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CLEP College Composition Practice Test

Prepare for your test with realistic questions.

The College Board administers the College-Level Examination Program (CLEP), which offers affordable exams to help students across the country receive college credits. This article covers the CLEP College Composition exam, which tests your writing skills and general English knowledge.

Click “Start Test” above to take a free CLEP College Composition practice test!

What is the CLEP College Composition Exam?

As mentioned previously, if you are already familiar with a particular subject without having a college education, CLEP exams can be taken to earn college credits for those subjects. If you have learned the exam material through life experience, previous studies, or on-the-job training, you can take this one exam and receive college credit as if you took the one-semester course!

By taking and passing the CLEP College Composition exam, you can skip the composition class at college, which could potentially result in the following:

• Save you money because the test is cheaper than a semester at college
• Allow you to earn three or more college credits
• Add flexibility to your degree program
• Allow you to graduate on time or possibly to graduate ahead of schedule

It is important that you check with your college before taking this exam to make sure it is an exam they will accept.

CLEP College Composition Exam Eligibility

There are no eligibility requirements to take this exam! CLEP exams are available for anyone to take at any time, regardless of age or formal education.

Generally, you will see the following groups of people taking the CLEP College Composition exam:

• Homeschool students
• High school students who are preparing to graduate
• College students
• Adults who are returning to school
• Professionals who want to use the exam results to help advance their careers
• Applicants to master’s degree programs that still have undergraduate prerequisites they need to fulfill

CLEP College Composition Exam Outline

The CLEP College Composition exam contains 50 multiple-choice questions and two essays. The multiple-choice questions have a time limit of 55 minutes, while the essays are timed at 70 minutes.

The multiple-choice questions are split into four categories:

Conventions of Standard Written English (10%)

The knowledge and skills tested in this section include:

• Logical comparison
• Punctuation
• Identification of correctly written sentences
• Logical agreement
• Sentence boundaries
• Passive and active voice

Revision Skills (40%)

• Sentence structure
• Transitions
• Evaluation of evidence
• Use of language
• Organization
• Consistency of point of view
• Main idea and thesis statements
• Topic sentences
• Level of detail
• Author’s appeal
• Rhetorical effects
• Awareness of audience

Ability to Use Source Materials (25%)

• Reference materials
• Source evaluation
• Integration of resource material
• Source documentation

Rhetoric Analysis (25%)

In this section, you will be asked to write two essays.

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CLEP College Composition Exam Registration

The CLEP College Composition exam is administered year-round on a very flexible schedule, and you can register via the College Board website.

First, you must create a College Board account. This will allow you to register, and you will be able to see any exams you have taken and view the grades of the exams you have taken. You can also request a transcript from this page.

During the registration process, you will need to pay the $90 exam fee and choose whether to take the exam at a testing center or from home via an online proctor.

Testing In-person

Once you have selected the testing center, date, and time that works best for you, you will need to print your exam ticket. You will not be admitted into the testing center without this printed ticket (a screenshot of the ticket will not be accepted).

Testing Remotely

Before you register, you should ensure that you meet the system requirements:

• You must have a PC desktop or laptop (Macs, Chromebooks, and tablets are not supported).
• Your computer must be using the Windows 10 operating system (Windows 11 is not supported).
• Your computer must have the most recent version of Google Chrome installed.
• You must have a speaker of some kind, internal or external (headphones are not allowed).
• You must have a camera and microphone, internal or external.
• You must have a reliable internet connection.

Once you have selected the date and time that works best for you, you will need to download the ETS Online Test desktop application. This app is what allows you to take the exam on your computer at home.

In-person Testing

On the day of your exam, you should arrive at the testing center 15-30 minutes earlier than the scheduled time. Once you arrive, you will be asked to provide a valid, government-issued photo ID, as well as your printed registration ticket.

