Recommendations of Good CLEP Prep Books

[Bluemirage]

Hi everyone!

Thought I'd come on this forum to get some recommendations for solid CLEP preparation books. I've got a foreign bachelor's degree and I'm currently doing all my prereqs in the US at my state university. I figure that with so many classes I'm planning to take, that I might as well get another Bachelor's degree to improve my application chances. However I really do not feel like wasting my money or time on courses such as History of the US I & II, American Government , Western Civilization I & English Literature. I really need to hurry up and get to medical school!!

Does anyone have any good recommendations for CLEP books on these subjects? Also for those who have CLEP'ed the above subjects, how long does it typically take to prepare for each exam? Thanks in advance for any responses.

Bluemirage

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[Bluemirage]

Anyone?

 

[Code Brown]

Hi everyone!

Thought I'd come on this forum to get some recommendations for solid CLEP preparation books. I've got a foreign bachelor's degree and I'm currently doing all my prereqs in the US at my state university. I figure that with so many classes I'm planning to take, that I might as well get another Bachelor's degree to improve my application chances. However I really do not feel like wasting my money or time on courses such as History of the US I & II, American Government , Western Civilization I & English Literature. I really need to hurry up and get to medical school!!

Does anyone have any good recommendations for CLEP books on these subjects? Also for those who have CLEP'ed the above subjects, how long does it typically take to prepare for each exam? Thanks in advance for any responses.

Bluemirage

I ended up taking about 24 units of CLEP to speed up the process as well. I only spent about 15 hours preparing for each test (I read each of the prep books twice) and did well on them. I think they had some practice exams in the end of each book so you know if you are ready for it. I thought they were pretty easy. The only one I wouldn't bother with is the Natural Sciences one as your pre-reqs will cover this GE requirement, unless you can somehow get away with taking them as an elective.

Look for them on Amazon. The ones I used were from REA (research & education associates) and Comex Inc. Both were solid.

Saved me a whole semester of GE's.

 

[Prophecies]

I took the US History (I&II) and American Government CLEPs. I used CliffNotes AP US History and AP American Government books. Since the CLEP and AP exams are supposed to test the same thing, I found the AP books to work very well (actually they provide probably more detail than you need, but better to be safe than sorry)!

Anyway, I highly recommend you check out AP books from Princeton, CliffNotes, wherever.

 

[Bluemirage]

Thanks Code Brown and Prophecies for your kind help on this subject! I will definitely check out your suggested guides and start pluggin away. Hopefully I can CLEP out of all of the courses that I've mentioned in my original post so that I can be on schedule with my medical school plans!

 

[Belfagor]

Thanks Code Brown and Prophecies for your kind help on this subject! I will definitely check out your suggested guides and start pluggin away. Hopefully I can CLEP out of all of the courses that I've mentioned in my original post so that I can be on schedule with my medical school plans!

I suggest the prep books and just going over the sample problems. I was personally a horrible student in high school and was by no means a good test taker, but I still rocked the CLEPs based on this method. It helps to have some background, but a solid review leading up to the test should suffice. I thought the CLEPs were a great deal financially, but make extra certain that your school will give you credits for the exams you are planning to take before you lay down the money and time. Literature and US History II did not get applied at either college I attended, so make extra sure to check on those two.

 

[Code Brown]

I suggest the prep books and just going over the sample problems. I was personally a horrible student in high school and was by no means a good test taker, but I still rocked the CLEPs based on this method. It helps to have some background, but a solid review leading up to the test should suffice. I thought the CLEPs were a great deal financially, but make extra certain that your school will give you credits for the exams you are planning to take before you lay down the money and time. Literature and US History II did not get applied at either college I attended, so make extra sure to check on those two.

I agree. Some schools only accept CLEP toward the elective portion of your degree. Also, I would make sure you get something in writing from the registrars office stating that it will count.

 

[Bluemirage]

Code Brown & Belfagor,

Thanks for your suggestions and advice. Fortunately at the testing center at my University, they have a CLEP book that outlines all of the CLEP credits they accept and the passing score for each CLEP test. You are both right though...it would be a major pain in the butt if I did all those credits but they did not count! Thanks again.

 

[Code Brown]

Code Brown & Belfagor,

Thanks for your suggestions and advice. Fortunately at the testing center at my University, they have a CLEP book that outlines all of the CLEP credits they accept and the passing score for each CLEP test. You are both right though...it would be a major pain in the butt if I did all those credits but they did not count! Thanks again.

Good luck! It's definitely worth doing. The social science and humanities exams are really nice as they're worth 6 units each. The US history is really basic so I would do that one first. I read the book twice and did well, despite the fact that it was the first time I had ever seen the material as I went to high school in Canada. My buddy took the Political science one and said it was really easy assuming you have some semblance of what is going on in politics and watch the news once in a while.

One other thing. I probably wouldn't take any english ones as most medical schools will want 2 semesters of english/literature and CLEP won't cut it for these requirements.