CLEP American Literature Exam Prep Course
Full course with 300+ practice questions and a practice exam
Self-paced prep for the CLEP American Literature exam. 9 chapters covering all 5 literary periods the exam tests, with a quiz after every subchapter. 100 questions, 90 minutes. A score of 50 earns 3 transferable college credits.
- Backup ACE/NCCRS credit path — earn the credit even if you don't pass
- Lifetime access — no deadlines, no expiry, study at your own pace
- Credits accepted at 2,900+ U.S. colleges
Pricing
$19 for this course with lifetime access, or $29 a month for all 28 CLEP subjects. Every plan also unlocks the ACE/NCCRS course in the same subject.
- All 9 chapters and 43 lessons
- Five-question quiz after every subchapter
- Readiness score tracker
- Close reading practice for every period
- Lifetime access, no expiry
- All 28 CLEP prep courses
- Every chapter, lesson and quiz
- Readiness tracker per subject
- Backup ACE/NCCRS credit path
- Cancel or pause anytime
- Lifetime access to all 28 subjects
- All current and future courses
- 12-month ACE/NCCRS backup path
- Pay once, never renew
What are ACE and NCCRS?
Two independent bodies that review online courses and recommend them for college credit. The American Council on Education (ACE) and the National College Credit Recommendation Service (NCCRS) put courses through faculty panels that assess rigor and learning outcomes, then publish a credit recommendation. When you complete one, the credentialing body issues an official transcript you send to your college — the same kind of transfer credit a student moving from another university would bring with them.
- Reviewed by faculty panels, not by the course provider
- Official transcript issued on completion
- Recognized at 2,100+ colleges, many of which also take CLEP and DSST
Both routes, one plan
Buying CLEP American Literature prep also opens the ACE/NCCRS course in the same subject — American Literature — at no extra cost. So exam day isn't the only way through. If the score doesn't land, the course is already sitting in your account: complete it self-paced, no proctor and no 90-minute timer, and earn the three credits through coursework instead.
- Same subject, same 3 semester hours, different path
- Unlocked automatically — no extra fee, no application
- CLEP can still be retaken after three months
Each college sets its own transfer policy, so confirm yours accepts the route you plan to use.
Check your college's policy before you buy. We keep 280+ school pages listing accepted exams, required scores and credits awarded.
Check your collegeCLEP American Literature exam format and topics
The exam covers a college survey of American prose and poetry from precolonial times to the present, organized by literary period. About 100 questions in 90 minutes, some of them unscored pretest items. More than a third of the questions ask you to interpret poems and prose passages. Pass mark is 50.
| Content area | Weighting | Questions | What it covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Contemporary Period (1945–present) | 25% | ≈25 | Postwar fiction, the Beats, confessional poetry, civil rights literature, postmodernism, and multicultural and Indigenous voices |
| The Romantic Period (1800–1865) | 20% | ≈20 | Irving, Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, the Transcendentalists, Whitman, Dickinson and abolitionist writing |
| The Period of Realism and Naturalism (1865–1910) | 20% | ≈20 | Twain, James, Crane, Dreiser, Chopin, regionalism and local color |
| The Modernist Period (1910–1945) | 20% | ≈20 | Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Faulkner, Frost, Eliot, Pound and the Harlem Renaissance |
| The Precolonial, Colonial and Early National Period (to 1800) | 15% | ≈15 | Native American oral traditions, Puritan writing, Enlightenment and revolutionary prose, Wheatley and the early novel |
| 5 content areas | 100% | ≈100 | 90 minutes · multiple choice · score 50 for an ACE recommendation of 3 semester hours |
By skill: about 35–40% of questions ask you to interpret poems and passages, 25–30% test knowledge of works and authors, 15–20% test literary terms and devices, and 15–20% test historical context and literary relationships.
How hard is the exam?
The exam rewards wide reading and close reading. More than a third of the questions give you an unfamiliar poem or passage and ask about its meaning, tone or technique, so knowing plot summaries isn't enough. The contemporary period is the single largest at 25%, and literary terms and verse forms run through every period.
- Practice close reading — 35–40% of questions
- The contemporary period is the largest at 25%
- Know verse forms and literary devices by name
Exam fee and booking
Register with College Board for $97. Test centers may add an administration fee. You can test at a center or remotely with a proctor, year-round. Scores are reported immediately for multiple-choice exams, and you send them to your college yourself.
- Passing score 50, for 3 semester hours
- Retake permitted after three months
- Free for active-duty military via DANTES
Each chapter ends with close reading of representative passages, the skill behind the largest share of questions.
Check your collegeCourse chapters and lessons
9 chapters across 67 instructional hours. Expand any chapter to see the lessons inside it.
Chapter 1 Foundations of the American Literary Tradition
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1.1 What Is American Literature?
What makes literature American, Puritan and Native American writing, and the close-reading skills the exam tests throughout — the colonial period.
