X
Test Information
Guide:
College-Level
Examination
Program®
2012-13
Western Civilization I
© 2012 The College Board. All rights reserved. College Board, College-Level Examination
Program, CLEP, and the acorn logo are registered trademarks of the College Board.
CLEP TEST INFORMATION GUIDE
FOR WESTERN CIVILIZATION I
worldwide through computer-based testing programs
and also — in forward-deployed areas — through
paper-based testing. Approximately one-third of all
CLEP candidates are military service members.
History of CLEP
Since 1967, the College-Level Examination Program
(CLEP®) has provided over six million people with
the opportunity to reach their educational goals.
CLEP participants have received college credit for
knowledge and expertise they have gained through
prior course work, independent study or work and
life experience.
2011-12 National CLEP Candidates by Age*
Under 18
10%
30 years and older
29%
Over the years, the CLEP examinations have evolved
to keep pace with changing curricula and pedagogy.
Typically, the examinations represent material taught
in introductory college-level courses from all areas
of the college curriculum. Students may choose from
33 different subject areas in which to demonstrate
their mastery of college-level material.
18-22 years
39%
23-29 years
22%
* These data are based on 100% of CLEP test-takers who responded to this
survey question during their examinations.
2011-12 National CLEP Candidates by Gender
Today, more than 2,900 colleges and universities
recognize and grant credit for CLEP.
42%
Philosophy of CLEP
Promoting access to higher education is CLEP’s
foundation. CLEP offers students an opportunity to
demonstrate and receive validation of their
college-level skills and knowledge. Students who
achieve an appropriate score on a CLEP exam can
enrich their college experience with higher-level
courses in their major field of study, expand their
horizons by taking a wider array of electives and
avoid repetition of material that they already know.
58%
Computer-Based CLEP Testing
The computer-based format of CLEP exams allows
for a number of key features. These include:
• a variety of question formats that ensure effective
assessment
• real-time score reporting that gives students and
colleges the ability to make immediate creditgranting decisions (except College Composition,
which requires faculty scoring of essays twice a
month)
• a uniform recommended credit-granting score of
50 for all exams
• “rights-only” scoring, which awards one point per
correct answer
• pretest questions that are not scored but provide
current candidate population data and allow for
rapid expansion of question pools
CLEP Participants
CLEP’s test-taking population includes people of all
ages and walks of life. Traditional 18- to 22-year-old
students, adults just entering or returning to school,
home-schoolers and international students who need
to quantify their knowledge have all been assisted by
CLEP in earning their college degrees. Currently,
58 percent of CLEP’s test-takers are women and
51 percent are 23 years of age or older.
For over 30 years, the College Board has worked to
provide government-funded credit-by-exam
opportunities to the military through CLEP. Military
service members are fully funded for their CLEP exam
fees. Exams are administered at military installations
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CLEP Exam Development
The Committee
Content development for each of the CLEP exams
is directed by a test development committee. Each
committee is composed of faculty from a wide
variety of institutions who are currently teaching
the relevant college undergraduate courses. The
committee members establish the test specifications
based on feedback from a national curriculum
survey; recommend credit-granting scores and
standards; develop and select test questions; review
statistical data and prepare descriptive material for
use by faculty (Test Information Guides) and students
planning to take the tests (CLEP Official Study Guide).
The College Board appoints standing committees of
college faculty for each test title in the CLEP battery.
Committee members usually serve a term of up to
four years. Each committee works with content
specialists at Educational Testing Service to establish
test specifications and develop the tests. Listed
below are the current committee members and their
institutional affiliations.
David Longfellow,
Chair
Baylor University
William H. Alexander Norfolk State University
College faculty also participate in CLEP in other
ways: they convene periodically as part of
standard-setting panels to determine the
recommended level of student competency for the
granting of college credit; they are called upon to
write exam questions and to review forms and they
help to ensure the continuing relevance of the CLEP
examinations through the curriculum surveys.
Margaretta S. Handke
Minnesota State University,
Mankato
Sally West
Truman State University
The primary objective of the committee is to produce
tests with good content validity. CLEP tests must be
rigorous and relevant to the discipline and the
appropriate courses. While the consensus of the
committee members is that this test has high content
validity for a typical introductory Western
Civilization I course or curriculum, the validity of
the content for a specific course or curriculum is best
determined locally through careful review and
comparison of test content, with instructional content
covered in a particular course or curriculum.
