This CLEP cheat sheet squeezes the College Board's credit-by-exam program into a printable rundown of the numbers and content weights that decide your score. It's a premium cheat sheet built by Capital Prep — the one premium prep we trust — and it's yours free. Back it up with the rest of your free CLEP toolkit: the practice test, study guide, and flashcards.
CLEP exam at a glance
- Score scale: Scaled 20-80; no national pass/fail line
- Credit-granting score: ACE recommends 50 (≈ a grade of C); each college sets its own
- Questions & time: ≈60-120 multiple-choice, most exams ~90 min (College Composition is 125 min with 2 essays)
- Cost: ≈$97 per exam plus a test-center administration fee (+$30 for remote proctoring); verify at clep.collegeboard.org
- Program: 34 single-subject exams across 5 areas; administered by College Board
What’s on the CLEP cheat sheet
- History & Social Sciences (12 exams) — government, U.S. and Western history, psychology, human development, economics, and sociology — the largest subject area.
- Science & Mathematics (7 exams) — College Algebra (functions ~30%), College Mathematics, Precalculus, Calculus, Biology, Chemistry, and Natural Sciences.
- Composition & Literature (6 exams) — College Composition (Revision Skills ~40%, sources ~25%, rhetoric ~25%), literature, and humanities.
- Business (5 exams) — management (functions 45-55%), marketing (the 4 Ps), financial accounting, information systems, and business law.
- World Languages (4 exams) — Spanish, French, and German — split into listening (~40%) and reading (~60%); a 50 earns Level 1, higher earns Level 2 credit.
How to use it in your final week
- Lock in the numbers that never change: scaled score 20 to 80, the 50 credit line, rights-only scoring (no penalty for guessing, so answer everything).
- For your specific exam, drill the heaviest content area first — Revision Skills is ~40% of College Composition, and functions are ~30% of College Algebra.
- Read the sheet the morning of the test for a final pass on the memory hooks, then confirm your college accepts the exam and the minimum score it needs.
- Pair each review pass with a short timed set on the practice test to keep your pacing sharp — most CLEP exams give you about 90 minutes.
The cheat sheet is your review layer — your CLEP practice test drives the exam-readiness ring at the top of this page. Download it, review, then take a full practice exam (or drill with the study guide and flashcards) to see where you stand.
CLEP cheat sheet FAQ
Yes — the CLEP cheat sheet downloads as a PDF at no cost and with no sign-up. It sits alongside Career Employer's free CLEP practice test, study guide, and flashcards, so your whole review layer is free.
CLEP has no national pass/fail line. Exams are reported on a scaled score of 20 to 80, and the American Council on Education (ACE) recommends colleges grant credit at 50 — roughly a grade of C. Each college sets its own required score, and a few upper-level language exams award extra credit above 50, so confirm your school's policy.
It condenses the facts that carry across the program: the 20-to-80 scaled score, the 50 credit line, the five subject areas and how many exams each holds, and the high-yield weightings for the most-taken exams such as College Composition and College Algebra.
CLEP is a family of 34 single-subject exams, so the sheet front-loads the program-wide rules (scoring, credit, registration, retakes) that apply to every exam, then the highest-yield content weights for the most popular subjects. Pair it with your specific exam's official fact sheet.
It is built from the College Board's current CLEP exam descriptions and ACE credit recommendations, and reviewed against them regularly. Fees and college credit policies change, so verify the latest details at clep.collegeboard.org before you register.
References
- 1.College Board. “Earn College Credit with CLEP.” clep.collegeboard.org, 2026. ↑
- 2.College Board. “CLEP Exams (all 34, by subject area).” clep.collegeboard.org, 2026. ↑
- 3.College Board. “Understand Your CLEP Scores.” clep.collegeboard.org, 2026. ↑
- 4.College Board. “ACE Credit Recommendations.” clep.collegeboard.org, 2026. ↑
- 5.College Board. “CLEP College Composition.” clep.collegeboard.org, 2026. ↑
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