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CLEP cheat sheet

CLEP American Literature cheat sheet

A condensed reference for the formulas, graph-reading rules, and must-know facts most worth reviewing before exam day.

Periods and signature authors

  • Colonial/Puritan: Bradstreet, Edwards, Franklin.
  • Romanticism/Transcendentalism: Emerson, Thoreau; dark romantics Poe, Hawthorne, Melville.
  • Realism/Naturalism: Twain, Henry James, Crane, Dreiser.
  • Modernism: Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Faulkner; poets Eliot, Frost, Hughes.
  • Contemporary: postwar and diverse voices (Morrison, Miller).

Terms to know

  • Transcendentalism: individualism, nature, intuition over reason.
  • Naturalism: humans shaped by environment and heredity (a harsher realism).
  • Common devices: symbolism, irony, allusion, stream of consciousness.

Practice this first: Realism and Naturalism — Twain, James, and the realists are a dense, high-yield block.

Now put it to work — practice CLEP American Literature free

Reviewing the sheet is step one. Passers are usually hitting about 70-80% on realistic practice before test day (CLEP costs about $93, with a 3-month retake lockout on a miss), so the fastest way to know you are ready is to start answering real questions.