The Curriculum Survey
The first step in the construction of a CLEP exam is
a curriculum survey. Its main purpose is to obtain
information needed to develop test-content
specifications that reflect the current college
curriculum and to recognize anticipated changes in
the field. The surveys of college faculty are
conducted in each subject every three to five years
depending on the discipline. Specifically, the survey
gathers information on:
• the major content and skill areas covered in the
equivalent course and the proportion of the course
devoted to each area
• specific topics taught and the emphasis given to
each topic
• specific skills students are expected to acquire and
the relative emphasis given to them
• recent and anticipated changes in course content,
skills and topics
• the primary textbooks and supplementary learning
resources used
• titles and lengths of college courses that
correspond to the CLEP exam
The Committee Meeting
The exam is developed from a pool of questions
written by committee members and outside question
writers. All questions that will be scored on a CLEP
exam have been pretested; those that pass a rigorous
statistical analysis for content relevance, difficulty,
fairness and correlation with assessment criteria are
added to the pool. These questions are compiled by
test development specialists according to the test
specifications, and are presented to all the committee
members for a final review. Before convening at a
two- or three-day committee meeting, the members
have a chance to review the test specifications and
the pool of questions available for possible inclusion
in the exam.
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At the meeting, the committee determines whether
the questions are appropriate for the test and, if not,
whether they need to be reworked and pretested
again to ensure that they are accurate and
unambiguous. Finally, draft forms of the exam are
reviewed to ensure comparable levels of difficulty and
content specifications on the various test forms. The
committee is also responsible for writing and
developing pretest questions. These questions are
administered to candidates who take the examination
and provide valuable statistical feedback on student
performance under operational conditions.
developing, administering and scoring the exams.
Effective July 2001, ACE recommended a uniform
credit-granting score of 50 across all subjects, with
the exception of four-semester language exams,
which represents the performance of students who
earn a grade of C in the corresponding college
course.
The American Council on Education, the major
coordinating body for all the nation’s higher education
institutions, seeks to provide leadership and a unifying
voice on key higher education issues and to influence
public policy through advocacy, research and program
initiatives. For more information, visit the ACE
CREDIT website at www.acenet.edu/acecredit.
Once the questions are developed and pretested,
tests are assembled in one of two ways. In some
cases, test forms are assembled in their entirety.
These forms are of comparable difficulty and are
therefore interchangeable. More commonly,
questions are assembled into smaller,
content-specific units called testlets, which can then
be combined in different ways to create multiple test
forms. This method allows many different forms to
be assembled from a pool of questions.
CLEP Credit Granting
CLEP uses a common recommended credit-granting
score of 50 for all CLEP exams.
This common credit-granting score does not mean,
however, that the standards for all CLEP exams are
the same. When a new or revised version of a test is
introduced, the program conducts a standard setting
to determine the recommended credit-granting score
(“cut score”).
Test Specifications
Test content specifications are determined primarily
through the curriculum survey, the expertise of the
committee and test development specialists, the
recommendations of appropriate councils and
conferences, textbook reviews and other appropriate
sources of information. Content specifications take
into account:
• the purpose of the test
• the intended test-taker population
• the titles and descriptions of courses the test is
designed to reflect
• the specific subject matter and abilities to be tested
• the length of the test, types of questions and
instructions to be used
A standard-setting panel, consisting of 15–20 faculty
members from colleges and universities across the
country who are currently teaching the course, is
appointed to give its expert judgment on the level of
student performance that would be necessary to
receive college credit in the course. The panel
reviews the test and test specifications and defines
the capabilities of the typical A student, as well as
those of the typical B, C and D students.* Expected
individual student performance is rated by each
panelist on each question. The combined average of
the ratings is used to determine a recommended
number of examination questions that must be
answered correctly to mirror classroom performance
of typical B and C students in the related course. The
panel’s findings are given to members of the test
development committee who, with the help of
Educational Testing Service and College Board
psychometric specialists, make a final determination
on which raw scores are equivalent to B and C levels
of performance.
