United States · ExamSpanish Language or Spanish with Writing?
| Spanish Language | Spanish with Writing | |
|---|---|---|
| Listening | 40%, about 30 minutes | 30%, about 27 minutes |
| Reading | 60%, 60 minutes | 45%, about 50 minutes |
| Writing | None | 25%, two tasks in 30 minutes |
| Level 1 (ACE) | 50 for 6 semester hours | 50 for 6 semester hours |
| Level 2 (ACE) | 63 for 9 semester hours | 65 for 12 semester hours |
| Score | On screen when you finish | Later, after faculty score the writing |
Spanish with Writing is the only CLEP exam with a 12-hour recommendation. Your college may give less, so check its policy.
Is the Spanish CLEP exam hard?
College Board doesn’t rate it, but a few rules are worth knowing before test day. The audio plays only once. On the short listening questions you get 10 seconds to answer each one, and the listening timer doesn’t include the time the audio plays. Some questions aren’t plain multiple choice: you may click part of a picture, fill in a table or put a list in order.
Level 2 also takes a much higher score than Level 1, so decide which level your degree needs before you start studying.
The two writing tasks
- An email reply: 10 minutes, at least 60 words.
- A short composition: 20 minutes, at least 100 words.
College Spanish teachers score each task from 0 to 4 for content and grammar, with at least two readers each, twice a month. The writing is 25% of your score. The official Spanish study guides are $10 PDFs from College Board.
Sources: College Board and 2 more. Checked October 2026.
- College Board: Spanish Language exam ↗
- College Board: Spanish with Writing exam ↗
- College Board: CLEP Information for Test Takers 2026-27 (PDF) ↗
Rules and fees can change, so check the official site before your test.
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