The English Composition CLEP, because of the required written essays, was one of the few exams I stressed a lot over. I still don’t know what score I achieved, as the results never came in the mail, but I did pass. When I took the exam, I’d already been out of high school for seven years and hadn’t written anything substantial since. But, as it turns out, that doesn’t matter.
There were 50 multiple choice questions to be completed in 50 minutes. That was the easier part. Half the questions revolved around reading a passage and interpreting it, or correcting mistakes from a sample essay — very similar to the Analyzing & Interpreting Literature CLEP if you’ve already taken that one. Make sure when reading the sample essay to read it out loud and not silently to yourself, since your ears are better at noticing mistakes than your eyes.
Then there were the essays, the part I sweated. For the first essay you have 30 minutes to state your opinion to a question using your background knowledge. For the second essay you’re given two sources of information and have to choose a side to support and use citations, all in 40 minutes. For me, it was a race against the clock. I used every second of every minute, and by the end of it my brain was fried. Move quickly.
How I studied
I went through all the Instant Cert cards once, and then twice more through the grammar section, my weak point.
I had to learn how to write an essay. As a guideline, I used the five paragraph format from the “Fast Food Essay” on Sparknotes. Excellent resource and guide. I can’t recommend it enough.
Then I practiced the “fast food essay” by finding writing prompts and timing myself. The time constraint forced me to spew out whatever I could on paper and not worry about being perfect. The prompts I took from the REA book and Peterson’s practice tests, which turned out to be a good idea because they were very similar to those on the actual test. After five practice essays, I felt comfortable.
If you need some writing prompts, look here.
In the 40 minute informative essay, you will read two passages and have to use in-text citation. To prepare for this, I read the citation chapter in the REA book, and I also read over the MLA format on the Purdue Owl website. Here’s a link to the in-text citation page.
Final thoughts and tips
I would not stress about the multiple choice section, just move quickly and mark whatever questions you can’t answer so you can come back to them later. You don’t want to run out of time!
As for the essays, shoot for five paragraphs. The word on the street is that three paragraphs is the absolute bare minimum. On my last essay I wrote four but still passed.
Do not stray from the topic of the essay. On the first persuasive essay, take a stance and stick with it. Do not stand on the fence. Your prompt could be: Some people believe violence on TV promotes violence in real life. Do you agree or disagree? Whether you disagree or agree, choose whichever side you can write about the most!
It’s worrisome not being given the results right away. But if you prepare as much as I did, I think you’ll be fine. The passing rate for this one is 69%.
Sahak says
your work is brilliant the Bin4weeks, thank you so much and let me ask one basic question:
do i need to get enroll in a college before taking the exams or should i finish all the exams in CLEP AND Then take admission in college?