If you’ve taken a lot of exams already, or plan to, the Social Sciences and History CLEP is an easy six credits. With minimal study for this specific exam, I scored a 64. And it was all because I saved this exam for towards the end, having already taken and passed the following related exams in this order:
- Introductory Psychology
- Introductory Sociology
- Introduction to Educational Psychology
- Human Growth and Development
- Introduction to World Religions (DSST)
- US History 1 & 2
- US Government
- The Civil War and Reconstruction (DSST)
- History of the Vietnam War (DSST)
- Ancient Civilization 1 & 2
If all these exams fit in your degree plan, then do these first and you will need very little study.
The Social Science and History CLEP breaks down like this:
40% History — 17% US History, 15% Western Civ, 8% World
13% Government / Political Science
11% Geography
10% Economics
10% Psychology
10% Sociology
6% Anthropology
As you can see, this exam encompasses a lot, but like most exams worth 6 credits, it doesn’t go into great detail. And I swear my exam was at least 50% history, if not more, and most test takers say the same. So do this exam after immediately finishing the history exams first if you can.
Since it had been around six months since passing all those related psychology exams, before taking this one, I went through the Human Growth & Development, Educational Psych, and Intro Psych and Sociology Instant Cert cards once for review. To prepare myself for the Economics questions, I went through both the Microeconomics and Macroeconomics IC cards twice.
And that was it. If hit this one the same way I did you’ll pass. If you don’t need to take the Civil War & Vietnam exams don’t worry, they didn’t have much an influence on me passing. Don’t remember there being a single question about Vietnam on my exam
It will pay to know the basic players in Sociology, like Max Weber, Freud, and Durkheim. The Articles of the Constitution and Amendments. Major religions and their basic beliefs.
If you’d like an actual book to study, there is the REA Guide. It has practice tests in the back. But be warned: the tests will might make you feel incompetent, wrecking your confidence. I always found the actual tests to be easier. And anyways, the price of the book new is more than a one month’s membership with Instant Cert, where you can access the flash cards and a forum where everyone discusses what they encountered on the exam and how they studied for it.
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