The Analyzing and Interpreting Literature CLEP exam is the perfect test for you to fill in your general education requirement credit quota.
This exam felt really difficult while taking it, but in fact, it was the easiest 6 credits I’ve ever received. If English is your first language then I wouldn’t worry. If you read for pleasure than you need to call and make an appointment to take this test for the next available time slot.
Don’t bother spending a lot of time preparing for this one. It’s basically a reading comprehension test. How much can you train yourself to interpret literature if you don’t how already?
There will be several reading passages with a few questions related to them. The attitude of the narrator is? The purpose of the passage is? Which word best describes the tone of the first sentence? You get the idea.
The test does contain some Old English poetry that will leave you scratching your head, but you will be surprised at how well you must have answered the questions when you receive your score.
Study resources
To get myself in the right mindset and get a feel for the exam I did take the 3 Peterson practice exams. I scored a 56 on the first, 64 on the second, and a 57 on the third. On the real exam I scored a 61.
I went through a couple of the tests in the REA Guide and found them to be much more difficult than the actual exam. Several reviewers of the book on Amazon say the exact same thing.
There were four questions on my test related to literary terms. You might gain a few extra points if you skim over the terms on literary-devices.com. Irony, hyperbole, allegory, paradox, simile, metaphor, etc.
Free reading practice tests can be found here at Varsity Tutors.
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