Rather important note about CLEP English Comp with Essay

I'm CLEPping out of everything I can before forking out the dough to enroll in TESC, and have a very long way to go before that'll happen. I plan to take all I can and have the scores just mailed to CLEP in the meantime.

Well, I was about to sign up for the English Comp with Essay, when thankfully the woman told me that CLEP only holds that score on file about six months, and then they toss it. She said the other scores are kept on file indefinitely, however. Rather important thing I wouldn't have known had she not mentioned it.

One thing I'm wondering... I'm currently signed up to take a class in Mythology at Louisiana State University. If I had the CLEP scores sent there, would TESC then accept the CLEP scores in transfer from LSU? or would I still need to have CLEP mail them directly to TESC? Anybody know?

Thanks all!

Tracy

 

Who told you that they only hold the score for 6 months? I suspect that you received unreliable information. I took that exam a couple of months ago, and there was no indication that it is handled differently than any of the others. Scores are supposed to be kept for 20 years; I'm sure that if this exam were an exception then there would be a disclaimer provided.

 

Ok, what a mess. Every college or university I call to test at gives me partially correct or absolutely incorrect information. Even when you call the College Board that administers CLEP, you're lucky if you get someone who doesn't give you wrong information.

Basically, yes and no as to things being kept six months. Here's what I mean:

I called the College Board this morning and they said there are two tests: English Composition with Essay and the Freshman College Composition with optional essay.

English Composition with Essay: Now totally on computer, even the essay portion. The essay is always unavailable to your particular college if they want to see it. CLEP only retains the scores and gives those out - not the essay for your school to see.

Freshman College Composition with Optional Essay: The essay portion of the exam is handwritten and given to your particular school for them to grade it. If you don't know what school you want to go to yet, DO NOT take this exam. The woman at CLEP said that if the handwritten booklet came there "it could get lost or something could happen to it." She also said that it wouldn't be kept longer than six months if it wasn't sent to a specific school and that she highly advises against anyone taking this exam unless they're already enrolled in a college/university.

So evidently the testing center I called yesterday only heard "essay", and then gave the info for the Freshman College Composition with Essay. Then again, a man at the College Board told me yesterday that ALL essays are still handwritten, so I guess the chances of getting hold of anyone who knows what they're talking about are slim!

 

Ah, I see. If you take the general English Composition with essay (it's written on the computer using the same interface that's on the CLEP sampler software) then it will be graded by the College Board and you should be fine. This is the exam that I took, and TESC accepted it as credit for ENC-101 and ENC-102 with no problems whatsoever. The exam is also very easy; I got a 68 after just doing 2 practice exams for preparation. In retrospect I wish that I'd practiced writing a few timed essays before the exam since I ran out of time before I could proofread or modify my essay at all, but I guess the goal is just to pass since a grade isn't assigned. I'd suggest just doing as many practice exams as you can and then writing at least a few timed essays shortly before you take the exam.

Good luck!

 

English Comp with Essay

Hello, My husband took the TECEP in English 101 several weeks ago and found it fairly easy. I know the price is a concern but if you plan to end up with a TESC degree it may make your life easier. The easy scheduling at our local library was worth the extra money. Have a great weekend. Hille

 

Awesome! Congratulations on getting two classes out of the way in less than two hours .

So CLEP scores don't eventually go on TESC transcripts, right? I'm hearing folks here talk about the percentiles that they scored at, and if just getting above a 50 is all that matters, I'm not gonna sweat it.

 

I'm sure that the TECEP is fine too, but I'd still recommend the CLEP for this requirement since it's easy and more efficient. It's hard to beat 6 credits for $46 plus whatever fee your testing site might charge. I think that TESC had my score a couple of weeks after I took the exam, so it's quick too. I haven't actually seen my TESC transcript yet, but I don't think that exam scores get recorded in any way other than just "credit." I wish that they did assign letter grades, since my other exams have all been in the 70's.