The Free University Project
Social Sciences and History
Preliminary Study Guide: June 6, 2004

The material covered in this CLEP exam is generally considered equivalent to a one or two semester lower division college course to satisfy general distribution or general education requirements. Please check with your Registrar's office to see how this exam fits in to your course of study.

Exam type:
CLEP: 120 multiple choice questions in 90 minutes
Typical credits: 3 or 6 units

The CLEP Exam

NOTE: There is no on-line course that appears to relate directly to the CLEP Exam. Because of the sweeping general nature of this exam it is difficult to provide a difinitive study guide. This version is a work in progress. Updates will be added periodically.

(I didn't promise you a rose garden. See disclaimer.)

There are several series of on-line on-demand video courses available from the Annenberg/CPB Channel for those with broadband access. While these are excellent programs, each series is probably overkill when studying for this exam. I suggest you read through the contents of each program of a series and only select those that correspond to subject material covered in the exam.

Lecture material provided by (Robinson) are included to give you a general idea of each subject and to introduce key points.

Always check with the College Board College Board Description of Test for the latest information.

General subject material covered by the exam:
History (40%)
  • United States History 17%
  • Western Civilization 15%
  • World History 8%
    Social Sciences (60%)
  • Government/Political Science 13%
  • Sociology 11%
  • Economics 10%
  • Psychology 10%
  • Geography 10%
  • Anthropology 6%

    Preliminary Study Guide
    A note about companion book sites: These sites are set up by textbook publishers and frequently contain Chapter Summaries, Glossary and on-line Multiple Choice and True-False Tests for each chapter. As the textbooks usually contain more subject matter than is covered on the CLEP test, start out by looking at those chapters that relate to the subtopics listed under each subject below.

    An Introduction to the Social Sciences (Robinson)

    History:
    History (Robinson)

    United States History 17%
    Periods: colonial, revolutionary, late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Civil War and Reconstruction, and late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

    [VIDEO] A Biography of America (American History) (See also available transcript)

    [VIDEO] People's Century (History)

    Sparknotes

  • History (American & European)

    Pink Monkey Study Guides

  • American History

    Western Civilization 15%
    Western Asia, Greece, and Rome; medieval Europe and modern Europe, including its expansion and outposts in other parts of the world.

    [VIDEO] The Western Tradition (Ancient to Modern Eastern Mediterranean and European History)

    Pink Monkey Study Guides

  • European History

    World History 8%
    Covers Africa, Australia, North America, and Latin America from prehistory to the present.

    Pink Monkey Study Guides

  • World HIstory

    Social Sciences 60%

    Government/Political Science 13%
    Topics such as Methods, United States institutions, Voting and political behavior, International relations, Comparative government

    Political Science (Robinson)

    Pink Monkey Study Guides

  • American Government

    Sociology 11%
    Topics such as Methods, Demography, Social Theory, Social stratification, Deviance, Social organization, Interaction, Social change, Family

    Sociology (Robinson)

    Sociology at Hewett Follow the hypertext links. Topic areas:

    Theory and Methods
    Crime and Deviance
    Social Class
    Religion
    The Family
    Mass Media
    Education
    Power and Politics
    Gender

    Companion Website for:
    Sociology: A Brief Introduction, 4/e (Richard T. Schaefer, DePaul University)

    Companion Website for:
    Sociology - A Down-to-Earth Approach (James. M. Henslin Southern Illinois Univ., Edwardsville).

    Economics 10%
    Topics such as Scarcity, choice and cost, Product markets, Resource markets, Monetary and fiscal policy, International trade, Economic measurements

    Economics (Robinson)

    [VIDEO] Economics U$A

    Sparknotes

  • Economics

    Pink Monkey Study Guides

  • Economics

    [VIDEO] Inside the Global Economy

    Psychology 10%
    Topics such as Aggression, Socialization, Conformity, Methods, Group process, Performance, Personality

    Psychology (Robinson)

    [VIDEO] Discovering Psychology

    Sparknotes

  • Psychology

    Geography 10%
    Topics such as Weather and climate, Regional geography, Ecology, Distance, Location, Space accessibility, Spatial interaction

    Geography (Robinson)

    [VIDEO] Human Geography: People, Places and Change

    [VIDEO] The Power of Place: Geography for the 21st Century

    Anthropology 8%
    Topics such as Cultural anthropology, Ethnography

    Anthropology (Robinson)

    PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY TUTORIALS (O'Neil Palomar College)

    CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY TUTORIALS (O'Neil Palomar College)

    • Links to faculty home pages
    NOTE: Please don't bug the professors. They have been generous enough just by taking the time and effort to put their material on the Web. And please don't e-mail responses to their tests. Such responses are limited to students actually enrolled in the class.

    William C. Robinson homepage (University of Tennessee)

    Good Luck!

    and let us know how you are doing.

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    Created: June 6, 2004