Recommendation of the American
Council on Education (ACE)
The American Council on Education’s College
Credit Recommendation Service (ACE CREDIT)
has evaluated CLEP processes and procedures for
*Student performance for the language exams (French, German and Spanish)
is defined only at the B and C levels.
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Western Civilization I
Description of the Examination
The Western Civilization I: Ancient Near East to
1648 examination covers material that is usually
taught in the first semester of a two-semester course
in Western Civilization. Questions deal with the
civilizations of Ancient Greece, Rome and the
Near East; the Middle Ages; the Renaissance and
Reformation; and early modern Europe. Candidates
may be asked to choose the correct definition of a
historical term, select the historical figure whose
viewpoint is described, identify the correct
relationship between two historical factors, or
detect the inaccurate pairing of an individual with
a historical event. Groups of questions may require
candidates to interpret, evaluate or relate the
contents of a passage, a map or a picture to other
information, or to analyze and utilize the data
contained in a graph or table.
The examination contains approximately
120 questions to be answered in 90 minutes.
Some of these are pretest questions that will not
be scored. Any time candidates spend on tutorials
and providing personal information is in addition
to the actual testing time. This examination uses
the chronological designations B.C.E. (before the
common era) and C.E. (common era). These labels
correspond to B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (anno
Domini), which are used in some textbooks.
Knowledge and Skills Required
Questions on the Western Civilization I examination
require candidates to demonstrate one or more of
the following abilities.
• Ability to understand important factual knowledge of developments in Western Civilization
• Ability to identify the causes and effects of
major historical events
• Ability to analyze, interpret, and evaluate
textual and graphic historical materials
• Ability to distinguish the relevant from
the irrelevant
• Ability to reach conclusions on the basis of facts
The subject matter of the Western Civilization I
examination is drawn from the following topics.
The percentages next to the main topics indicate the
approximate percentage of exam questions on that
topic.
8%–10% Ancient Near East
Political evolution
Religion, culture and technical
developments in and near the Fertile
Crescent
15%–17% Ancient Greece and Hellenistic
Civilization
Political evolution to Periclean Athens
Periclean Athens through the
Peloponnesian Wars
Culture, religion and thought of
Ancient Greece
The Hellenistic political structure
The culture, religion and thought of
Hellenistic Greece
15%–17% Ancient Rome
Political evolution of the Republic
and of the Empire (economic and
geographical context)
Roman thought and culture
Early Christianity
The Germanic invasions
The late empire
23%–27% Medieval History
Byzantium and Islam
Early medieval politics and culture
through Charlemagne
Feudal and manorial institutions
The medieval Church
Medieval thought and culture
Rise of the towns and changing
economic forms
Feudal monarchies
The late medieval church
13%–17% Renaissance and Reformation
The Renaissance in Italy
The Renaissance outside Italy
The New Monarchies
Protestantism and Catholicism reformed
and reorganized
10%–15% Early Modern Europe, 1560–1648
The opening of the Atlantic
The Commercial Revolution
Dynastic and religious conflicts
Thought and culture
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Sample Test Questions
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3. “The great wealth of the palaces and the
widespread prosperity of the land were due to
the profits of trade, protected or exploited by
naval vessels equipped with rams. The palaces
and towns were unfortified, and peaceful scenes
predominated in the frescoes, which revealed a
love of dancing, boxing, and a sport in which
boys and girls somersaulted over the backs of
charging bulls.”
The following sample questions do not appear on
an actual CLEP examination. They are intended
to give potential test-takers an indication of the
format and difficulty level of the examination and
to provide content for practice and review. Knowing
the correct answers to all of the sample questions is
not a guarantee of satisfactory performance on the
exam.
The culture described above was that of
the ancient
Directions: Each of the questions or incomplete
statements below is followed by five suggested
answers or completions. Select the one that is best
in each case.
(A) Minoans
(B) Hittites
(C) Macedonians
(D) Assyrians
(E) Persians
1. The earliest urban settlements usually arose in
which of the following types of areas?
(A) Coastal plains
(B) Inland deforested plains
(C) Desert oases
(D) Fertile river valleys
(E) Narrow valleys well protected by mountains
4. These people maintained their skill as seafarers,
traders, and artists. They planted Carthage and
other colonies in the western Mediterranean.
They developed a new script in which a separate
sign stood not for a syllable, but for a consonant
or vowel sound.
