Tell me the difference between CLEPing and AP courses

[Bear23]

What is the big difference? Or they basically the same?  I graduated with a C average in high school and worked my arse off to graduate with honors in college.  I never took an AP course or did any CLEP testing.  It is all new to me.  I also want to have some knowledge of this stuff too when I do go and talk to the counselor at the local high school.  We are 50/50 on what to do with high school.

[Angie in VA]

8FillsTheHeart (affectionly called "8" around here) posted this and this recently. Read through the thread. I didn't read it all, but I bet there is good info there.

 

Also, do searches for CLE , SAT Subject tests, SAT 2 or SAT II to get more ideas. 

 

HTH.

[merylvdm]

The short version is that many colleges do not acccept CLEP. I think of all the colleges (about 30) my oldest 3 children applied to - only one accepted CLEP. Almost every college accepts APs, but most do not accept every AP that one can take (for instance - very few seem to accept the Human Geography). The majority do accept the more popular ones (the 2 English exams, the science ones, the languages , the histories) and they have got my kids as much as 8 credit units each (again each college has different rules).

 

If you don't know where your child wants to attend college, and they will be able  to cope with AP exams - then that is your safest bet.

 

However, if you do know where they want to go and that college accepts CLEP - then that is the cheaper and easier route.

[IanSebast]

CLEP courses give you instant credits based on your scores, and like someone mentioned, some colleges don't accept them. AP courses are validated once the student starts attending the university or college where they're requesting the credits from. AP courses are more widely accepted. Most community colleges accept both of them. I had credit for both, and transferred them into my education with no problem

[Sebastian (a lady)]

CLEP courses give you instant credits based on your scores, and like someone mentioned, some colleges don't accept them. AP courses are validated once the student starts attending the university or college where they're requesting the credits from. AP courses are more widely accepted. Most community colleges accept both of them. I had credit for both, and transferred them into my education with no problem

 

The CLEP tests don't really give instant credits either. It is still dependent on a college/uni setting a policy that they will grant college credit for a certain score on a certain test. The College Board isn't an accredited institution, so it cannot grant credit on its own.

 

On the College Board website, you can find a search function that lets you find the CLEP policy for colleges/unis across the US and internationally.

 

clep.collegeboard.org

 

Any school has the authority to limit transfer credit. That could be limits to community college or CLEP or AP or even other 4 year schools. They could limit transfers to general ed or to coursework outside the major or to lower level courses or to a max number of credits. Or any other policy they choose to put into place.

 

Looking at a smattering of schools, it does make me wonder what happens if you take a CLEP exam and have a community college grant credit and then try to transfer that credit into a 4 year school. I don't know if the 4 year school would treat the credit by exam credits differently than other CC credits. 

[Corraleno]

CLEP courses give you instant credits based on your scores

The credits are held by the College Board and is transferred to the University of choice.

 

The College Board doesn't "hold credits" — they have no authority whatsoever to grant college credits. A CLEP score provides evidence to colleges that a student has mastered a certain body of knowledge (at least enough to pass the test); in that respect they're no different from AP scores. Some colleges will grant a certain amount of credit for specific scores on some exams. Very few colleges will give credit for all of them. Some only give credit for a few, some will only count them as electives, and some require much higher scores than the CB considers "passing" (just as some colleges will only give credit for AP 4s & 5s, not 3s). These factors vary widely from college to college. 

 

CLEPs are generally considered easier than APs, and IMO do not carry the same weight in terms of admissions. CLEPs are computer-based, multiple-choice exams, and many people seem to be able to pass them with just a few weeks, or even a few days, worth of cramming with a prep book. Many more colleges accept APs than accept CLEPs. This could be an issue if a student transfers from one school that accepts CLEPs to another that doesn't — I remember reading a post (either here or on CC) by someone who ended up having to retake several courses because the 4 yr school she transferred to did not accept the CLEPs that the CC had given credit for. I have read on CC that colleges can reject CLEP credits even if the student transfers in with an AA.

 

 

[IanSebast]

All I can say is that both he cc and the university accepted all my CLEP credits with no problem. They didn't go with a value (# of credits), however, I was able to take the next level up in the classes I had tested out of, and they appeared as transferred courses in my transcript. AP courses were only accepted after the first semester at the university was completed successfully, and not all the classes transferred. What I was referring to when I said "instant credit" before was to the fact that once the institution to which you're applying accepts the CLEP courses, you can take the subsequent classes in those subjects, whereas with AP, you have to go to school for a semester, and in some cases take a test given by the department before continuing. I'm not saying that one is better than he other, I'm simply stating the differences I know first hand.

 

It's very possible that other people had different experiences, but that is mine.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

All I can say is that both he cc and the university accepted all my CLEP credits with no problem. They didn't go with a value (# of credits), however, I was able to take the next level up in the classes I had tested out of, and they appeared as transferred courses in my transcript. AP courses were only accepted after the first semester at the university was completed successfully, and not all the classes transferred. What I was referring to when I said "instant credit" before was to the fact that once the institution to which you're applying accepts the CLEP courses, you can take the subsequent classes in those subjects, whereas with AP, you have to go to school for a semester, and in some cases take a test given by the department before continuing. I'm not saying that one is better than he other, I'm simply stating the differences I know first hand.

 

It's very possible that other people had different experiences, but that is mine.

You have hit the nail on the head with the last statement. It can be very useful to share experience to give folks an idea of how one situation went. For example the difficulties some families had over setting up AP exams is what prompted me to start looking for exam sites in January.

 

On the other hand we have to remember that our experiences may not represent absolutes. Just as an example you experience with having to wait a semester before the college would accept ap scores for credit is a new twist that I've not seen mentioned before.

 

Thanks for the link to the College Board list of school policies. I find going back to the base policies has been helpful for navigating through our options.

[8filltheheart]

Here is a school where you will see credit granted after completion of the next higher level cours with a C.

 

However, you should also note that it is only true in courses where the CLEP exams for those courses are not accepted at all or CLEP exams only give credit for lower level work. For example, no foreign lang CLEPs are accepted, but the AP foreign lang credit is contingent upon passing the next level with a C. Or greater. (The number of AP courses accepted is far greater than CLEP.)

 

The CLEP cal does give credit for cal 1whereas the AP AB a 3 gives contingent credit, but a 4 or 5 gives credit. The BC exam gives contingent credit for cal 1 with a 2, a 3 gives credit for cal 1 and contingent credit for cal 2, whereas a 4 or 5 gives credit for cal 1 and 2.

 

http://admissions.ncsu.edu/apply/credit-opportunities/advanced-placement-ap/

http://admissions.ncsu.edu/apply/credit-opportunities/college-level-examination-program-clep/

[IanSebast]

For example, no foreign lang CLEPs are accepted

 

This is interesting, I got credit for the 4 lower Spanish classes! Those were the classes I CLEPed! Has anyone had a similar experience? What's the "rule," if there is such thing? Does it depend on the institution?

[regentrude]

This is interesting, I got credit for the 4 lower Spanish classes! Those were the classes I CLEPed! Has anyone had a similar experience? What's the "rule," if there is such thing? Does it depend on the institution?

 

Yes, it depends on the institution (as so many things in the college education process- not all colleges are created equal.)

Our university does not give any credit for a foreign exam CLEP; the students would have to take a department exam to verify their level of preparation.

Some of the colleges my DD has applied to do not give any credit for CLEP at all, any subject.