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American Government

The American Government examination contains 100 questions to be answered in 90 minutes.

The test includes questions on topics such as the institutions and policy processes of the federal government, the federal courts and civil liberties, political parties and interest groups, political beliefs and behavior, and the content and history of the Constitution.

Students should consider taking the exam if they can demonstrate the following abilities:

  • knowledge of American government and politics
  • understanding of typical patterns of political processes and behavior, the principles used to explain or justify various  governmental structures and procedures
  • analysis and interpretation of simple data that are relevant to American government and politics.

Computer-based Scoring: 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 American Government exam earn credit for a score of 50 or higher.

Course(s) and Credits

  • PLSC 121
    3 credits

Credits meet the social awareness, race/ethnicity and/or gender issues, and social foundations components of the general education requirement.