Introduction to Psychology is a favorite course for many teens, but College-led psychology courses (depending on the teacher and textbook) can skim over mature content, slam into it head-first, or go way off topic. If it weren’t required by so many colleges it wouldn’t matter, but it’s likely your teen will have to take it. One way to navigate this tricky subject is to test out from home.
Introduction to Psychology / General Psychology
100-level college, 3 college credits
All of these exams will duplicate each other, which is to say they will all count as the same entry-level 3-credit introductory psychology course at your college. You can only get college credit for this course once, but you can use a different brand if your first attempt doesn’t go well.
| About | CLEP | Advanced Placement | DSST |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exam Name | Introductory Psychology | AP Psychology | Not available |
| Pass Rate | 70% | 58.5% | x |
| # of Questions | 95 questions | 100 MC questions 2 free response** | x |
| Length of Exam | 1.5 hours / 90 minutes | 2 hours / 120 minutes | x |
| Format | Multiple choice | Multiple choice & free response | x |
| Schedule | Anytime | Tue, May 3, 2022, 12 PM Local | x |
| Location | At home or a Testing Center | local high school with approval | x |
| Cost | $97 without voucher $0 with voucher* | $99 ($37 discount available through AP high school coordinators) | x |
| Official Test Prep Products | CLEP Official Endorsed Study Resources | myAP Resource Tool (free) | x |
*Obtain a free CLEP voucher when you complete the free prep course through Modern States
**Free-response questions are completed pencil-paper style and should be treated as small “essays” because the student’s writing ability will be evaluated.
Testing out of a subject gives you total freedom to choose your own learning tools. Whether your curriculum is secular or religious makes no difference for CLEP, but AP does have a specific curriculum requirement if you choose to have your homeschool AP course approved from the College Board (yes, you can do it- it’s not terrible)
SUCCESSFULLY testing out using either exam requires a good strategy. My advice is to layer several tools together with your teen’s regular high school class. When done this way, there isn’t much added time, stress, or cost. You’ll award honors level high school credit for the high school course, and a future college may award college credit for a passing score. If you’re planning for an AP exam, you will need to follow a more precise outline and you can purchase AP-targeted curriculum. If you choose to enroll in an approved AP class, you can write “AP” on the high school transcript. If you DIY the AP course, you can get your curriculum approved. Note that you don’t have to do an AP course to qualify to take an AP test. Your teen can take AP or CLEP without ever using a specific high school curriculum.
Learn how to use CLEP or AP in your Homeschooling for College Credit program:
Advanced Placement Exam (AP) Accepted at 85% of all colleges
College Level Exam Program (CLEP) Accepted at 76% of all colleges
Online and Free Curriculum: University-Level Psychology 101 taught for AP / CLEP
SparkNotes Psychology Topics Everything you need to know- short and sweet.
Note for Christian parents: Psychology taught from a secular worldview is likely going to have significant conflict with your family values. Cathy Duffy recommends the following Christian-based High School Psychology curriculum if you’re planning to use CLEP or AP. Note that most colleges will require a psychology (or sociology) course as a part of the general education core. If your teen will attend a community college or secular university, a good work-around is to use Christian homeschool curriculum and take the CLEP.
- Psychology Level 690 Sonlight’s Psychology Level 690 course uses an Advanced Placement (AP)® textbook and a study guide to present a two-semester psychology course for high school students (works for CLEP too)
- Introduction to Psychology from a Christian Perspective Introduction to Psychology from a Christian Perspective is an introductory, one-semester course, appropriate for high schoolers. It is available only as a set of files in PDF format that includes…
- Homeschool Psych 2nd Edition: Preparing Christian Homeschool Students for Psych 101 offers an introduction to psychology for high school students in the context of a Christian worldview. The course consists of a…
Jennifer’s favorite Psychology prep for after curriculum:
REA CLEP Guide, it doesn’t have to be the most current edition, but the book will include practice tests with explanations about the answers. I used an REA Guide for every CLEP I ever took.
