CLEP Tests Provide Cost and Time Saving Option for Students Who Choose to Drop College Courses

With the fall 2009 college semester underway, some students are already finding themselves overwhelmed by their semester course loads. In addition, occasionally, students are faced with difficult life circumstances, such as a death in the family or a major illness, and must drop courses in order to accommodate these events. Most colleges and universities allow students to drop classes by a certain date without any academic consequences. Dropping a class after the college's deadline will likely result in the student receiving a failed score for the course. Students who drop a course can elect to take that course at a later time, such as during the next regular semester or during a winter or summer semester. The thought of completing a dropped course sometime in the future can be a daunting one; adding the dropped course onto a later semester can result in an even more burdensome course as the student will be taking the dropped course in addition to the other semester course requirements. Another option for students who drop courses is CLEP, College Level Examination Program.
CLEP allows students to demonstrate college-level knowledge of a subject on thirty-four different exams in subjects such as history, composition and literature, mathematics, business, and social sciences. Each CLEP test costs $72 to take plus a small administrative fee. CLEP tests cover material taught in lower level or general education college courses. ACE, Education, recommends the minimum qualifying exam scores that students must achieve on the CLEP exam in order to receive credit as well as semester credit hours that colleges grant students for each qualifying CLEP test score. Qualifying exam scores can each result in the examinee earning between three and six credits. High scores on certain CLEP tests may even result in as many as twelve credits. Since most undergraduate degrees require that students take two years of introductory level or general education courses as prerequisite degree requirements, students are often able to use CLEP exams to earn credits toward their future degree. In addition, with over 2,900 colleges and universities granting credits for qualifying CLEP test scores, many students will find that they can benefit from the cost and time saving benefits of CLEP exams.
The cost savings associated with CLEP are obvious; each qualifying CLEP test score can save a student hundreds or thousands of dollars in tuition. In addition, the time saving benefits associated with CLEP exams are many. The time required to prepare for a CLEP test is often much less than the time associated with attending a course, studying, and completing required course work. In fact dedicated students can often prepare for CLEP tests in as little as a few days or a few weeks. Instead of having to take the dropped course during a summer or winter semester, the student can use his free time and breaks from school to work, travel, or spend time with family. These advantages are very significant ones for students who drop a course.