Before you enter the testing room, you will be asked to leave all personal items (cell phone, bag, coat, notes, food, etc.) in a secure locker outside the testing area. Since you are not allowed to bring your own calculator, a TI-30XS MultiView scientific calculator will be made available within the testing software:

Remote Testing

On the day of your exam, you will need to log in to your CLEP account 15-30 minutes prior to your scheduled exam time. Once you have logged in, you will need to download and install the Proctortrack desktop application. Within this app, you will be asked to verify your identity with a face scan, and you will need to scan your photo ID. You will also be asked to scan your testing room using your webcam.

Once the check-in process is complete, you will need to open the ETS Online Test desktop app, and the proctor will get you set up and start the exam.

During the exam, you must ensure that no one enters your testing area. If someone comes into your room, you must immediately ask them to leave, and you cannot say anything else.

How the CLEP College Composition Exam is Scored

CLEP exams are scored with one point for each correct answer, and you will not have points removed for any incorrect answers or skipped questions. The number of correct answers you have will be your raw score.

Your raw score is converted into a scaled score, which is typically in numeric form ranging from 20 to about 80.

An unofficial score report will appear on the screen as soon as you finish the exam, and an official report will be made available the day after the exam when you log in to your CLEP account.

Passing Score

Each college has its own CLEP score requirements, so there is no universal passing score. You can usually find this score requirement on your college’s website or course catalog.

According to the American Council on Education, a scaled score of 50 or higher is often what colleges require.

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How to Study for the CLEP College Composition Exam

How to study effectively.

Your success on CLEP test day depends not only on how many hours you put into preparing but also on whether you prepared the right way. It’s good to check along the way to see whether your studying is paying off. One of the most effective ways to do this is by taking CLEP College Composition practice tests to evaluate your progress. Practice tests are useful because they show exactly where you need to improve. Every time you take a free CLEP College Composition exam practice test, pay special attention to these three groups of questions:

• The questions you got wrong
• The ones you had to guess on, even if you guessed right
• The ones you found difficult or slow to work through

This will show you exactly what your weak areas are and where you need to devote more study time. Ask yourself why each of these questions gave you trouble. Was it because you didn’t understand the material? Was it because you didn’t remember the vocabulary? Do you need more repetitions on this type of question to build speed and confidence? Dig into those questions and figure out how you can strengthen your weak areas as you go back to review the material.

Answer Explanations

Additionally, many CLEP College Composition practice tests have a section explaining the answer choices. It can be tempting to read the explanation and think that you now have a good understanding of the concept. However, an explanation likely only covers part of the question’s broader context. Even if the explanation makes sense, go back and investigate every concept related to the question until you’re positive you have a thorough understanding.

Comprehend Each Topic

As you go along, keep in mind that the CLEP practice test is just that: practice. Memorizing these questions and answers will not be very helpful on the actual test because it is unlikely to have any of the same exact questions. If you only know the right answers to the sample questions, you won’t be prepared for the real thing. Study the concepts until you understand them fully, and then you’ll be able to answer any question that shows up on the test.

Strategy for CLEP College Composition Practice

When you’re ready to start taking practice tests, follow this strategy:

• Remove Limitations. Take the first test with no time constraints and with your notes and CLEP study guide handy. Take your time and focus on applying the strategies you’ve learned.
• Time Yourself. Take the second practice test “open book” as well, but set a timer and practice pacing yourself to finish in time.
• Simulate Test Day. Take any other practice tests as if it were test day. Set a timer and put away your study materials. Sit at a table or desk in a quiet room, imagine yourself at the testing center, and answer questions as quickly and accurately as possible.
• Keep Practicing. Keep taking practice tests on a regular basis until you run out of practice tests or it’s time for the actual test. Your mind will be ready for the schedule and stress of test day, and you’ll be able to focus on recalling the material you’ve learned.

How many questions are on the CLEP College Composition exam?

There are 50 multiple-choice questions and two essays on the exam.

How long is the CLEP College Composition exam?