Peterson’s CLEP Save this for last. It’s an online subscription billed monthly and gives you access to all exams. The Official CLEP Guide and the REA Guides will give you at least 3 practice tests, but if you need more, buy 1 month of Peterson’s. These tests are almost always considered harder than the real exam, and have been considered to be a top tool for decades. They are a little pricy ($50/mo) and when compared to REA, you’ll get better learning from REA. Still, if you need more practice tests, you should get them from Peterson’s.
The Exam
Overview
The Introductory Psychology exam covers material that is usually taught in a one-semester undergraduate introductory course in psychology. It stresses basic facts, concepts, and generally accepted principles in history; approaches and methods of psychology; biological bases of behavior, sensation, and perception; states of consciousness; learning; cognition; motivation and emotion; personality; psychological disorders and treatment; social psychology; and statistics, tests, and measurements.
The exam contains approximately 95 questions to be answered in 90 minutes. Some of these are pretest questions that will not be scored.
The questions on the CLEP Introductory Psychology exam adhere to the terminology, criteria, and classifications referred to in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).
Knowledge and Skills Required
Questions on the Introductory Psychology exam require test takers to demonstrate one or more of the following abilities:
- Knowledge of terminology, principles, and theory
- Ability to comprehend, evaluate, and analyze problem situations
- Ability to apply knowledge to new situations
The subject matter of the Introductory Psychology exam is drawn from the following topics. The percentages next to the main topics indicate the approximate percentage of exam questions on that topic.
PRO TIP: Since there are nearly 100 questions, you can get a rough idea of the number of questions to expect in each category by just mentally converting the percentage to a number. History, Approaches, and Methods will have about 11-12 questions.
History, Approaches, and Methods (11–12%)
- History of psychology
- Approaches: biological, biopsychosocial, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, and psychodynamic
- Research methods: experimental, clinical, and correlational
- Ethics in research
Biological Bases of Behavior (8–9%)
- Endocrine system
- Etiology
- Functional organization of the nervous system
- Genetics
- Neuroanatomy
- Physiological techniques
Sensation and Perception (7–8%)
- Attention
- Other senses: somesthesis, olfaction, gustation, and vestibular system
- Perceptual development
- Perceptual processes
- Receptor processes: vision and audition
- Sensory mechanisms: thresholds and adaptation
States of Consciousness (5–6%)
- Hypnosis and meditation
- Psychoactive drug effects
- Sleep and dreaming
Learning (8–9%)
- Biological bases
- Classical conditioning
- Cognitive process in learning
- Observational learning
- Operant conditioning
Cognition (8–9%)
- Intelligence and creativity
- Language
- Memory
- Thinking and problem solving
Motivation and Emotion (5–6%)
- Biological bases
- Hunger, thirst, sex, and pain
- Social motivation
- Theories of emotion
- Theories of motivation
Developmental Psychology Across the Lifespan (8–9%)
- Dimensions of development: physical, cognitive, social, and moral
- Gender identity and sex roles
- Heredity-environment issues
- Research methods: longitudinal, and cross-sectional
- Theories of development
Personality (7–8%)
- Assessment techniques
- Growth and adjustment
- Personality theories and approaches
- Self-concept and self-esteem
Psychological disorders and health (8–9%)
- Affective disorders
- Anxiety disorders
- Dissociative disorders
- Eating disorders
- Health, stress, and coping
- Personality disorders
- Psychoses
- Somatoform disorders
- Theories of psychopathology
Treatment of psychological disorders (6–7%)
- Behavioral therapies
- Biological and drug therapies
- Cognitive therapies
- Community and preventive approaches
- Insight therapies: psychodynamic and humanistic approaches
Social Psychology (9–10%)
- Aggression/antisocial behavior
- Attitudes and attitude change
- Attribution processes
- Conformity, compliance, and obedience
- Group dynamics
- Interpersonal attraction
- Stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination, prosocial behavior
Statistics, Tests, and Measurement (3–4%)
- Descriptive statistics
- Inferential statistics
- Measurement of intelligence
- Reliability and validity
- Samples, populations, and norms
- Types of tests
