1.1 Current Exam Facts
Key Takeaways
CLEP Biology is a year-round, computer-delivered exam of approximately 115 multiple-choice questions in 90 minutes, covering one year of introductory college general biology.
Some items are unscored pretest questions, and College Board does not publish how many of them are on the form.
The College Board exam fee is $97 in the My CLEP portal; a test center then charges its own administration fee, while remote proctoring adds a $30 fee at checkout, and booking the appointment is a separate step.
Eligible military examinees may be funded by DANTES, and a test taker under 13 needs parent or guardian consent before an account is created.
About 47 seconds per question is a pacing estimate from 90 minutes and about 115 questions, not an official per-item limit, and published samples with five suggested answers are not operational items.
1.1 Current Exam Facts
College Board’s College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) Biology exam covers material usually taught in one year of introductory college general biology. The subject is the broad biological sciences, grouped into three major areas with approximately equal weight. This section fixes the question count, the clock, the fees, and the gap between a published sample and the live form. OpenExamPrep is an independent study guide. It does not speak for College Board, and a scaled score does not by itself require a college to award credit.
Scope, delivery, and the shape of the sitting
The exam contains approximately 115 multiple-choice questions and lasts 90 minutes. It is computer-delivered and offered year-round, at a CLEP test center or with a remote proctor, rather than on a few national paper dates. There is no essay, no spoken response, and no separate laboratory practical. Practice as one 90-minute block. Do not save time for a written conclusion or a lab station.
Pretest questions versus published samples
Some questions are pretest questions. A pretest question is being tried for a possible future form. It is mixed into the exam and does not affect the score. College Board does not publish how many Biology items are pretest items. A specific count from a forum, a video, or a commercial set is not an official figure. The pretest items are unmarked, so you cannot skip a supposed experimental block and focus on a shorter scored core. Answer the form in front of you.
Sample questions published for Biology use five suggested answers. They are study illustrations, not operational items. An operational item is a question on the live form you will actually take. A sample can show a compact stem and a single best answer. Memorizing those stems, or expecting the live form to reuse that five-choice layout, does not reproduce exam day.
Important
CLEP Biology has no essay. Some multiple-choice questions are unscored pretest items, and College Board does not publish how many. Answer the full form of about 115 questions.
Two steps: pay in My CLEP, then schedule
Registering and booking the seat are separate steps. You register and pay in the My CLEP portal. The College Board exam fee is $97. Test centers operate independently, so you contact a center to schedule, and that center charges its own administration fee. That fee is not a nationwide amount folded into the $97. Two candidates at different centers can pay the same exam fee and different administration fees.
Remote proctoring is priced differently. College Board adds a $30 remote-proctoring fee to the My CLEP order, and you then book the online session. A voucher code can cover the exam fee, but the $30 proctoring fee is still paid at checkout. Remote testing is open to test takers 13 or older (18 or older for Illinois residents) who legally reside in the United States or are DANTES-funded, and it requires your own computer, a smartphone for the room scan, and a private room.
A receipt is not an appointment. The diagram in this section has four steps: register and pay, schedule a test center or remote proctor, sit the 90-minute exam, and receive a scaled score from 20 through 80. The next section explains what that score means for credit.
Funding, and accounts for test takers under 13
Eligible military examinees may be funded by the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES). Confirm eligibility before you pay out of pocket. DANTES does not fund a retest of an exam it has already funded.
A test taker under 13 needs parent or guardian consent before an account is created. Consent comes before the account, not after a younger student has already registered.
Facts worth memorizing before you book
| Fact | What is specified |
|---|---|
| Course target | One year of introductory college general biology |
| Questions and time | Approximately 115 multiple-choice questions in 90 minutes |
| Delivery | Computer-delivered and year-round, at a test center or by remote proctor |
| Essay | None |
| Pretest questions | Some items are unscored; the count is not published |
| Price | $97 exam fee, plus the test center's own administration fee or a $30 remote-proctoring fee |
| Military funding | Eligible examinees may be funded by DANTES |
| Published samples | Five suggested answers, and those samples are not operational items |
Where the 47-second figure comes from
Ninety minutes is 5,400 seconds. Dividing 5,400 by about 115 questions gives just under 47 seconds per question. That figure is a pacing estimate, not an official rule. Nothing in the specifications closes an item at 47 seconds. You get one 90-minute period for the whole form. A table or a short experiment can take longer than the average. A direct factual item can take less. Check your place near the one-third and two-thirds marks. If you are behind, stop polishing answers already chosen. You still cannot tell which items are unscored, so do not skip a block to protect the average.
Tip
About 47 seconds per question is arithmetic from 90 minutes and about 115 questions. The only published time limit is the 90-minute sitting.
A scheduling scenario and the traps inside it
Mina wants a May credit decision. She pays $97 in My CLEP on Sunday and treats the receipt as her appointment. On Monday the test center has no Biology seat that week, and its administration fee is separate from her receipt. She has registered. She has not scheduled. Only the second step creates a seat, and only the center can quote the administration fee.
She then studies only the published samples. Those five-answer items are worth reading because they show a tight stem and one best answer. They are not the operational form, so sample flash cards leave the three content areas unpracticed. A post tells her that exactly 20 questions are pretest and can be missed safely. That count is not from College Board. She cannot pick out disposable items, because the pretest count is unpublished and the items are unmarked.
Her workable plan is to book the seat, note the administration fee, and practice mixed sets on one 90-minute clock. When a table runs long, she spends the extra time and recovers it on shorter items. The 47-second figure shows drift. It does not retire an item when the average has passed.
Which description matches the current CLEP Biology exam?
About 115 questions in 90 minutes, including a required essay that is scored apart from the multiple-choice section.
About 115 questions, of which College Board publishes that exactly 15 are unscored pretest items.
About 115 multiple-choice questions in 90 minutes, computer-delivered year-round, covering one year of introductory college general biology, with some unscored pretest questions whose number is not published.
A paper exam offered only on fixed national dates, using the published sample questions as the operational form.
How do the $97 exam fee and the testing appointment fit together?
The $97 fee is paid to the test center and already includes every administration charge, so paying also books the seat.
You register and pay the $97 exam fee in My CLEP, then book the appointment separately; a test center charges its own administration fee, and remote proctoring adds a $30 fee at checkout.
DANTES pays the exam fee and the administration fee for every person who creates a My CLEP account.
Paying the exam fee automatically reserves the next open seat, and a remote proctor is not allowed to charge an administration fee.
What should a test taker do with the figure of about 47 seconds per question and with the published Biology sample questions?
Save the last part of the sitting for an essay, using the published samples as the scored essay prompts.
Treat 47 seconds as an official per-item limit that the software enforces, and expect the sample questions to reappear as operational items.
Ignore the clock, because the unpublished pretest questions remove any need to pace the 90 minutes.
Use about 47 seconds only as a pacing estimate from 90 minutes and about 115 questions, and treat the published five-answer samples as illustrations rather than operational items.
Sections you finish are checked off in the contents.