The total time limit for the exam is about 2 hours; the multiple-choice questions are timed at 55 minutes, and the essays are timed at 70 minutes.

What is the passing score for the CLEP College Composition exam?

There is no set passing score for the exam, but a scaled score of 50 is recommended.

How much does the CLEP College Composition exam cost?

The exam fee is $90.

By Peter Rench

Peter Rench joined Mometrix in 2009 and serves as Vice President of Product Development, responsible for overseeing all new product development and quality improvements. Mr. Rench, a National Merit Scholar, graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in mathematics from Texas A&M University.

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Writing a Stellar CLEP Essay

Welcome back to our third and final installment of our CLEP essay tips! In our first and second blog , we talked about lots of things you can do to prepare, and now is the time to discuss how to write a stellar essay when you take the exam.

It can be challenging to remember how to write an essay, especially if you haven’t written one in awhile. While our CLEP exam review materials don’t include resources for writing an essay, we’re here to give you some informal guidance in our blog. Take a look at how to break down your essay, and find the best in CLEP test prep courses from SpeedyPrep!

Getting Set Up

We’ve mentioned this in a previous blog, but it’s really important that, first and foremost, you fully understand exactly what the essay prompt is asking. For this example we’re going to use a sample prompt from CLEP College Board , for the American Literature exam.

“For the first essay, a common theme in American literature and a list of major American authors are provided. Test takers are asked to write a well organized essay discussing the way that theme is handled in works by any two of those authors.”

As an example, let’s use two popular pieces of American literature: The Grapes of Wrath and Harlem . This book and poem, respectively, are famous examples of 20th century American literature, by contemporary writers John Steinbeck and Langston Hughes.

To start, note that the prompt says “ discussing the way that theme is handled in works by any two of those authors. ” We have bolded the key words. Identify the keywords in your essay prompt because your success depends on fulfilling these tasks.

This tells us we need to write an essay where we talk about how theme is used by two authors. It will probably be easiest to compare the similarities between the works, remembering to always come back to the stylistic choices of the authors .

Paragraph 1: The Intro

Before you write, come up with a cohesive thesis statement. A thesis statement is the sentence that states your point of view on the topic. It serves as the summary of the argument you will make in your essay. We could go into a full blog post about writing a great thesis statement, but for the sake of time, here’s a general formula for this prompt:

(Author 1) and (Author 2) (do what the prompt is asking) to show (theme).

Our practice thesis for this essay is as follows: Both Steinbeck and Hughes use the concept of unfulfilled dreams as a theme to show hardships faced by Americans.

Your intro should be about five sentences, with the final sentence explaining what your thesis is. The first few sentences should cover some of the basics of the two works, similar to this (though you very well might want to expand more on your own essay).

“The Grapes of Wrath” and “Harlem” are exceptional examples of 20th century American literature. While written at different points in time, they cover some similar topics, which provide a voice for American people across a span of several decades. Both Steinbeck and Hughes use the concept of unfulfilled dreams as a theme to show hardships faced by Americans.

Paragraphs 2-4: The Body

The body paragraphs are like the bullet points of your essay, but going into more detail. These three paragraphs will present evidence on three topics you plan to cover to support your thesis. When planning your essay, it is helpful to write out some bullet points for yourself to follow in writing the body paragraphs.

For your body paragraphs, you want to bring in a solid piece of evidence that backs up your thesis statement — more specifically, a new piece of evidence every time. After stating your evidence, you use the rest of the space in each paragraph to explain what you mean. We can’t stress this enough: every single thing that you’re writing should have some connection back to your thesis, and back to the prompt itself.

