Clep English Comp/Freshman College Comp

[Johanna]

Has anyone taken both English Comp general clep and Freshman College Comp? How do they compare? Can you take both for credit or do you have to choose because one cancels the other out?

[snazzlefrag]

Has anyone taken both English Comp general clep and Freshman College Comp? How do they compare? Can you take both for credit or do you have to choose because one cancels the other out?

Hi Johanna,

I have taken both the CLEP Freshman Comp, and CLEP English Comp w/ Essay, so I can give you a first-hand comparison.

First of all, in most cases, the two exams WILL cancel each other out. Excelsior only allows a total of 3 English Comp credits in addition to the 3 credits you earn in fulfillment of the Written English Requirement. As a result, if you are getting your degree at Excelsior, you will only get 3 credits for either of the above 6-credit exams.

The English Comp w/essay exam is split up into half multiple-choice, and half essay. I had a total brainfart on the essay portion of the exam, and ended up scoring a 57 (much lower than I knew I could have scored). As a result, I decided to take Freshman Comp to try and replace my low score on English Comp.

I found the multiple-choice section of English Comp to be very straightforward. As long as you are good at writing essays, and don't have a brainfart like I did, the essay section is not very difficult either.

The Freshman Comp exam was VERY much like the multiple-choice section of the English Comp exam....just MORE of the same kind of questions.

If you are good at spotting grammatical errors in sentences, and can identify ways to improve sentences etc., then Freshman Comp is the way to go.

The English Comp exam takes CLEP a few weeks to score, because your essay gets sent away to be graded. The Freshman Comp exam is scored instantly.

My 'brainfart' essay is what screwed up my score on the English Comp exam. I knew I had aced the multiple-choice portion. Even so, I still managed to pass it. So I can say that if you are good at the multiple-choice aspect, and can write a VERY basic essay, you will pass.

If essays are not your strong point, I would go for Freshman Comp instead.

If I had to do it all over again, I would go straight for the Freshman Comp exam, and skip the English Comp w/essay exam altogether.

Hope that helps,
Snazzlefrag

[Straydog]

Johanna,
I agree with snazzle, except I didn't take the essay version of English Comp (I hate essay questions). The freshman comp is just an extened version of English comp. So knowing grammar errors and paragragh comprehension skills is a solid foundation for scoring well on the tests.

[adamdriggers]

Johanna,

You can pass this easy! Ensure what your college requires (some require essay, some don't). I took the CLEP English Comp with Essay with no studying and passed just fine. This one and the CLEP Analyzing and Interpreting Literature can be passed without any studying if you have normal knowledge of the English language- they are kinda you-know-it-or-you-don't tests. My 16-year-old brother passed both of them. If you are not strong, do practice for this one as it will pay off. You can do it!