Advantages of Choosing Studies regarding College or University Credit

Many colleges take CLEP, a few colleges will not; the same is true for AP, Advanced Placement. But there are two benefits of taking tests for college credit, in spite of which method you decide on.

One benefit is that it is a college course that they will get credit for. That credit may be accepted or it may not. The other benefit is that it can show the college that my child truly does know chemistry, for example.

Many colleges may give you the college credit and others won't, but the only way that you can find out is to check with them personally or look at that college's website and search under credit by examinations. Often colleges will have a policy and it will talk about dual enrollment by AP, CLEP and others as well.

When making a transcript you are able to list classes by subject or by year. When I listed the classes by subject, I didn't mention which ones were the early high school credits but when I listed it by year I did.

So, it would say ninth grade these classes, tenth grade these classes. Anything before 9th grade I said "Early High School Credits". I gave them high school credit for each of those things that I knew was high school level. Any class that they took and passed a CLEP test, I gave them an honors credit, given that CLEP demonstrates a college level of learning.

At the University of Washington, they do not offer college credit for CLEP, but I provided CLEP exams for both of my boys anyways and that is one of the reasons why we received scholarships at the University of Washington. I had all of these tests in all of these different areas so that they knew that what I submitted on the transcript was really correct. So, although they failed to obtain college credit for their CLEP, it still paid off.

Regardless of whether your preferred college takes CLEP or not, the test can deliver significant benefits for you student.

High school level tests like the SAT and ACT are different than college level tests like the CLEP. There are significant benefits but also huge differences with the different high school tests. Being familiar with these tests will help you save BIG money on college.