CLEP Human Growth & Development (REA)-The Best Test Prep for the CLEP Exam (CLEP Test Preparation)

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CLEP HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
Based on today’s official CLEP exam

Are you prepared to excel on the CLEP?
* Take the first practice test to discover what you know and what you should know
* Set up a flexible study schedule by following our easy timeline
* Use REA's advice to ready yourself for proper study and success

Study what you need to know to pass the exam
* The book's on-target subject review features coverage of all topics on the official CLEP exam, including theories of development, intelligence, family and society, atypical development, and more.
* Smart and friendly lessons reinforce necessary skills
* Key tutorials enhance specific abilities needed on the test
* Targeted drills increase comprehension and help organize study

Practice for real
* Create the closest experience to test-day conditions with 3 full-length practice tests
* Chart your progress with full and detailed explanations of all answers
* Boost your confidence with test-taking strategies and experienced advice

Specially Written for Solo Test Preparation!

REA is the acknowledged leader in CLEP preparation, with the most extensive library of CLEP titles and software available. Most titles are also offered with REA's exclusive TESTware software to make your practice more effective and more like exam day. REA's CLEP Prep guides will help you get valuable credits, save on tuition, and advance your chosen career by earning a college degree.

About Research & Education Association
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While most test preparation books present practice tests that bear little resemblance to the actual exams, REA's series presents tests that accurately depict the official exams in both degree of difficulty and types of questions. REA's practice tests are always based upon the most recently administered exams, and include every type of question that can be expected on the actual exams.

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Chapter 1: PASSING THE CLEP HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT CBT

ABOUT THIS BOOK
This book provides you with comprehensive preparation for the CLEP Human Growth and Development (Infancy, Childhood, Adolescence, Adulthood, and Aging) Computer-Based Test, or CBT. Inside you will find a concise review of introductory human development, as well as tips and strategies for test-taking. We give you three full-length REA practice tests, all based on the official CLEP subject exam. Our practice tests contain every type of question that you can expect to encounter on the CLEP CBT. Following each practice test you will find an answer key with detailed explanations designed to help you more completely absorb the test material.

All 34 CLEP exams are computer-based. As you can see, the practice tests in our book are presented as paper-and-pencil exams. The content and format of the actual CLEP subject exams are faithfully mirrored. We detail the format of the CLEP Human Growth and Development CBT on pages 4-5.

ABOUT THE EXAM

Who takes CLEP exams and what are they used for?
CLEP (College-Level Examination Program) examinations are usually taken by adults who have acquired knowledge outside the classroom and wish to bypass certain college courses and earn college credit. The CLEP Program is designed to reward students for learning - no matter where or how that knowledge was acquired. The CLEP is the most widely accepted credit-by-examination program in the country, with more than 2,900 colleges and universities granting credit for satisfactory scores on CLEP exams.

Although most CLEP candidates are adults returning to college, many graduating high school seniors, enrolled college students, and international students also take the exams to earn college credit or to demonstrate their ability to perform at the college level. There are no prerequisites, such as age or educational status, for taking CLEP examinations. However, because policies on granting credits vary among colleges, you should contact the particular institution from which you wish to receive CLEP credit.

Most CLEP examinations include material usually covered in an undergraduate course with a similar title to that of the exam (e.g. Human Growth and Development). However, five of the exams do not deal with subject matter covered in any particular course but rather with material taken as general requirements during the first two years of college. These general exams are English Composition (with or without essay), Humanities, College Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences and History.

Who develops and administers the exams?
The CLEP CBTs are developed by the College Entrance Examination Board, administered by Educational Testing Service, and involves the assistance of educators from across the United States. The test development process is designed and carried out to ensure that the content and difficulty of the test are appropriate to the college level.

