Has anyone passed/failed this CLEP? How do they normalize this exam?
CollegeBoard does not “normalize” the CLEP exam other than to allow for adjustment within the scale for those forms of the exam which might have more difficulty. Is that what you are asking? There is a scaled score of 20-80 with a typical passing score of 50. This does not mean all schools consider a 50 a passing score. You have to know what your school requires. The score of 50 is supposed to equate to a ‘C’ student’s work.
If you haven’t done so, make sure to read all about this exam on the CLEP website. They have an exam description for every exam they offer which will give you a good idea of how the subject matter will be covered. They also have a practice exam for download ($10) or you can find the same practice exam in any edition of the CLEP Official Study Guide book (many public libraries have an edition on their shelves).
@feature4: I took it yesterday and barely passed with a 51. Basically it’s a computerized calculus AB exam with 44 questions (27 non calculator and 17 calculator). They don’t “normalize” or curve the test; the scores range from 20-80 and everyone starts off with 20 points. For every question you get right, you get one point added to your score. ETS recommends that colleges give credit for a score of at least 50, but every school reserves the right to set their own minimum passing score requirements so check with your school.
To practice for this test, I used Amsco’s AP Calculus AB/BC review book by Maxine Lifshitz and also purchased the calculus CLEP study guide from the collegeboard for $10. The study guide’s difficulty and format matches that of the actual exam.
Lastly, the calculus CLEP exam is much easier than the calculus AP exam. I received a 1 on the AP Calc AB exam but passed the CLEP after 1 month of relearning the concepts.
Best of luck on your exam.
I just want to correct leafgreen15 on the scoring of CLEP exams. Yes, everyone does “start out” with a score of 20, but you do not get one point added to your score for every question you answer correctly! Obviously, this method of scoring would only work if there were 60 questions (since as you stated the scores range from 20-80). This is not the case. CLEP/CollegeBoard utilizes a scaled scoring method. Their system knows how many questions you must answer correctly to be granted a score of 50.
Some may want to say that since there are 44 questions (for this test) then each question must be worth a certain amount, but that is not the case because not all of the questions are even scored (all of their tests have some extras thrown in there to create multiple forms of the same subject test).