The people described above were the
(A) Phoenicians
(B) Hittites
(C) Assyrians
(D) Mycenaeans
(E) Philistines
5. Pharaoh Akhenaton of Egypt (c. 1353–1336
B.C.E.) is best known today for
© Bettman/CORBIS
(A) building the largest pyramid in the Valley
of the Kings
(B) conquering large expanses of territory
outside of the Nile Valley
(C) developing a monotheistic religion
(D) uniting upper and lower Egypt under a
single administrative system
(E) writing down the first code of Egyptian law
2. The panel above from ancient Ur supports
which of the following conclusions about
Mesopotamian society?
(A) It was primarily composed of
hunter-gatherers.
(B) It had distinct class divisions.
(C) Religion pervaded daily life.
(D) Soldiers were drawn primarily from
the nobility.
(E) Most commoners were slaves.
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6. Among the ancient Hebrews, a prophet was
9. All of the following were emphasized by the
early Christian church EXCEPT a
(A) a teacher who expounded the Scriptures
(B) a king with hereditary but limited powers
(C) a judge who administered traditional law
(D) a priest with exclusive rights to perform
functions at the temple
(E) an individual who was inspired by God to
speak to the people
(A) ritual fellowship meal in memory of Christ
(B) toleration of other religious sects
(C) belief in the value of the souls of women
and slaves as well as those of free men
(D) belief in life after death for all believers
in Christ
(E) belief in the value of martyrdom, defined
as dying for the faith
7. The outstanding achievement of King
Hammurabi of Mesopotamia was that he
(A) issued a more comprehensive law code than
had any known predecessor
(B) conquered and established dominion over
all of Egypt
(C) built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
(D) established the first democratic government
(E) successfully defended his kingdom against
the Assyrians
8. Of the following, which helps explain why the
Roman Republic gave way to dictatorship
during the first century B.C.E.?
(A) The government that was suitable for
a small city-state failed to meet the needs
of an empire.
(B) A strong leader was needed because the
upper classes feared a rebellion on the part
of the slave population.
(C) Outside pressures on boundaries could not
be resisted by republican armies.
(D) Rome’s period of expansion was over.
(E) The Roman senatorial class was declining
in number.
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10. The Roman emperor whose policies rescued
Rome from its crisis in the third century C.E. was
(A) Augustus
(B) Marcus Aurelius
(C) Constantine
(D) Diocletian
(E) Theodosius
11. Which of the following established Christianity
as a legal religion in the Roman Empire?
(A) The defeat of the Huns, 451 C.E.
(B) The accession of Justinian I
(C) The Council of Nicaea
(D) The accession of Diocletian
(E) The Edict of Milan
12. All of the following invaded the Roman Empire
EXCEPT the
(A) Vikings
(B) Ostrogoths
(C) Visigoths
(D) Vandals
(E) Huns
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13. The craft guilds of the Middle Ages had as their
primary purpose the
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16. All of the following factors played a part in
bringing about the Hundred Years’ War EXCEPT
(A) promotion of trade and the protection
of merchants
(B) control of town government
(C) regulation of production and quality
(D) guardianship of the social and financial
affairs of their members
(E) accumulation of capital and the lending
of money
(A) The English king had lands in Gascony.
(B) A French princess was the mother of an
English king.
(C) Flemish towns were dependent on England
for raw wool.
(D) The Holy Roman Emperor wanted to bring
pressure on the Swiss cantons.
(E) The Capetian dynasty had come to an end.
14. Which of the following had the greatest impact
on northern European agriculture by the year
1000 C.E.?
17. Civil peace and personal security were enjoyed
to a greater degree in Norman England than in
continental Europe principally because the
Norman kings
(A) The wheeled seed drill
(B) The enclosure movement
(C) The padded horse collar
(D) The horse saddle
(E) The spread of maize (corn) cultivation
(A) maintained a large standing army
(B) claimed the direct allegiance of the mass
of the peasantry
(C) avoided conflicts with the Church
(D) kept their vassals occupied with
continental conflicts
(E) developed a centralized and efficient type
of feudalism
15. The orders of Franciscan and Dominican friars
founded in the thirteenth century differed from
earlier monastic orders principally in that the
friars
18. Which of the following could have been made
immediately available to the reading public in
large quantities as soon as it was written?