When and where is this exam given?
The CLEP Human Growth and Development exam is administered each month throughout the year at approximately 1,400 test centers in the U.S. and can be arranged for candidates abroad on request. To find the test center nearest you and to register for the exam, you should obtain a copy of the free booklets CLEP Colleges and CLEP Information for Candidates and Registration Form. They are available at most colleges where CLEP credit is granted, or by contacting:

CLEP Services
P.O. Box 6601
Princeton, NJ 08541-6601
Phone: (609) 771-7865
Fax: (609) 771-7088
Website: http://www.collegeboard.com/clep
E-mail: clep@info.collegeboard.org

How to Use this Book

What do I study first?
Read over the course review and the suggestions for test-taking. Then use the first practice test as a diagnostic to determine your area(s) of weakness. Once you find out where you need to spend more time, focus your efforts on those specific problem areas. To reinforce your facility with the subject matter, we advise keeping at your side a college-level textbook that covers the appropriate material.

To get the most out of your study time, follow our Independent Study Schedule, which you'll find in the front of this book. The schedule is based on a four-week program, but can be condensed to two weeks if necessary by collapsing each two-week period into a single week.

When should I start studying?
It's never too early to start studying for the CLEP Human Growth and Development exam. The earlier you begin, the more time you will have to sharpen your skills. Don't leave it to the last minute; cramming is not an effective way to study, since it does not allow you the time needed to learn the test material.

Format and Content of the CLEP CBT
The CLEP Human Growth and Development exam covers the kind of material that is typically part of a one-semester introductory course in developmental psychology or human development. Test-takers should be conversant with the major theories and research connected with physical, cognitive, and social development. The exam will present you with approximately 90 questions to be answered in 90 minutes.

The approximate breakdown of topics on the CLEP Human Growth and Development CBT as follows:

10% Theories of development
Cognitive-developmental
Learning
Psychoanalytic

5% Research strategies and methodology
Case study
Correlational
Cross-sectional
Experimental
Longitudinal
Observational

10% Biological development throughout the lifespan
Development of brain and nervous system
Heredity, genetics, genetic testing
Influences of drugs
Motor development
Nutritional influences
Perinatal influences
Physical growth and maturation, aging
Prenatal influences
Sexual maturation

7% Perceptual development throughout the lifespan
Critical periods
Hearing
Sensorimotor activities
Sensory deprivation
Vision

12% Cognitive development throughout the lifespan
Environmental influences
Information processing
Memory
Piaget, Jean
Play
Problem solving
Vygotsky, Lev

8% Language Development
Development of syntax
Environmental, cultural, and genetic influences
Language and thought
Pragmatics
Semantic development
Vocalization and sounds
4% Intelligence throughout the lifespan
Concepts of intelligence and creativity
Developmental stability and change
Heredity and environment

10% Social development throughout the lifespan
Aggression
Attachment
Gender
Moral development
Peer relationships
Prosocial behavior
Social class/behavior
Social cognition

8% Family and society throughout the lifespan
Abuse and neglect
Cross-cultural and ethnic variation
Family relationships
Family structure
Mass media influences
Social/class influences

8% Personality and emotions
Achievement motivation
Development of emotions
Erikson, Erik
Freud, Sigmund
Locus of control
Self-control and self-regulation
Temperament

8% Learning
Classical conditioning
Discrimination and generalization
Habituation
Observational learning and imitation
Operant conditioning

5% Schooling and intervention
Applications of developmental principles within the school
Facilitating role transactions in adulthood
Intervention programs and services
Preschool, day care, elder care
Training in parenting skills

5% Atypical development
Alzheimer's, Dementia, Parkinson's
Antisocial behavior, delinquency
Asocial behavior, fears, phobias, obsessions
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
Autism
Consequences of hereditary diseases
Giftedness
Learning disabilities
Mental retardation

About Our Course Review
Our topical review is divided into 13 sections that correspond to the subject matter you can expect to encounter on the CLEP exam.

When will I receive my score report?
The test-center administrator will print out a full Candidate Score Report for you immediately upon your completion of the CBT. Your scores are reported only to you, unless you ask to have them sent elsewhere. If you wish to have your scores reported to a college or other institution, you must say so when you take the examination. Since your scores are kept on file for 20 years, you can also request transcripts from Educational Testing Service at a later date.

