Best CLEP Exams to Take First: A Practical Order for Homeschoolers

Start With the Easiest Wins

The 34 CLEP exams range from genuinely straightforward to brutally difficult. Starting with the wrong one can tank your student's confidence and waste three months before a retake. Here's how to sequence them.

The highest-pass-rate CLEP exams tend to be the ones most homeschoolers have already been living with: US History (I and II), Introductory Psychology, Introductory Sociology, and American Government. If your student has been reading broadly and can retain factual content, these exams reward general knowledge more than specialized study.

College Composition is worth prioritizing early because it may satisfy an English Composition requirement at a college that accepts that exam. Check the target school's CLEP policy before relying on it for a degree requirement.

The Practical First-Five Sequence

For a student starting from zero, this order maximizes early credit while building test-taking confidence:

1. Introductory Psychology — High pass rate, content is accessible, satisfies a social science requirement at most universities. The Modern States course covers it well.

2. College Composition — Harder than psych, but passing it opens the most doors. This is the one credit almost every degree plan requires.

3. American Government — If your student has any civics background, this is a fast study. Satisfies a government or political science requirement.

4. College Algebra — Only if your student is comfortable with math through Algebra II. If not, skip it and use dual enrollment for the math requirement instead. A failed CLEP math attempt means a 90-day wait.

5. Introductory Sociology or US History I — Both are content-heavy but conceptually manageable. Pick whichever aligns with your student's interests.

The Modern States Pipeline

Each of these exams can be taken for $0 through Modern States' "Freshman Year for Free" program. Your student works through the free online course, achieves an average score of at least 75% across the module quizzes and final practice assessment, requests a voucher that covers the $97 College Board fee, and then submits the test center receipt for reimbursement of the $15–$40 local administration fee.

The constraint: you must complete the Modern States course for that specific subject before requesting the voucher. Rushing through the modules just to grab the voucher defeats the purpose — the course content is genuinely useful prep.

Exams to Delay or Skip

Calculus — High failure rate, especially for students who haven't completed a full precalculus course. Dual enrollment calculus at a community college is usually a better path because it earns graded credit and your student gets instructor support.

Natural Sciences and Biology — The content is broad and the scoring is strict. Unless your student has a strong science background, these exams have a lower return-on-study-time ratio than the social sciences.

Analyzing and Interpreting Literature — Sounds easy, turns out to be one of the trickier CLEP exams. The passages require close reading at a level many high schoolers aren't ready for.

Financial Accounting and Information Systems — Specialized subjects that satisfy narrow requirements. Unless your student's degree plan specifically needs these, they're not worth the prep time.

How Many CLEP Exams Is Too Many

Universities set their own CLEP limits. Common total caps for external exam and transfer credit are 30–45 semester hours; beyond a school's cap or applicable degree requirements, additional exams may not help the degree plan.

There is also a financial-aid consideration: attempted dual enrollment credits recorded on a college transcript count toward the 150% Satisfactory Academic Progress maximum timeframe. CLEP and AP scores are not the same as attempted college coursework. College coursework completed before high school graduation does not by itself change first-year applicant status; at most institutions, a course taken after graduation makes the student a transfer applicant.

The Homeschool College Credit Guide includes a credit-tracking worksheet that maps earned credits against degree requirements and financial aid limits, so you can sequence exams without accidentally crossing a line that costs your family money.

Building a Study Calendar

A reasonable timeline: one CLEP exam every 6–8 weeks. That's enough time to work through the Modern States course, do supplementary reading, take practice tests, and schedule the exam. Stacking two exams in the same month leads to shallow prep and retake penalties.

The 90-day mandatory waiting period between retakes makes the sequencing decision real. If your student fails Introductory Psychology in September, they can't try again until December. Starting with the highest-confidence subject and building momentum forward is worth more than starting with the "most important" subject and hitting a wall.

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