(A) took vows of poverty, chastity, and
obedience
(B) broke away from the control of the pope
(C) introduced the ideas of Plato and other early
Greek philosophers into their teaching
(D) devoted themselves mainly to copying
ancient manuscripts
(E) traveled among the people instead of living
in monasteries
(A) On Christian Liberty, Martin Luther
(B) Travels, Marco Polo
(C) The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri
(D) Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer
(E) English translation of the Bible,
John Wycliffe
19. A central feature of the Catholic Reformation
was the
(A) Roman Catholic church’s inability to
correct abuses
(B) establishment of new religious orders such
as the Jesuits
(C) transfer of authority from Rome to
the bishoprics
(D) rejection of Baroque art
(E) toleration of Protestants in Roman
Catholic countries
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23. On which of the following issues did Luther and
Calvin DISAGREE?
(A) The toleration for minority viewpoints
(B) The relationship of the church to civil
authority
(C) The authority of the Scriptures
(D) The existence of the Trinity
(E) The retention of the sacrament of baptism
24. The principle that the religion of the ruler of a
state determines the established church in that
state was first adopted at the
© Bettman/CORBIS
(A) Peace of Augsburg
(B) Peace of the Pyrenees
(C) Congress of Vienna
(D) Edict of Restitution
(E) Peace of Westphalia
20. The building in Córdoba, Spain, shown above,
illustrates the influence of
(A) Islam
(B) Buddhism
(C) Hinduism
(D) Shinto
(E) Animism
25. Between 1629 and 1639, Charles I of England
tried to obtain revenues by all of the following
means EXCEPT
21. The major consequence of the rise of towns in
the eleventh and twelfth centuries was
(A) the levying of ship money
(B) income from crown lands
(C) forced loans
(D) the sale of monopolies
(E) grants from Parliament
(A) a lessening of the distinction among
social classes
(B) the practice of caring for the indigent
(C) the decline of royal authority
(D) the decline in the social status of the
lesser clergy
(E) a new social class enriched by
manufacturing and trade
26. All of the following are associated with the
commercial revolution in early modern Europe
EXCEPT
(A) an increase in the number of entrepreneurial
capitalists
(B) the appearance of state-run trading
companies
(C) a large influx of precious metals into Europe
(D) an expansion of the guild system
(E) a ‘‘golden age” for the Netherlands
22. In The Prince, Machiavelli asserted that
(A) historical examples are useless for
understanding political behavior
(B) the intelligent prince should keep his state
neutral in the event of war
(C) people are not trustworthy and cannot be
relied on in time of need
(D) the prince should be guided by the ethical
principles of Christianity
(E) luck is of no consequence in the success or
failure of princes
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30. The theory concerning the solar system that was
published by Copernicus in 1543 rejected the
popular belief that
27. Castiglione’s Book of the Courtier (1528) was
intended as
(A) a collection of entertaining travel stories
(B) a guide to the military affairs of the Italian
peninsula
(C) a collection of meditations and spiritual
reflections
(D) a guide to refined behavior and etiquette
(E) an allegory of courtly love
(A) Earth revolves around the Sun
(B) Earth revolves around the Moon
(C) Earth is the center of the universe
(D) the Sun is the center of the universe
(E) the stars revolve around the Sun
31. During their next war with the Persians following
the battle of Marathon, the Athenians won a
decisive victory through their use of
28. Which of the following resulted from the defeat
of the Spanish Armada in 1588?
(A) Spanish domination of the Mediterranean
was ended.
(B) The invasion of England was prevented.
(C) Dutch sympathies for the Spanish cause
increased.
(D) War broke out between England and France.
(E) There was a series of uprisings in the
Spanish colonies of Central and South
America.
(A) horse-drawn chariots
(B) new kinds of iron weapons
(C) mounted archers
(D) incendiary weapons
(E) sea power
32. Almost every kind of human activity was
accepted as worthy of offering to the gods—
athletic contests, poetry reading, song, dance,
drama, prayer, giftbearing . . . There were no
elaborate priesthoods; fathers conducted rituals
in the household and elected officials served as
priests in the civic ceremonies.