- 1.2 The Colonial Period: Puritan Voices and Early Narratives
- 1.3 Native American Oral Traditions and Early Written Expression
- 1.4 Reading Literature: Close Reading, Genre, and Form
Chapter 2 Revolution, Enlightenment, and the Making of a Nation (1750–1820)
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2.1 Enlightenment Ideals and Political Writing
Enlightenment and revolutionary prose from Paine and Jefferson, early poetry from Wheatley, and the first American novels.
- 2.2 The Literature of Revolution: Paine, Jefferson, and Hamilton
- 2.3 Early American Poetry: Phillis Wheatley and Philip Freneau
- 2.4 The Early Novel: Charles Brockden Brown and Susanna Rowson
Chapter 3 Romanticism and the American Self (1820–1860)
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3.1 American Romanticism: Definitions and Origins
The origins of American Romanticism, Irving, Poe, Hawthorne and Melville.
- 3.2 Washington Irving and the Birth of American Fiction
- 3.3 Edgar Allan Poe: Gothic Form and Psychological Depth
- 3.4 Nathaniel Hawthorne and Moral Ambiguity
- 3.5 Herman Melville and the American Epic
Chapter 4 Transcendentalism and Reform (1830–1860)
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4.1 Transcendentalist Philosophy: Emerson and the American Scholar
Emerson, Thoreau and Fuller, and abolitionist literature from Frederick Douglass and others.
- 4.2 Thoreau: Civil Disobedience and Walden
- 4.3 Margaret Fuller and the Question of Women’s Voices
- 4.4 Abolitionist Literature: Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs
Chapter 5 Realism, Naturalism, and the Gilded Age (1865–1910)
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5.1 The Rise of Literary Realism
The rise of realism, Twain, Henry James, naturalism from Crane to Dreiser, and women realists like Chopin and Gilman.
- 5.2 Mark Twain and the American Vernacular
- 5.3 Henry James and the Novel of Consciousness
- 5.4 Naturalism: Crane, Norris, and Dreiser
- 5.5 Women’s Realism: Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Chapter 6 Voices at the Margins: Regionalism, Immigration, and Race (1865–1920)
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6.1 Regionalist Fiction: Local Color and National Identity
Regionalism and local color, the Harlem Renaissance, Du Bois, immigrant voices and Native American resistance literature.
- 6.2 The Harlem Renaissance: Origins and Context
- 6.3 W.E.B. Du Bois and the Problem of the Color Line
- 6.4 Immigrant Voices and Ethnic American Writing
- 6.5 Native American Resistance Literature
Chapter 7 Modernism and the New American Voice (1914–1945)
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7.1 Modernist Principles: Fragmentation, Stream of Consciousness, and Form
Modernist technique, the Lost Generation, Faulkner, Frost, Eliot and Pound, and Zora Neale Hurston — the modernist period.
- 7.2 The Lost Generation: Hemingway and Fitzgerald
- 7.3 William Faulkner and the American South
- 7.4 Poetry of the Modern: Frost, Eliot, and Pound
- 7.5 Zora Neale Hurston and the Harlem Renaissance Novel
Chapter 8 Mid-Century America: War, Identity, and Social Change (1945–1970)
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8.1 Post-War Fiction and the American Dream
Postwar fiction, the Beats, confessional poetry, civil rights literature and the absurd.
- 8.2 The Beat Generation: Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Rebellion
- 8.3 Confessional Poetry: Plath and Sexton
- 8.4 Civil Rights Literature: Baldwin, King, and Malcolm X
- 8.5 The Absurd: Catch-22 and Cold War Anxiety
Chapter 9 Contemporary American Literature (1970–Present)
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9.1 Postmodernism and the American Novel
Postmodernism, multicultural and Indigenous voices, LGBTQ+ literature, speculative fiction, and writing literary analysis — the contemporary period, 25% of the exam.
- 9.2 Multicultural Voices: Morrison, Tan, Cisneros, and Lahiri
- 9.3 Indigenous Resurgence in American Literature
- 9.4 LGBTQ+ Literature and Identity
- 9.5 Writing the American Future: Speculative and Climate Fiction
- 9.6 Producing the Literary Analysis Essay
Practice exam Practice final exam
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Practice final exam — 100 multiple-choice questions
A full-length practice final that mirrors the exam's content areas and question style. Your score feeds the readiness tracker, so you know when you're ready to book the real exam.
These chapters make up the CLEP American Literature exam prep class. They cover every content area on the official exam outline, and some topics go further than the exam requires.
Take the CLEP exam for the fastest route to 3 credits. If it doesn't go your way, your plan also includes a backup course that earns the credit through coursework.
See pricingColleges that accept CLEP American Literature
CLEP is recognized at more than 2,900 U.S. colleges, but each one sets its own minimum score and decides how many credit hours to award. Check yours before you book the exam.
Browse college credit policies
Policies change. Every college page lists the date the policy was checked, and we recommend confirming minimum scores and credit awards with the Registrar before you schedule an exam. TransferCredit.org is an independent education service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the institutions listed.
Practice tests and study guides
Five questions in the style of the CLEP American Literature exam, drawn from the chapters above. No sign-up needed — see where you stand before you buy.