CLEP Humanities This was my first CLEP and one of the most difficult for me. I studied from every source I could find for about a month! I managed a 65, so it is doable, and some people even consider it easy. This of course depends upon your previous knowledge of the subject material. I had next to none. This exam is extremely broad, but not very deep. There is everything from tap dance to Greek architecture to opera and ballet!!! On top of that, there are 140 questions and only 90 minutes to finish, so keep an eye on the time. Also, as always, don't waste time on questions you no clue on; guess and move on. REA study guides have been a great resource for me; they have helped me pass many exams, but in this case I don't think that their guide is enough to get the job done. Use multiple sources. Here is a good one for helping to recognize various artists and styles: Posters.com
I agree that the REA guide was good but not enough. We pulled from tons of sources and the pass/fail sucess of my kids came down to one having more literature and music background than the other. I would still use the REA version with the CDROM. The practice questions are so helpful.
I used three main resources: 1) Comex study guide 2) Princeton Review's Cracking the CLEP 3) InstantCert I studied for about a month and passed with a 68. This has been my hardest CLEP test so far, but I worried about it more than I should have.
I'm reading through the REA guide, but it's not nearly in depth enough compared to the practice tests. I'm using the Barron's English Lit thingy and looking through art books. What books/websites do you recommend for familiarizing myself with the stuff that will be on the test??
My favorite CLEP site is free-clep-prep.com. There are tons of useful links to free sources for each exam as well as short reviews of the best inexpensive prep sources. The site is set up by a former CLEP test taker himself, who knows both from experience and from survey of other takers exactly what you need to pass. There is even a link to free practice tests.
Would you guys recommend taking English Lit or Humanities first?? They're both ordered from my testing center already, so I can take either next week. I have the Barron's 101 Keys, the Idiot's Guide, and the Norton Anthology all for English Lit already. I had almost made up my mind to take English Lit first until I got a little spooked by the military pass rates (12 for English Lit!!). What do you recommend??
How would you guys guess that the time period emphasis is split up in this?? I found the percentages for subject & type questions, but I haven't found anything about time periods. I'm super strong on the impressionist era of art & the, like, Jane Austen era of lit. Just make a rough guess of how your test was split up??
Passed Hmmm, there are so many questions on this test that it's hard to recall what they were!!! There were a lot that had you classify a group of people. Each of the options would have 3 names, & it would ask whether they were composers/artists/etc. There were probably 8 or more of those questions. Know your Shakespeare plots. I would look up the different branches of modern art, I had several questions asking whether a painting was Dada, Neo-Expressionist, Surrealist, etc. Uhhh, if I think of anything else, I'll post again
Humanities Feedback My 17 yr old passed this today with a score of 68! Base Textbook: Cunningham L., & Reich, J. (2006). Culture & values: A survey of the humanities. (6th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson. ISBN 0-534-58227-3 Looking at the art books at the LCO Community College Library Barron's CLEP (2008) One Peterson's Practice Test (which she did poorly on) College Board CLEP Prep Guide The test was all over the place, so the advice to study wide, but not deep is good advice!
I had already gotten this test approved by my Excelsior counselor and registered for it when I decided to do more research about it (yes, that is not the correct order). After reading that there were better options to fill my general education requirements and reading that this test requirement a large body of material, I decided to suck it up and get it done. I used the Comex Review, it had great material, but I got a bum copy off Amazon Marketplace that had 1/2 the answers circled already (I finally learned to cover the circled area and was able to get good use out of it). I bet I didn't pay $10 for it with shipping. I then signed up for speedyprep, but just for the first month, that had a special for $10 (after that it went up to $25/month). I would not need it over a month if I passed the test. I do have a significant background in music theory and history (my mother is a trained musician and wanted all her kids to be that also). I had a fair amount of art history knowledge that was self-aquired. I was particularly deficient in literature and poetry so I studied those particularly well before going to the test. Silly computer at our local university froze up the first time I tried to take the test and I had to come back a few days later. Of course I looked up some of the questions though I doubted they would come up again (a few did, yea!). I was pretty sure I had passed. I was thrilled to see my score of 74. Unfortunately, I will simply earn a "Pass" as far as Excelsior is concerned, but that wrapped up the last of my general education requirements (provided I pass the stats class I'm in right now). And, I remembered to cancel my speedyprep subscription when I got home from the test.