The religion described above is probably that
of the ancient
29. In the mid-seventeenth century, the area shaded
black on the map above belonged to
(A) Russia
(B) Poland
(C) Sweden
(D) Austria
(E) Brandenburg-Prussia
(A) Egyptians
(B) Sumerians
(C) Greeks
(D) Hebrews
(E) Persians
33. All of the following peoples settled Roman
lands bordering on the Mediterranean
EXCEPT the
(A) Lombards
(B) Visigoths
(C) Jutes
(D) Ostrogoths
(E) Vandals
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34. “I found Rome a city of brick and left it a city
of marble.”
37. Which of the following was a primary goal of
Cardinal Richelieu’s foreign policy?
(A) The weakening of the Hapsburgs
diplomatically and militarily
(B) The reestablishment of religious unity
in Europe
(C) The consolidation of French holdings in
North America
(D) The strengthening of papal influence within
the French government
(E) The founding of commercial companies on
the Anglo-Dutch model
The claim above was made by
(A) Pompey
(B) Julius Caesar
(C) Augustus
(D) Tiberius
(E) Hadrian
35. Which of the following did St. Francis of Assisi
and Dante Alighieri have in common?
(A) They were heretics.
(B) They were university teachers.
(C) They were religious mystics.
(D) They were products of commercial towns.
(E) They favored the supremacy of the state
over the Church.
38. Which of the following was the most effective
leader of the Protestant forces in the Thirty
Years’ War?
(A) Albrecht von Wallenstein
(B) Emperor Ferdinand II
(C) The Elector Palatine Frederick V
(D) Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
(E) Christian IV of Denmark
36. Henry II (1133–1189) increased royal authority
in England chiefly by
(A) confiscating Church lands
(B) usurping the legislative authority
of Parliament
(C) proclaiming the divine right of kings
(D) forming an alliance with the papacy
(E) enlarging the jurisdiction and powers
of royal courts
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39. The reluctance of Elizabeth I of England to
open “windows into men’s souls” was an
indication of her
(A) atheism
(B) withdrawal from public pageantry
(C) reluctance to inquire closely into personal
religious views
(D) reluctance to prosecute political opponents
(E) insistence on personal rule
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1930 (30.4.44)
Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art
40. The wall painting shown above depicts which
of the following?
41. Which of the following was a major innovation
of the Renaissance period?
(A) The division of labor by gender in rural
Etruscan society
(B) The poor treatment of slaves in ancient
Greece
(C) Activities of children in Sumerian society
(D) Men and women working in the fields in
ancient Egypt
(E) Roman soldiers celebrating a victory
(A) The use of linear perspective in painting
(B) The use of marble as a medium for statuary
(C) The dome
(D) The portico
(E) Fresco painting
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42. The Normans gained control of England at the
battle of
46. Which of the following was the site of a
tenth-century monastery that became the center
of an important monastic reform movement?
(A) Naseby
(B) Agincourt
(C) Stamford Bridge
(D) Bayeux
(E) Hastings
(A) Aachen
(B) Avignon
(C) Canossa
(D) Chartres
(E) Cluny
43. Which of the following describes Luther’s
reaction to the Peasants’ Revolt of 1525?
(A) He first sought what he considered a
balanced solution and then strongly
supported the lords.
(B) He abandoned his initial support of the lords
in favor of the peasants.
(C) He sought throughout to act as a mediator
between the lords and peasants.
(D) He declined to act on the grounds that his
ministry did not concern itself with politics.
(E) He called on the Holy Roman Emperor
to intervene.
44. The height of the medieval papacy came with
his pontificate . . . In the year before his death
he called the greatest church council since
antiquity, attended by five hundred bishops and
even by the patriarchs of Constantinople and
Jerusalem.
47. Which of the following contributed to Portugal’s
lead in overseas expansion in the fifteenth
century?
I. The creation of accurate maps
II. The development of better navigational
instruments
III. Improvement in the design of ships
IV. Availability of large numbers of galley
slaves
(A) I only
(B) II and III only
(C) I, II, and III only
(D) I, II, and IV only
(E) II, III, and IV only
48. Which of the following best characterizes
medieval town charters?
The pope referred to in the passage above is
(A) They provided townspeople with legal and
political freedoms that were not available to
peasants and serfs.
(B) They were always granted by the reigning
secular ruler.
