Earn Up to 12 College Credits by Taking the CLEP Foreign Language Exam

Many college students look for various ways to save money on their tuition costs. Non-traditional options such as credit by exam, can provide students with a large amount of credit to complete their degrees. Schools such as Excelsior College and Charter Oak State College, offer students around 6-12 college credits for each exam they take, based on their achievement. Find out how you can save hundreds by taking these exams to accelerate your degree completion.

The exams

The CLEP exam offers three exams for foreign language: German, Spanish and French. Each exam covers about 2 semesters of college coursework in the given language field. Depending on how well you do, you are generally awarded credit for either one or two semesters worth of course credit. So, success in these tests require college mastery of the language at the lower level, commonly described as "101" and "102" course levels. Each exam costs about $77 to take.

Excelsior College

Excelsior College awards ample credit for taking these exams. As a student, you can earn two semesters of college credit with a cut score of 50 on the French, Spanish and German exams. This is equivalent to about 6 college credits that would cost you around $1890 when taking a course priced at $315 per credit hour.

Earning a higher score allows you to save the most and accelerate the fastest. Scoring a 62 on the French exam or a 63 on the German and Spanish exam allows you to receive four semesters worth of credit, which is around 12 credits of coursework that would cost you around $3,780 when taking a course priced at $315 per credit hour, with Excelsior College.

Charter Oak State College

Charter Oak provides similar cut scores for earning credit with the CLEP exams. A student with a score of 50 will be awarded six credits for successful completion of level one of the CLEP exam, in French, Spanish and German. A student with a score of 59 in the French exam, 60 in the German exam, and 63 in the Spanish exam will be awarded another 6 credits for completion of the level two portion. For a non-resident, this would cost around $3,180 if these credits were taken traditionally at a rate of $265 per credit hour, with Charter Oak .

The CLEP foreign languages exams, offer students with great opportunity to earn college credit in a timely and economical way. The average student can study for these exams at their own pace, without having to attend classes, whether online or on campus. It also allows students who are already fluent in a language to demonstrate their competency for credit and become closer to earning their degree.

Source(s) cited:

Excelsior College
Charter Oak State College
Charter Oak State College Tuition and Fees
Charter Oak Exam Master List
Excelsior Exam Cut Score Charts
Excelsior College 2009-2010 Undergraduate Fee Schedule
CLEP Exam Descriptions
CLEP French Language Exam
CLEP Spanish Language Exam
CLEP German Language Exam