How to Study for the Analyzing and Interpreting Literature CLEP

CLEP exams by the College Level Examination Program is a system that allows college students to test out of lower level college classes. Most colleges will award credit for tests taken. Other colleges will place the student in a higher level class. Many high school students,especially homeschool students, take the tests in order to g to prove their knowledge level. The Analyzing and Interpreting Literature CLEP is considered one of the easiest CLEP exams to take. This is debatable.

On a scale of 1-5 for difficulty, the Analyzing and Interpreting literature CLEP is ranked as a 2. Before taking this test, however, it is a good idea to actually have read a bit of literature. This test is EASY for anyone who reads and ENJOYS literature. For anyone else, it is challenging. You can determine if you are ready to take the Analyzing and Interpreting Literature CLEP based on prior knowledge by taking the practice test at this web site: CLEP Exam Practice Tests. If you don't get most of these questions correct, you should plan to study for 6-8 weeks.

If you have never read any literature before preparing for this test, you should pick up a literature anthology book to familiarize yourself with different styles of writing through the ages. Give yourself a couple of months to read this literature before beginning your study plan.

This is the breakdown for the Lit CLEP exam :

Genre
35-45% Poetry
35-45% Prose (fiction and nonfiction)
15-30% Drama
National Tradition
50-65% British Literature
30-45% American Literature
5-15% Works in translation
Period
3-7% Classical and pre-Renaissance
20-30% Renaissance and 17th Century
35-45% 18th and 19th Centuries
25-35% 20th and 21st Centuries
(From College Board )

Literature has a vocabulary of all it's own. There are many free literature terms vocabulary lists, but I like these created at studystack.com. Studystack.com teaches vocabulary words using flashcards and games like hangman or scrabble. They can also be downloaded to your PDA.

Literary Terms Set 1
Literary Terms Set 2
Literary Terms Set 3
Literary Terms Set 4

In addition to learning these literary terms, I encourage any student to keep a notebook and write down words they encounter while taking practice tests that they are not familiar with. It is very important to learn this information.

Video Course for Analyzing and Interpreting Literature CLEP: Learner.org (Annenberg Media) has a free online course that anyone taking the Analyzing and Interpreting Literature Course should take. It is Literary Visions course found at this link. This video course also has an Literature website for further exploration. (Of course this was added after my son took the test!) Students should watch a video each day while taking notes as you would in any lecture class and use the exploration website to further learn the concepts. After watching the videos and exploring the website for 2-3 weeks, you should finish the video course, and you can then move on to taking the practice tests.

Practice Tests Analyzing and Interpreting Literature CLEP: After each practice test, review all of your answers. Take at least 6 tests, repeating previously taken tests if need be. You can find Practice tests at: Petersons' website for free if someone in your family is in the military. if you are not a family member of someone in the Military, you can pay $19.99 for the practice tests. You can also purchase the REA CLEP Guide for Analyzing & Interpreting Literature which has several practice tests in it. You will know you are ready to take the CLEP exam if you score a 60 or higher on a Peterson's practice test, or if you get 60%-70% or more correct on another practice test.

The tests costs about $100 to take,(It differs based on test center) so it does not make sense to take it before you are ready. Many test centers will allow you to take the test the same week that you call for an appointment so you should not have to set a deadline and stick to it.