Parent Question: What happens if my son fails the CLEP?

Q: What happens if my son fails a CLEP exam?

A: The bad news is that he’s going to feel like crap. The good news is that there aren’t any repercussions. The really good news is that their scores are confidential.

Grade Point Average: CLEP exams taken in high school aren’t part of your teen’s high school GPA.

Grade Point Average: CLEP exams taken in college aren’t usually part of your teen’s college GPA.

Letter Grades: CLEP exams, when accepted by a college, are pass/fail credits, so it is exceptionally rare that a college would award a letter grade for an exam score. I do know of one college that does, so never say never, but the overwhelming majority simply award “credit” and no grade.

Cost: All students are encouraged to use the Modern States FREE Voucher Program to pay for their CLEP exams. Through this program, there are not costs associated with taking (failing or passing) a CLEP exam. If you opt to pay for your exam without the voucher, you would have to pay for each exam attempt.

College reporting: Scores are confidential, and a student may elect to send their scores to a college but a student is not required to send scores to a college.

Disclosure: unlike the classes your teen takes through dual enrollment, a student does not have to disclose that they’ve taken a CLEP exam.

Retake: for all students, you must wait 3 months to retake an exam that you’ve failed. It’s really important to note that CLEP’s registration website doesn’t block you from registering or taking a test that you’ve failed- but they WILL VOID YOUR SCORE if it hasn’t been a full 3 months to the day, so you’ll want to make sure you’re waiting at LEAST 3 months before taking the test again.