CLEP vs. DSST

[alissaroot]

This is probably a stupid question...oh well.

What are the advantages/disadvantages of CLEP or DSST?

All CLEPs are Pass/Fail, no letter grades. DSSTs under the old scoring system are awarded letter grades by some colleges, DSSTs under the new scoring system are all Pass/Fail

Several CLEPs are worth six credits, foreign language worth 12 credits for a high score, the others are three credits. All are lower level. All DSSTs are worth three credits, some upper level. Remember that schools reserve the right to determine how many and at what level they will award credit, so it varies.

CLEP exams have five answer choices, DSST exams have four answer choices for all questions. In my personal opinion, DSST exams are the easier of the two.

I'm not certain on this, but I think that if you take the paper version of DSST exams, they are not timed? I think CLEPs (all CLEPs are computer based) have a 90 minute time limit and computer based DSSTs have 120 minute time limit. Does anyone know this for sure? I can't remember...

Is one used/accepted at colleges more often than the other? (And they can be used in conjunction with each other, right?)

Thanks in advance...

According to the Prometric website, more than 1900 schools accept DSST, and according to the College Board website, more than 2900 schools accept CLEP exams, so it appears at first glance as though CLEP is somewhat more accepted?

Some CLEPs will duplicate some DSSTs. For example, the DSST Introduction to Computing may duplicate the CLEP Introduction to Computer Systems and Applications. Check with your school.

Hope that helps!