I was wanting to take the Clep American Government Test over the summer and got a 72 and 75 on the two practice Peterson Tests I took. I have heard that the Peterson Tests are harder than the real thing and I know that my target school requires 55-60% to take credit for the class. Am I ready for this test and if not, what resources should I use? (first post by the way)
I am sure that your school is requiring a score of 55-60, not 55-60%, as the CLEP scoring is a scaled scoring system. Is the scoring from the Peterson practice tests a percentage or also a scaled score? CLEP suggests a passing score of 50 which is supposed to equate to the work of a ‘C’ student. I would say you are probably fine, but have you taken the CLEP practice exam for this subject?
Thank you for responding. You are correct about the score and the Peterson test scores are out of a hundred questions and thus also the percentage. I have not yet taken the CLEP practice exam. I have heard that the Peterson tests are more difficult in some subject areas than the CLEP but I would like to hear your thoughts. (You have responded to many CLEP-related questions) Thanks again!
The best gauge of the CLEP exam is to take an actual CLEP practice exam. It is good to want to answer more questions about a specific subject (showing how much you actually know), but it is good to get to know how CLEP words their questions and get an idea of the depth of the subject matter, too. Check out one of your local libraries to see if they have the CLEP Study Guide book (can’t recall the title, but it doesn’t matter too much about the edition). You can make a photocopy of the practice test and see how you do without investing more money into purchasing practice exams on their site.
I may be too late and you have discovered that you are, indeed, ready to CLEP. If not, here are a couple of ideas. Free-clep-prep has a U.S. Gov’t CLEP test you can take. I registered there to investigate the tests for my son. I haven’t taken the full test, but you can look into it and it’s free. SpeedyPrep has a progress bar that tracks your mastery of its material and they will tell you when you are ready to test. It’s all online and they have a money back guarantee. Your Peterson materials are certainly good and your are probably well-prepared, but it sounds like you want some more resources to be sure that you are ready. Good luck and kudos to you that you want to make the most of the CLEP opportunity by being well-prepared and only take it once!