Here’s an example of a good body paragraph:

The wording choices used by both Hughes and Steinbeck represent the overarching theme of unfulfilled dreams and hardships faced by Americans in the 20th century. In “The Grapes of Wrath,” Steinbeck writes “… in the eyes of the people there is the failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath.” Steinbeck wrote this book about the Joad family during the Great Depression. When he uses the word “failure,” he’s referring to this theme of dreams that could not come true, and the consistent letdowns that came from such a period of economic hardship. Similarly, Hughes speaks in vivid imagery of “what happens to a dream deferred,” or a dream that does not come true. He talks of it “festering like a sore,” continuing with the theme of the pain that comes from an unfulfilled dream, more so in the context of the inequities faced by African Americans. Both authors focus on their wording to convey this theme of hardships faced by Americans, and how this led to many dreams that couldn’t be pursued.

Paragraph 5: The Closing

Closing paragraphs are gratifying to write, because it feels good to finish up a well-written essay. Your closing paragraph pulls everything together. Make sure you bring it back to the thesis and prompt once more, and provide a brief summary of some of your points (but worded in a different way). Use three to five sentences to close out your essay, and restate your thesis in a slightly altered way. For this essay good closing sentences could be “The theme of unfulfilled dreams was used by both Steinbeck and Hughes to represent the trials faced by the American people. This theme still serves as a relevant topic in today’s literature — as well as society as a whole.”

Writing an essay can seem challenging, but it’s like anything in life: the more you do it, the more comfortable you feel with it. Practice responding to prompts, reference our other two blogs for tips on getting set up for the big day, and make sure you feel confident on how to write a well-organized and well-structured essay — all of these components will help you feel more prepared for the test. In the meantime, remember that you can rely on SpeedyPrep for incredible CLEP exam review courses and resources — get started today!

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CLEP College Composition Practice Test

After the long stretches of class time you spent in high school and possibly community college learning about the writing process, you may be less than thrilled at the idea of taking another course teaching the ins and outs of writing. For many college students, a College Composition course is a common and mandatory part of first year curriculum. However, just because it’s common doesn’t mean everyone is receptive to taking the course.

CLEP College Composition Study Guide and Flashcards

Get practice questions, detailed study lessons, and complex subjects broken down into easily understandable concepts.

What can you do in this instance? It’s worth noting that you have options if you aren’t up for taking a College Composition course and want to free up that slot for a different class. Your first and most important option is the CLEP College Composition exam.

The CLEP is meant to evaluate your knowledge of a first-year college course subject of your choosing. Should you earn a passing score, you will earn full credit for the course and without having to take it, enabling you to devote that time slot to a class you want to take.

The CLEP College Composition exam comes in two halves: one essay question and 95 multiple choice questions, the former of which you can choose whether or not to answer. Because this exam is a bit more extensive than the others, it may be worth your while to develop a thorough study plan so you can earn the best possible score. To help you as you study, Mometrix Test Preparation has developed a CLEP College Composition practice test.

This free study tool includes CLEP College Composition practice questions covering every subject you will need to know for the real exam, including:

• Rhetorical Analysis (25 percent)
• Conventions of Standard Written English (10 percent)
• Ability to Use Source Materials (25 percent)
• Revision Skills (40 percent)

We hope this practice test will aid you as you prepare for this exam. For best results, we encourage you to use it alongside our companion CLEP College Composition study guide.

Additional Free CLEP Practice Tests

• CLEP American Government Practice Test
• CLEP American Literature Practice Test
• CLEP Analyzing Interpreting Literature Practice Test
• CLEP Biology Practice Test
• CLEP History of the United States I: Early Colonization to 1877 Practice Test
• CLEP Human Growth and Development Practice Test
• CLEP Humanities Practice Test
• CLEP Introductory Psychology Practice Test
• CLEP Natural Science Practice Test
• CLEP Principles of Management Practice Test
• CLEP Principles of Microeconomics Practice Test
• CLEP Social Sciences and History Practice Test

CLEP* Study Guide

English composition.

The only study guide that teaches you what you need to know to pass the English Composition exam (with no prior knowledge needed), and is constantly updated based on student feedback to guarantee you the best possible results.

