There are six sub-categories of the Composition and Literature section: American Literature, Analyzing and Interpreting Literature, English Composition, English Literature, Freshman College Composition and Humanities. While each of these exams requires that you demonstrate understanding in poetry, prose and drama, the exams also require demonstration in more specific areas of each subcategory. The American Literature exam focus on the various period of American Literature including The Colonial Period, The Romantic Period, The Period of Realism and Naturalism, The Modernist Period and The Contemporary Period. Analyzing and Interpreting Literature requires understanding of British and American Literature. English Composition and Freshman College Composition, are more detailed exams. English Composition includes an essay requirement. The exam includes sentence structure and boundaries, skills in context such as thesis and coherence, and ability to use resource materials.
The Foreign Languages examinations include three subcategories: French, German and Spanish. The exams are approximately 120 questions and are broken into three sections. The sections include listening comprehension for short spoken prompts, listening comprehension for longer spoken prompts and reading. The reading section requires a mastery of vocabulary and sentence structure. It also requires a mastery of reading and comprehension of various styles and levels of difficulty.
The History and Social Sciences section consists of 12 subcategories. These categories are American Government, Human Growth and Development, Introduction to Educational Psychology, Introductory Sociology, Principles of Macroeconomics, Principles of Microeconomics, Social Sciences and History, History of the United States I: Early Colonization to 1877, History of the United States II: 1865 to the Present, Western Civilization I: Ancient Near East to 1648, and Western Civilization II: 1648 to the Present. Each examination averages approximately 100 questions and requires a demonstrated knowledge of the specific subcategory. Each exam is multiple choice and includes no essay requirements.
The Science and Mathematics category includes Biology, Calculus, Chemistry, College Algebra, College Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Precalculus. Each of these exams has a varying number of questions due to the nature of the exam. For instance, the Calculus exam consists of 44 questions with two sections, while the Chemistry exam consists of 75 questions. Each exam is subcategory specific and all exams fit into the 90 minute time frame.
The Business CLEP exams include Financial Accounting, Introductory Business Law, Information Systems and Computer Applications, Principles of Management and Principles of Marketing. Each of these exams average approximately 100 questions and have no essay requirements. The sections demand a demonstration of knowledge specific to the subcategory. The Financial Accounting section is the newest addition to the CLEP exam list. It was added in 2007.