CLEP Difficulty Guide

How Hard Is CLEP CLEP English Literature?

Everything you need to know about the difficulty of CLEP CLEP English Literature — pass rates, study time, and which units are toughest.

Moderate

Difficulty

60-70%

Est. Pass Rate

15-30h

Avg Study Time

50

Passing Score

Unit-by-Unit Difficulty Breakdown

1

Unit 1: Medieval and Renaissance (to 1660)

Chaucer and Middle English, Shakespearean drama and sonnets, Spenser and allegory

Standard

17 questions

2

Unit 2: Restoration and 18th Century (1660-1798)

Restoration comedy and satire, Pope and heroic couplets, Swift's satire

Standard

16 questions

3

Unit 3: Romantic Period (1798-1837)

Wordsworth and nature poetry, Coleridge and supernatural imagination, Byron, Shelley, and Keats

Standard

16 questions

4

Unit 4: Victorian Period (1837-1901)

Dickens and social realism, Tennyson and dramatic monologue, Brontë sisters

Standard

16 questions

5

Unit 5: 20th Century and Beyond

modernist experimentation (Woolf, Joyce, Eliot), post-colonial literature (Achebe, Rushdie), dystopian fiction (Orwell, Huxley)

Standard

16 questions

How to Pass CLEP CLEP English Literature

  1. Take a diagnostic first — find out which units you already know and which need work
  2. Focus on weak units — skip what you know, drill what you don't
  3. Practice under timed conditions — the real exam gives ~75 seconds per question
  4. Take a mock exam — if you score 50+ on a mock, you're ready
  5. Don't overstudy — most prepared students pass in 15-30 hours of focused prep

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