Español – 9 college credits, please!
Many of your teens have picked up Spanish because your family is bilingual, your community has a lot of Spanish-speaking members, or they’ve taken a Spanish class for homeschool. If you’re not sure whether or not to push forward with learning Spanish formally, let me tell you: YES!
After a few years of high school Spanish, your teen can attempt the CLEP Spanish exam and pick up as many as 9 college credits! This exam costs under $100 (currently $0 when you use a Modern States voucher) and is one of the most widely accepted CLEP exams they can take.
Even at full price, your teen can earn college credit for about $11 per credit!
Barbara from our FB page writes “Check the school the student attends. My daughter’s university offers up to 12 credits for all four semesters!!!! It is one of the cheaper public university’s school to attend, but per credit hour is $364. ”
Thank you Barbara!
12 x $364 = $4,368 in tuition SAVED by using this one exam. That’s more than some scholarships
The Spanish CLEP exam is about 100 questions in 90 minutes and tests 2 major areas:
Listening & Reading
Knowledge and Skills Required
Questions on the Spanish Language exam require test takers to comprehend written and spoken Spanish. The subject matter is drawn from the abilities described below. The percentages next to the main topics indicate the approximate percentage of exam questions on each.
Section I (15%)
Listening: Rejoinders
Listening comprehension through short oral exchanges. Choose the response that most logically continues or completes each conversation. You’ll have 10 seconds to choose your response before the next conversation begins.
Try sample questions
Section II (25%)
Listening: Dialogues and Narratives
Listening comprehension through longer spoken selections. You’ll hear a series of selections, such as dialogues, announcements, and narratives. Each audio selection is accompanied by a graphic or picture and is followed by one or more questions.
The questions have various formats. Some questions offer four possible responses, each with an oval to click to indicate your answer. Other questions ask you to select part of a graphic, fill out a table, or put a list in the correct order. For some of these questions, you’ll have to click in more than one place to complete your response. Be sure to follow the specific directions for each question.
You’ll have a total of 12 minutes to answer the questions in this section. Note: The timer is activated only when you’re answering questions.
In this section, you may adjust the volume only when a question is on your screen. It will affect the volume of the next audio prompt you hear. You can’t change the volume while the audio prompt is playing.
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Section III (60%)
Reading
16% Part A: Discrete sentences (vocabulary and structure)
Each incomplete statement is followed by four suggested completions. Select the one that is best in each case by clicking on the corresponding oval.
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20% Part B: Short cloze passages (vocabulary and structure)
In each paragraph, there are blanks indicating that words or phrases have been omitted. When a blank is shaded, four completions are provided. First, read through the entire paragraph. Then, for each blank, choose the best completion, given the context for the entire paragraph.
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24% Part C: Reading passages and authentic stimulus materials (reading comprehension)
Each selection is followed by one or more questions, incomplete statements, or commands. For each question or incomplete statement, select the best answer or completion. For each command, click the appropriate area of the screen according to the directions given.
Try sample questions
Textbooks
A survey conducted by CLEP found that the following textbooks are among those used by college faculty who teach the equivalent course. You can purchase one or more of these online or at your local college bookstore.
- Armen, Abriendo Puertas: Lenguaje (McDougal Littell)
- Gill et al., En Contacto (Heinle)
- Gilman et al., Nuevos Horizontes (Wiley)
- Iglesias and Meiden, Spanish for Oral and Written Review (Heinle)
- Kiddle et al., Perspectivas (Heinle)
- Knorre et al., Puntos de Partida (McGraw-Hill)
- Siskin et al., Entrevistas: An Introduction to Language and Culture(McGraw-Hill)
- Valdes and Teschner, Español Escrito (Prentice Hall)
Online Spanish Class
We are currently loving these Udemy Spanish Classes taught by Peter Hanley. At our pace, we’re using each level for 1 semester (1/2 high school credit). He also has a Facebook group you can join and practice with others.
(super affordable at only $10 per level when purchased on sale – which happens often)
Spanish for Beginners Level 1 (you can watch a sample video)
Simple Spanish TV
Unlike the more racy TV options, these are fun “children” episodes through Georgia Public Broadcasting. Favorites like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, or Monster Mayhem – all in Spanish (like Sesame Street). These are fun with a simple vocabulary that makes picking up the story a little easier for our teens – even if they are targeted toward a younger audience. I enjoy them and I’m <cough> a bit older.
Live Tutoring
Preply connects real people via Skype to arrange tutoring from home. There are so many great people offering their services (like the student in Peru who will tutor your student for $5/hour to earn money for college or the retired school teacher who loves to teach) but I’d suggest sitting in with your teen until you’ve found the right fit – these are all independent contractors so you might have to kiss a few toads before you find a prince.
You might also like:
Everything you need to know about College Level Exam Program (CLEP)
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