CLEP College Composition Study Guide

A student is comparing two apartments, Maple Court and Oak Terrace, and plans to organize the paragraph point by point. Which plan follows that pattern?

• AA history of each building, listed from oldest to newest
• BEverything about Maple Court first, including rent, size and commute, then the same three features for Oak Terrace
• CRent at Maple Court and at Oak Terrace; then size at each; then commute from each
• DMaple Court's rent, Oak Terrace's size, then Maple Court's commute only
• EOak Terrace's advantages, followed by a general statement about renting

A student researching how social media affects teenage sleep gets thousands of irrelevant hits for the search "social media". Which revised search is most likely to return relevant results?

• Asocial media OR teenagers OR sleep OR students
• Bteenagers NOT sleep NOT media
• Csocial OR media OR networks
• Dsocial media AND teenagers AND sleep
• Esocial media NOT sleep

An advertisement for a retirement fund opens with a financial planner who explains that she has advised families for thirty years. This opening is mainly an appeal to

• Apathos
• Bethos
• Clogos
• Dkairos
• Erebuttal

Which of the following sentences is correctly punctuated?

• AThe committee reviewed every proposal, only two met the budget.
• BThe committee reviewed every proposal, however, only two met the budget.
• CThe committee reviewed: every proposal; however, only two met the budget.
• DThe committee reviewed every proposal however only two met the budget.
• EThe committee reviewed every proposal; however, only two met the budget.

Read the paragraph.
(1) Community gardens give city residents fresh produce at low cost. (2) Many plots yield enough vegetables to feed a family through the summer. (3) The city's public library has a large collection of mystery novels. (4) Gardeners also trade seeds and recipes, which saves even more money.
Which sentence should be deleted to improve the paragraph's unity?

• ASentence 3
• BSentence 2
• CNo sentence needs to be deleted.
• DSentence 1
• ESentence 4

A student writing about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake needs a primary source. Which is the best choice?

• AA letter a survivor wrote a week after the quake
• BA documentary made in 2015 with historians' commentary
• CA textbook chapter on twentieth-century disasters
• DA magazine article ranking the deadliest US earthquakes
• EAn encyclopedia entry about the quake

Questions 2–3 refer to the following passage.
(1) The new library is, by any measure, a triumph. (2) Its tall windows catch the morning light, its shelves invite wandering, and even the elevator is too polite to interrupt a reader.
The tone of the passage is best described as

• Aapprehensive
• Bresentful
• Cadmiring
• Dskeptical
• Eindifferent

Which of the following revisions of "The job requires patience, being organized, and to communicate clearly" is parallel?

• AThe job requires patience, to organize, and clear communication.
• BThe job requires patience, organization, and clear communication.
• CThe job requires being patient, organization, and to communicate clearly.
• DThe job requires patience, organization, and that you communicate clearly.
• EThe job requires patience, to be organized, and communicating clearly.

A student is writing an essay arguing that planting trees along downtown streets would make summers cooler for residents. Which piece of evidence would best support the argument?

• AA note that photos of tree-lined streets are very popular with travelers on social media
• BA poll showing that most downtown residents enjoy seeing green leaves outside their windows
• CA neighbor's remark that her sister's street, in another state, has the prettiest trees she has ever seen
• DTemperature readings from a nearby city showing that its tree-lined blocks stay several degrees cooler in July
• EA statement that tree planting is the most inspiring idea the city council has heard in years

Which feature most strongly suggests that an article is a scholarly source?

• AIt appears on a nonprofit website that ends in .org.
• BIt was written by a staff reporter for a major news outlet that has been publishing for decades.
• CIt was published within the past year.
• DIt has a catchy title and many color photographs.
• EIt was evaluated by outside experts before publication.