The composition portion of the CLEP has been developed to fully examine a person's writing skills on mainly the first-year level of composition courses. These examinations use a combination of "writing projects," including multiple-choice questions and in-depth essays, to assess a person's skills in using the English language when it comes to forming understandable logic and arguments, developing cohesive ideas within research and analyzing certain passages of reading. After being redesigned in July 2010, there are now only two main types of composition tests on the CLEP: college composition and college composition modular.
The college composition portion of the CLEP contains two different sections: approximately 50 multiple choice questions and a set of two essays. Each of these parts of the exam is scored independently, with the final scores of each combined into a single score that is scaled between 20 and 80 points. Anyone taking this exam can expect to have 50 minutes to answer the multiple-choice questions and 70 minutes to write the two essays, both with content specifically chosen by the CLEP that utilizes the specific skills a person would obtain from completing some of the lower-level composition classes. These exams are scored twice a month by faculty in various college's English programs.
The college composition modular portion of the CLEP is very similar to the regular college composition portion. The college composition modular exam contains approximately 90 multiple choice questions and an essay section that can be set up in one of two ways. The essay portion can be provided by either the particular college that is giving the exam or by the CLEP itself. This allows colleges to administer more of a local control to the writing assessments in the form of one essay; if the college decides to use the CLEP essays, there are two separate ones that must be completed. The grading system for the college composition modular is the same as the regular college composition portion of the CLEP.
There are four main areas where skills are assessed in these two composition examinations: rhetorical analysis, revision, ability to properly use sources and overall abilities with standard written English. Anyone taking either of these CLEP examinations should be able to clearly communicate a set of skills that fall under each of these sections. The skills necessary for doing well include, but are not limited to, critical thinking, audience analysis, recognizing the purpose and style of writing, properly using and citing references, writing and revising drafts and a general knowledge of grammar and sentence structure.