About the CLEP* Exam

The English Composition (with or without Essay) CLEP exam is designed to test writing skills that a student would typically learn in a first-year college composition course. InstantCert's course prepares you for the multiple choice portion of the exam, focusing on sentence-level composition skills; students taking the version that includes an essay will need to prepare for the essay-writing portion using other resources.

Topics Covered in this Course

Basic Grammar Parts of speech Independent / dependent clauses Incomplete sentences and run-on sentences Combining sentences Identifying Sentence Errors, Improving Sentences, and Restructuring Sentences Sentence boundaries Clarity of expression Agreement: subject-verb; verb tense; pronoun reference, shift, number Syntax: parallelism, coordination, subordination, dangling modifiers Sentence variety

Customer Test Results for this Exam

285 users submitted test results since january, 2006. 266 of those users reported a passing score ( 93% )..

Below are ten of the most recent user-submitted test results. These are unfiltered, real results that were submitted by InstantCert students:

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Our English Composition CLEP Study Guide is covered by our 30-Day Risk-Free Unconditional Money Back Guarantee. Sign up now and put it to the test. If you don't like it, get your money back, no questions asked!

* CLEP is a registered trademark of the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product.

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College Composition Writing Prompts

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I plan on taking the CLEP college composition exam in late January. I'm pretty confident for the multiple choice sections (with an exception to sourcing materials), but I have doubts in my ability to write effective essays within the time limit. I think the best thing to do is practice continuously. I have practice essays from the College Board study guide and the REA study guide I bought. I also have some practice from my textbook and hopefully the textbook from Modern States. Might there be any more writing prompts you can share with me, that might proof useful for my practice?

Furthermore, I was wondering if there was any way a thread can be created where Reddit users make up writing prompts for each other. Can't really explain it better: a simple thread of writing prompts by users, and we use them for practice. We can even share the essays we write, and the users score them. Just thinking out loud.

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College Composition CLEP

The College Composition CLEP exam assesses writing skills taught in most first-year college composition courses. Give your student a leg up by encouraging him to develop his writing skills before he enters college. Students who pass this exam will earn 6 college credits and save themselves 15 weeks of class time.**

The exam contains 50 multiple-choice questions and two timed essays. Students must pass both parts to receive a passing score on the exam. This is the only exam where you have to wait for your scores in the mail, after the essays are evaluated. Start by assessing your student’s skills on the multiple choice section with these practice questions from The College Board. The Official CLEP Study Guide is a helpful resource, providing sample essays and scoring guidelines. The first essay is based on the student’s own experience, reading or observations. The second essay, according to College Board, will require candidates to develop a position by building an argument in which they synthesize information from two provided sources, which they must cite.

Students are given 30 minutes to write one essay, and 40 to read the sources provided and write the second. The instructions will be similar to this:

First Essay: “To understand the most important characteristics of a society, one must study its major cities.” Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

Second Essay: You have 40 minutes to read the information provided from two sources and to compose an essay responding to the topic. Use the information write an argument for or against the issue presented. Your response must include both sources and use correct documentation whether you summarize, paraphrase, and/or quote from the articles. Include the writer’s last name, the title of the work, or any other reference  to clearly attribute the information to its writer.

Preparing for this exam will also help students prepare for other upcoming essays such as those for standardized exams (ACT/SAT), scholarships, and college admission essays. It’s a win-win approach to education, making the most use of his time. Check out the Strategies to turn any essay from Good to Great below.

Practice writing 5-paragraph essays with the free online website Learning Express that can be accessed if your public library subscribes to the online database called Learning Express. Look for “Learning Express”, then the “College Prep” tab, then “ACT Prep” and “ ACT Writing Practice ”.  Here is Anoka County Library’s Link that is open to non-subscribers (as of today!). Another good resource to prep this exam is to sign up for the SAT Question of the Day on the College Board site. A question will be e-mailed to you each day. The grammar questions are similar to what you need to know for this exam.  I would encourage your 7 th grader to start receiving these.

