The College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) offers a series of exams that allow undergraduate students to demonstrate their mastery of introductory college material and earn credit for those courses. While most sections of the CLEP exams are taken on a computer in a proctored testing environment, the CLEP American Government exam and CLEP History of the United States I exam both include optional essay components that must be handwritten rather than typed.
The essay portions of these two CLEP exams are designed to test a test-taker’s ability to take a position on a specific issue or historical event and support it with details, examples, and analysis. Since handwriting requires composing thoughts legibly and linearly with a pen or pencil, the essays are meant to evaluate writing and critical thinking skills in a low-tech format rather than testing typing speed or familiarity with a computer interface.
While most college coursework can now be typed on a computer, foundational skills like outlining an argument, supporting it with evidence, and communicating clearly in written form remain important aims of the general education curriculum. The handwritten CLEP essays aim to assess those types of core competencies outside of a digital environment. By requiring test-takers to complete the essays by hand, it also prevents the possibility of cutting, pasting, or having other computerized assistance during the composition process.
Because the writing must be done cleanly and neatly by hand within the standard time constraints of the exam, test preparation recommends practicing legible handwriting as well as drafting, revising, and improving essay structures and analysis while handwriting sample responses. Some test-takers find the handwritten format more challenging than typing but approach it as an opportunity to showcase different composition abilities. Others benefit from familiarizing themselves with handwriting longer passages within a timed testing scenario to avoid writer’s cramp or sloppiness affecting their scores.
The rubrics used to grade the handwritten CLEP essays are the same criteria applied to evaluate typed papers, focusing on thesis demonstration, use of examples, quality of argument, and writing mechanics. Graders are trained to disregard penmanship variations and focus only on the content, structure, and communication of ideas within the responses. Scores tend to be somewhat lower on average for the handwritten essays compared to typed assignments on college campuses, possibly due to test-takers finding the manual writing process more difficult within the exam time constraints.
CLEP recommends that anyone planning to take one of the exams with a handwritten essay component practice sample responses by hand first to get comfortable with writing legibly under timed conditions. When the actual test day arrives, it’s important to allow enough time per essay question, use pen or pencil and good quality paper (avoid notebooks or ruled pages that are easily smeared), and proofread finished responses to catch any errors made in haste. Neat penmanship is valued but the primary emphases of the essay rubrics remain demonstration of critical thinking, use of evidence and examples, structure of the argument, and effective written communication skills.
The handwritten essay format on these particular CLEP exams remains rare among standardized tests in the digital age but aims to evaluate certain foundational abilities that are sometimes overlooked in solely computer-based assessments. With adequate practice and by treating the manual writing as an opportunity rather than an obstacle, test-takers can effectively demonstrate their knowledge and earn college credits through well-constructed responses using pen rather than keyboard. By upholding handwritten elements on a small number of exams, CLEP continues to value a blend of old and new testing methodologies. Handwriting remains an important life and career skill for some contexts even as technologies change customary written communication methods.
The essay portions of the CLEP American Government exam and CLEP History of the United States I exam must be completed in handwritten form rather than typed due to the tests’ goals of evaluating thesis demonstration, argument structure, evidence usage, and writing mechanics through a low-tech approach. While this handwritten format poses challenges for some test-takers used to digital mediums, preparation that includes practicing sample essay responses by hand can help ensure the manual composition process does not hinder effective communication of ideas on exam day. Overall, the continued inclusion of these rare handwritten essay components aims to assess certain critical thinking and written fluency abilities outside of a computerized format.