The Pre-Calculus examination evaluates your mastery of skills and concepts required for success in a first-semester calculus course. A large portion of the exam is devoted to testing your understanding of functions and their properties. Many of the questions test your knowledge of specific properties of the following types of functions: linear, quadratic, absolute value, square root, polynomial, rational, exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric, inverse trigonometric, and piecewise-defined. Questions on the exam will present these types of functions symbolically, graphically, verbally, or in tabular form. A solid understanding of these types of functions is at the core of all pre-calculus courses, and is a prerequisite for enrolling in calculus and other college-level mathematics courses.
The examination contains 48 questions, in two sections, to be answered in 90 minutes. Any time you spend on tutorials and providing personal information is in addition to the actual testing time.
- Section 1: 25 questions, 50 minutes. The use of an online graphing calculator (non-CAS) is allowed for this section. Only some of the questions will require the use of the calculator.
- Section 2: 23 questions, 40 minutes. No calculator is allowed for this section. Although most of the questions on the exam are multiple-choice, there are some questions that require you to enter a numerical answer.
Students should consider taking the exam if they can demonstrate the following abilities
- Recall factual knowledge and/or perform routine mathematical manipulation
- Solve problems that demonstrate comprehension of mathematical ideas and/or concepts
- Solve non-routine problems or problems that require insight, ingenuity, or higher
CLEP computer-based (CBT) exams are scored without a penalty for incorrect guessing. The raw score--the number of correct responses--is translated into a scaled score. The scaled scores for CLEP CBT are reported in a range from 20 to 80.
At Ferris, candidates taking the Pre-Calculus exam earn credit for a score of 50 or higher.
Course(s) and Credits
- MATH 130