Curriculum Suggestions

We completed a year-long course with WriteShop I and finished with The Least You should Know about English (forms A, B, or C are the same, just different practice questions). I also used this list of 501 writing prompts for practice on writing impromptu essay.

Other recommended curriculum:   Lightening Literature. When studying World History study, consider LLATL

Strategies to Turn Any Essay from Good to Great

Information provided by EssayEdge . Permission to reprint granted.

  Strategy 1: Smaller paragraphs are better paragraphs

• There is no single correct number of paragraphs – 5 does not have to be the magic number.
• Don’t try to cram too much content in a single paragraph – have a single focus in that paragraph. No paragraph should be longer than 25% of the page.
• Sometimes an idea needs two paragraphs to fully develop. That’s okay!

Why is this great? Small paragraphs are positive because:

• The are more visually appealing and digestible (good first impression).
• They force you to make a point quickly and be succinct.
• They keep the energy of the essay up – the reader won’t get bogged down in your writing.

Strategy 2: Be specific and avoid generalizations

• Ask yourself: How is your story/answer unique? Avoid statements that everyone writes: “I want t o become a doctor because I love science and want to save lives.” This would probably true for all medical students. You want to stand out and put a face on your essay. If everyone can write it, you will struggle to stand out. Try: “As a pediatric rheumatologist, I will research treatments for children suffering from juvenile arthritis.” This statement is likely connected to you and only you. A very good thing. It helps your essay pop and your writing stand out.
• Add some details: Ask yourself – Is this as specified as I can be. “My volunteer experience has opened my eyes to the difficulties faced by the impoverished” is too general. Instead, try: “Volunteering with Habitat for Humanity motivated me to … “ Have a finished essay that can only be written by you and you alone.

Why is this great?

• It will help your essay stand out. It takes your essay from a pile of papers to having a personality.
• Essays that are specific tend to have fewer clichés and you want to avoid those.
• You’ll save space by not stating the obvious. Ask yourself: Is that content absolutely vital? If not, dump it. Be detailed to be more effective.

Strategy 3: Improve your Word Choice

• Don’t just avoiding generalizations but make your writing more descriptive. “I walked up to the counter and asked to speak with a manager.” Change to: “I swaggered up to the counter and demanded to speak with a manager.” Two words changed, but the picture painted is entirely different. “After adding the chemical to the small container, steam began to come out the top.” Can be improved to: “After pouring sulfuric acid into the beaker, steam began billowing out the top.” This one provides more information, uses fewer words and creates a vivid picture.
• Use Adjectives and Adverbs sparingly.  “I was extremely tired and my legs were very sore after completing the challenging workout.” Blah, blah. How about: “I finished the 10-mile run exhausted and with cramped legs.” Use better nouns and verbs, not just throw in more adverbs and adjectives. More descriptive without adding length.
• Banish ‘very’ from your essay.
• Better word choice, especially active verbs and descriptive nouns make your writing more engaging and compelling. You want them fully engaged and interested in reading, not just wanting to get through it.
• You will use fewer forms of the verb “to be.” Anything you can do to cut down on their use will likely make your essay more engaging.
• Better nouns and verbs help you save space; make every word counts.

More tips are available at EssayEdge.com

* Resource: Many colleges award credit based on the American Council on Education recommendation, which is six credits for the College Composition CLEP. Tuition and fees at Minnesota colleges range from $180 to $1,550 per credit hour. Multiplied by 6 credits equals a significant savings!

**Always check your individual college’s CLEP policy for variations in the number of credits awarded and their CLEP course equivalency chart.

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How To Tackle The Weirdest Supplemental Essay Prompts For This Application Cycle

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Writing the college essay

How do you write a letter to a friend that shows you’re a good candidate for the University of Pennsylvania? What reading list will help the Columbia University admissions committee understand your interdisciplinary interests? How can you convey your desire to attend Yale by inventing a course description for a topic you’re interested in studying?

