Clep Composition Exam Tips and Difficulty?

[Daithi]

I found the grammar section pretty easy. It was writing fast that I found exceedingly difficult. In fact, I didn't finish either essay. On the 30 minute essay I had a topic introduction section, three more paragraphs (with the last line of the 3rd paragraph not finished), and a 4th paragraph composed of one line that began "In conclusion..." and wasn't finished either. On the 40 minute essay I had two well written paragraphs and had intended to write a third but ran out of time. A scorer may have found it odd that I'd only written two paragraphs, but at least that essay looked like I'd finished it. In any event, I still passed with a score of high 50 something. Keep in mind that the grammar section is worth 50% of your grade. The REA book is very good for preparing for the grammar section. If you can do well on the grammar section it will help offset a mediocre score in the writing section.

I can only remember one of the prompts from my test, but ethically I don't think I can reveal it. However, if you use a list of SAT writing prompts, which are all over the web and very similar to the CLEP writing prompts, then you shouldn't have any problems answering whatever they throw at you. Here is a list of SAT Essay Prompts. I really wish I had practiced writing these essays under a time constraint. It would have saved me a month of worrying if I'd failed.