STUDYING FOR THE CLEP CBT
It is crucial for you to choose the time and place for studying that works best for you. Some students set aside a certain number of hours every morning, while others choose to study at night before going to sleep. Only you can determine when and where your study time will be most effective. But be consistent and use your time wisely. Work out a study routine and stick to it!

When you take our practice tests, try to make your testing conditions as much like the actual test as possible. Turn off the television or radio, and sit down at a quiet table or desk free from distraction. Make sure to time yourself. Start off by setting a timer for the time that is allotted for each section, and be sure to reset the timer for the appropriate amount of time when you start a new section.

As you complete each practice test, score it and thoroughly review the explanations for the questions you answered incorrectly; but don't review too much at one sitting. Concentrate on one problem area at a time by reviewing the question and explanation, and by studying our review until you are confident that you completely understand the material.

Keep track of your scores and mark them on the scoring worksheet. By doing so, you will be able to gauge your progress and discover general weaknesses in particular sections. You should carefully study the review sections that cover your areas of difficulty, as this will build your skills in those areas.

Test-Taking Tips
Although you may not be familiar with computer-based standardized tests like the CLEP Human Growth and Development exam, there are many ways to acquaint yourself with this type of examination and thus help alleviate your test-taking anxieties. Listed below are ways to help you become accustomed to the CLEP CBT, some of which may be applied to other computer-based standardized tests as well.

Know the format of the CBT. CLEP CBTs are not adaptive but rather fixed-length tests. In a sense, this makes them kin to the familiar paper-and-pencil exam in that you have the same flexibility to go back and review your work in each section. Moreover, the format hasn't changed a great deal from the paper-and-pencil CLEP.

Read all of the possible answers. Just because you think you have found the correct response, do not automatically assume that it is the best answer. Read through each choice to be sure that you are not making a mistake by jumping to conclusions.

Use the process of elimination. Go through each possible response to a question and eliminate as many of the answer choices as possible. By eliminating just two answer choices, you give yourself a better chance of getting the item correct, since there will be only three choices left from which to make your guess. Remember, your score is based only on the number of questions you answer correctly.

Work quickly and steadily. You will have just 90 minutes to work on the roughly 90 questions you'll be facing, so quickly and steadily to avoid spending an inordinate amount of time on any one question. Taking our practice tests will help you learn to budget your time wisely.

Learn the directions and format for each section of the test. This will put extra time on your side that you can use to review your work on test day.

Acquaint yourself with the CBT screen. Familiarize yourself with the CLEP CBT screen beforehand by logging on to the official College Board Website. Waiting until test day to see what the CBT screen looks like in the pretest tutorial risks injecting needless anxiety into your testing experience.

Be sure that your answer registers before you go to the next item. Check the screen to see that your mouse-click causes the pointer to darken the proper oval. This takes less effort than darkening an oval on paper, but don't lull yourself into taking less care!

THE DAY OF THE EXAM

Preparing for the CLEP CBT
On the day of the test, you should wake up early (after a decent night's rest, one would hope) and have a good breakfast. Dress comfortably so that you are not distracted by being too hot or too cold while taking the test. Plan to arrive at the test center early. This will allow you to collect your thoughts and relax before the test, and will also spare you the anxiety that comes with being late. No one will be allowed into the test session after the test has begun.

Before you set out for the test center, make sure that you have your admission form, Social Security number, and a photo ID with your signature (e.g., driver's license, student identification card, or current alien registration card). You need proper ID to get into the test center.

You may wear a watch to the test center, but it cannot make any noise, which could disturb your fellow test-takers. No calculators, computers, dictionaries, textbooks, notebooks, scrap paper, briefcases, or packages will be permitted; drinking, smoking, and eating are prohibited.

Good luck on the CLEP Human Growth and Development CBT!