These are the challenges students must overcome when writing their supplemental essays . Supplemental essays are a critical component of college applications—like the personal statement, they provide students with the opportunity to showcase their authentic voice and perspective beyond the quantitative elements of their applications. However, unlike the personal essay, supplemental essays allow colleges to read students’ responses to targeted prompts and evaluate their candidacy for their specific institution. For this reason, supplemental essay prompts are often abstract, requiring students to get creative, read between the lines, and ditch the traditional essay-writing format when crafting their responses.

While many schools simply want to know “why do you want to attend our school?” others break the mold, inviting students to think outside of the box and answer prompts that are original, head-scratching, or downright weird. This year, the following five colleges pushed students to get creative—if you’re struggling to rise to the challenge, here are some tips for tackling their unique prompts:

University of Chicago

Prompt: We’re all familiar with green-eyed envy or feeling blue, but what about being “caught purple-handed”? Or “tickled orange”? Give an old color-infused expression a new hue and tell us what it represents. – Inspired by Ramsey Bottorff, Class of 2026

What Makes it Unique: No discussion of unique supplemental essay prompts would be complete without mentioning the University of Chicago, a school notorious for its puzzling and original prompts (perhaps the most well-known of these has been the recurring prompt “Find x”). This prompt challenges you to invent a new color-based expression, encouraging both linguistic creativity and a deep dive into the emotional or cultural connotations of color. It’s a prompt that allows you to play with language, think abstractly, and show off your ability to forge connections between concepts that aren’t typically linked—all qualities that likewise demonstrate your preparedness for UChicago’s unique academic environment.

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How to Answer it: While it may be easy to get distracted by the open-ended nature of the prompt, remember that both the substance and structure of your response should give some insight into your personality, perspective, and characteristics. With this in mind, begin by considering the emotions, experiences, or ideas that most resonate with you. Then, use your imagination to consider how a specific color could represent that feeling or concept. Remember that the prompt is ultimately an opportunity to showcase your creativity and original way of looking at the world, so your explanation does not need to be unnecessarily deep or complex—if you have a playful personality, convey your playfulness in your response; if you are known for your sarcasm, consider how you can weave in your biting wit; if you are an amateur poet, consider how you might take inspiration from poetry as you write, or offer a response in the form of a poem.

The goal is to take a familiar concept and turn it into something new and meaningful through a creative lens. Use this essay to showcase your ability to think inventively and to draw surprising connections between language and life.

Harvard University

Prompt: Top 3 things your roommates might like to know about you.

What Makes it Unique: This prompt is unique in both form and substance—first, you only have 150 words to write about all 3 things. Consider using a form other than a traditional essay or short answer response, such as a bullet list or short letter. Additionally, note that the things your roommate might like to learn about you do not necessarily overlap with the things you would traditionally share with an admissions committee. The aim of the prompt is to get to know your quirks and foibles—who are you as a person and a friend? What distinguishes you outside of academics and accolades?

How to Answer it: First and foremost, feel free to get creative with your response to this prompt. While you are producing a supplemental essay and thus a professional piece of writing, the prompt invites you to share more personal qualities, and you should aim to demonstrate your unique characteristics in your own voice. Consider things such as: How would your friends describe you? What funny stories do your parents and siblings share that encapsulate your personality? Or, consider what someone might want to know about living with you: do you snore? Do you have a collection of vintage posters? Are you particularly fastidious? While these may seem like trivial things to mention, the true creativity is in how you connect these qualities to deeper truths about yourself—perhaps your sleepwalking is consistent with your reputation for being the first to raise your hand in class or speak up about a cause you’re passionate about. Perhaps your living conditions are a metaphor for how your brain works—though it looks like a mess to everyone else, you have a place for everything and know exactly where to find it. Whatever qualities you choose, embrace the opportunity to think outside of the box and showcase something that admissions officers won’t learn about anywhere else on your application.

