Guide/EZ Keys to English Lit. It had great author bios and summaries of important works, with bolded terms.
--I looked up summaries and plots of works on Sparknotes and Wikipedia--both of those really helped. Sparknotes has quizzes and other helpful things too. Wikipedia is nice because you can go deeper into certain topics by following the links.
--I really like timelines for the literature Cleps. You can find some really good ones by Googling.
--Flashcards are awesome for just drililng the facts you need to know. You can find some great ones via Google.
--Go through your practice tests and see where your strengths and weaknesses are. I'd make notes when I took PTs of what I was missing the most. Then I'd go do more research on that.
--If you Google just "English Literature," you can find websites of schools and colleges that explain things in more depth. This might be helpful for topics you're stuggling with.
--Google is your friend!!
--Last but not least, this test is over half A & I Lit. If you do well on that, you'll do well on this one.


CLEP Humanities

I passed this test in November 2011.
Score: 75
Length of study: 2 weeks
Resources: online flashcards, REA, Princton's Cracking the Clep
Tips: This is a good one to take after the Literature tests. It's a bit of a trivia game, so take lots of PTs and review them to learn extra random facts

One thing that I had a problem with was the practice tests. Having heard that the Petersons tests aren't as good, I went with the REA and Princeton ones for practice. I definitely think the REA ones are harder; they are more specific in places where the real test is general or requires knowledge of just the most important or popular aspects. Though it is helpful go through the REA tests and then review all the answers to the questions--those basically summarize the book. Just don't be too upset if you score lower on those tests, like I did (I got 58 & 62) I did like the Princeton test--it was closer to the real thing (or maybe a little easier). But I guess it's better to be "more prepared than less."

I would take as many PTs as possible to get familiar with as much info as possible; review and research topics/people/places/things that confused you because they or a variant or facet of them could very well show up on the Clep. Snazzlefrag's notes are always awesome Use this as a review and Google/Wkipedia anything unfamiliar.

Another thing: it is very helpful to take the 3 literature tests before taking Humanities.

I found this study guide after passing the test. I really like this company's study guides--practice test is included! This one is mostly a review of some major works.

Finally, even the Official College Board says no one is expected to know everything on this test--just do your best to prepare, use prior knowledge and common sense, and guess!

Happy testing and God bless!


CLEP College Mathematics

Passed in December 2011.

Score: 77 (best score yet, and on my least fave subject!)

Length of study: little over 2 weeks

Resources: LN, Princeton's Cracking the Clep, Khan Academy, Petersons PTs, OCSG

Tips: If you've done high school math, don't worry about this test (like I did). It's really not that bad. Use Khan Academy for what you don't understand and practice with the problems on there. I'm not a "mathy" person but I passed this Clep with 77, mainly through careful prep (because of panic) and prayers.

Functions were really hard for me as well. I didn't try any Petersons PTs but I did I do the Princeton one. It was overall a little easier than the Clep, but it's function problems were pretty similar. I'd say the function Qs on the Clep would fall into 1 of 2 categories:
-->Stare at the screen for a full minute desperately trying to remember how to work this...and then suddenly discover something in the problem that you can use to crack it wide open, or
-->Stare at the screen for a full minute desperately trying to remember how to work this...don't find anything helpful, still feel like the problem's quantum physics, click "C" and move on :p

Other than that, I got 2 words for ya...KHAN ACADEMY!!! Just go over there, get a free account, and start watching videos, doing practice problems, and earning points and badges (it's some kind of psychological stimulation to see another badge pop up on the screen milelol