CLEP Biology (REA) with CD-ROM - The Best Test Prep for the CLEP Exam: with REA's TESTware (Test Preps)

Comment: The book does a fairly good job of covering about 70% of the exam content, however I saw many questions on the exam that weren't addressed at all in the book. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone with absolutely no background in biology, unless that person is a prodigious memorizer, whereupon they could probably pass the test. This is an adequate review for someone with a general background. My last biology class was AP Biology 13 years ago, and reading through this book was enough to score an A on the exam with the help of much testing experience (i.e. process of elimination).

My recommendation to supplement this book would be specific study of molecular biology to include names of all the molecular components of DNA and associated processes of DNA replication, transcription, and protein synthesis which the book does not cover in detail at the molecular process level.

Comment: The purchase I made was just what I was looking for in great condition. Shipping was fast.

Comment: I took the CLEP biology last week and got a 72. I used this book and a 5 year old college biology text book to prepare.

The key to passing this exam is application. There are no questions where in you just recall the information. Nearly all the questions force you to apply the information to a situation.

This book was my primary source but the material here is just barely deep enough to be able to read the questions. You are not challenged by this book to apply the information. If you went through and memorized the book cover to cover but didn't fully understand you are most likely not ready to take the exam.

I do have a back ground in Human Anatomy (which has a small portion of overlap when it comes to cells and chemistry) and that was helpful with this exam. There are lab questions on this exam which are fairly tough and there is no information in REA's book regarding the lab portion. If you have no background in biology I strongly recommend you use a college text book!

If you insist on using the book alone I think it can be done but I recommend you give yourself a 12-15 point cushion. I.e. if you are scoring better than 65 (and you need a 50) on the REA's practice exams you may be ready for real exam.

I did this very gradually over the course of about 8 weeks.

The method I used to study was simple.

1. I read through the book once and took the first test. (which after taking the clep is clearly to easy).

2. read through the book again and then begin to ready the chapter summaries from the college text book.

3. took the other two exams (the last one is ONLY in the book not on the CD) as well as answer the questions at the end of each chapter looking up the answers to the ones I didn't know.

4. On the college board website there is a list of the material covered and it is a great representation of what is on the exam. If you understand the basics of every thing on that list, and you are passing the REA's exams you will be fine.

Every thing on the list seemed to be treated equally... in other words I didn't notice any one topic being covered significantly more than any other thing on that list. This list (from CLEP's office site) was my main guide for me deciding when I was ready to take the test.


Please note I didn't read the entire biology text book (it is huge) I only read the chapter summaries to make sure I get the main points and could answer most of the questions at the end of each chapter.

Good Luck!

Comment: I took the Biology Clep test yesterday and I passed it with a 68. However, most of the questions on the exam were not covered in the review. I actually wasn't for sure whether I passed or not. I attribute my higher score to luck and common sense but not to this book. The test was definitely harder than I expected and I studied a lot.

Comment: I made the mistake of using this book exclusively for my test preparation. After studying for months and knowing the book almost backwards and forwards, I took the test and failed. I was surprised to find that out of all of the test questions I could only answer about fifteen of them. The other questions were foreign to me, and some of them even mentioned things I'd never heard of. This book is okay, but don't do like I did and only use it for test preparation. Be sure to get other study guides as well.