University of Pennsylvania

Prompt: Write a short thank-you note to someone you have not yet thanked and would like to acknowledge.

What Makes it Unique: Breaking from the traditional essay format, this supplement invites you to write directly to a third party in the form of a 150-200 word long letter. The challenge in answering this distinct prompt is to remember that your letter should say as much about you, your unique qualities and what you value as it does about the recipient—all while not seeming overly boastful or contrived.

How to Answer it: As you select a recipient, consider the relationships that have been most formative in your high school experience—writing to someone who has played a large part in your story will allow the admissions committee some insight into your development and the meaningful relationships that guided you on your journey. Once you’ve identified the person, craft a thank-you note that is specific and heartfelt—unlike other essays, this prompt invites you to be sentimental and emotional, as long as doing so would authentically convey your feelings of gratitude. Describe the impact they’ve had on you, what you’ve learned from them, and how their influence has shaped your path. For example, if you’re thanking a teacher, don’t just say they helped you become a better student—explain how their encouragement gave you the confidence to pursue your passions. Keep the tone sincere and personal, avoid clichés and focus on the unique role this person has played in your life.

University of Notre Dame

Prompt: What compliment are you most proud of receiving, and why does it mean so much to you?

What Makes it Unique: This prompt is unique in that it invites students to share something about themselves by reflecting on someone else’s words in 50-100 words.

How to Answer it: The key to answering this prompt is to avoid focusing too much on the complement itself and instead focus on your response to receiving it and why it was so important to you. Note that this prompt is not an opportunity to brag about your achievements, but instead to showcase what truly matters to you. Select a compliment that truly speaks to who you are and what you value. It could be related to your character, work ethic, kindness, creativity, or any other quality that you hold in high regard. The compliment doesn’t have to be grand or come from someone with authority—it could be something small but significant that left a lasting impression on you, or it could have particular meaning for you because it came from someone you didn’t expect it to come from. Be brief in setting the stage and explaining the context of the compliment—what is most important is your reflection on its significance and how it shaped your understanding of yourself.

Stanford University

Prompt: List five things that are important to you.

What Makes it Unique: This prompt’s simplicity is what makes it so challenging. Stanford asks for a list, not an essay, which means you have very limited space (50 words) to convey something meaningful about yourself. Additionally, the prompt does not specify what these “things” must be—they could be a physical item, an idea, a concept, or even a pastime. Whatever you choose, these five items should add depth to your identity, values, and priorities.

How to Answer it: Start by brainstorming what matters most to you—these could be values, activities, people, places, or even abstract concepts. The key is to choose items or concepts that, when considered together, provide a comprehensive snapshot of who you are. For example, you might select something tangible and specific such as “an antique telescope gifted by my grandfather” alongside something conceptual such as “the willingness to admit when you’re wrong.” The beauty of this prompt is that it doesn’t require complex sentences or elaborate explanations—just a clear and honest reflection of what you hold dear. Be thoughtful in your selections, and use this prompt to showcase your creativity and core values.

While the supplemental essays should convey something meaningful about you, your values, and your unique qualifications for the university to which you are applying, the best essays are those that are playful, original, and unexpected. By starting early and taking the time to draft and revise their ideas, students can showcase their authentic personalities and distinguish themselves from other applicants through their supplemental essays.

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Scoring CLEP Essays

College Composition and Spanish with Writing essays are graded by college professors. Below are additional facts about essay scoring:

• Essays are scored by readers who are college faculty members, not by computer programs that search for patterns or word pairings.
• Each reader participates in an online training course and passes a certification test before the scoring session.
• Scoring rubrics and guidelines are designed to measure college-level skills and knowledge.
• Test takers respond to two essay topics, spending approximately 45 minutes on each. Each essay is scored by at least two separate readers.

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