(C) They permitted townspeople to spend all tax
revenue they collected on the needs of their
town.
(D) They let peasants migrate freely to the
towns.
(E) They always provided for popularly elected
assemblies that made the towns’ laws.
(A) Julius II
(B) Urban II
(C) Innocent III
(D) Nicholas V
(E) Pius II
45. Which of the following was true of medieval
universities?
(A) They taught only philosophy.
(B) They were open only to men of noble birth.
(C) They were considered subversive of the
feudal system by many kings.
(D) They were corporations of teachers and
students.
(E) They emphasized instruction in the
vernacular.
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49. Which of the following was involved most
directly in the political persecution of Martin
Luther?
52. The Treaty of Westphalia, which ended the
Thirty Years’ War in 1648, resulted in
(A) a defeat for Swedish imperialism in northern
Europe
(B) the consolidation of Bourbon control over
Germany
(C) ratification of the territorial fragmentation
of Germany
(D) a step toward restoring religious unity in
Europe
(E) the restoration of an independent kingdom
of Bohemia
(A) Frederick III, Elector of Saxony
(B) Emperor Charles V
(C) Ignatius of Loyola
(D) King Henry VIII of England
(E) Huldrych Zwingli
50. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, recruits
for the elite Janissary corps of the Ottoman
Empire were drawn primarily from which of
the following groups?
(A) Well-to-do Christian merchants
(B) Sufi religious preachers
(C) Noble Muslim landowners
(D) Children of Christian peasants
(E) Muslim prisoners of war
51. “You must realize this: that a prince, and
especially a new prince, cannot observe all
those things which give men a reputation for
virtue, because in order to maintain his state he
is often forced to act in defiance of good faith,
of charity, of kindness, of religion.”
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53. The Assyrians achieved great success in the
eighth and seventh centuries B.C.E. as a result of
(A) their emphasis on diplomacy and negotiation
(B) the location of their homeland in
modern-day northern Iraq
(C) the size and organization of their army
(D) their peaceful assimilation of diverse peoples
into their empire
(E) the linguistic unity of their empire
54. Which of the following statements is true of
women in the High Middle Ages?
(A) Courtly literature portrayed aristocratic
women as objects of devotion.
(B) Formal education was available to
middle-class women.
(C) Joining a religious order was not an option
available to women.
(D) Only propertied widows were allowed to
remarry.
(E) Women artisans often joined guilds.
The quote above addresses which of the
following in Renaissance Italy?
(A) The transitory nature of political power
(B) The threat of papal power
(C) The dangers of political liberty
(D) The threat of French invasion
(E) The bad reputation of certain Renaissance
artists
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59. Russia’s Time of Troubles (1598–1613) ended
with which of the following?
55. Which of the following was a major feature of
the Hebrew religion?
(A) It promoted the belief that the Hebrews were
God’s chosen people.
(B) It allowed the worship of different gods and
goddesses.
(C) It owed much of its theology to ancient
Mesopotamian religious cults.
(D) It did not apply to the social, political, or
economic areas of life.
(E) It made its greatest impact in the arts and
architecture.
(A) The expulsion of a Polish occupying army
and the election of a new ruling family
(B) The ejection of the Mongol/Tatar occupiers
from Russia
(C) A successful war against the Turks
(D) The annexation of Ukraine
(E) Massive serf revolts
60. Which of the following individuals did the most
to spread Greek culture?
(A) Aristotle
(B) Xerxes
(C) Ptolemy
(D) Euclid
(E) Alexander the Great
56. A major effect of the flying buttress used in the
construction of Gothic buildings was to
(A) eliminate the use of mortar
(B) reduce the size of the clerestory
(C) allow more light into the buildings
(D) reduce the construction costs of religious
buildings
(E) create the optical illusion that cathedrals
were wider at their bases
61. In the period 1000–1500 C.E., Muslims and
Christians differed in regard to which of the
following?
(A) Belief in one all-powerful god
(B) Belief in war in God’s name
(C) Belief in ancient prophecies
(D) Portrayal of religious figures in art
(E) Toleration of polytheistic religions
57. Which of the following is the most important
factor that enabled the First Crusade to succeed?
(A) Participation of women
(B) Superior firepower of the papal armies
(C) Neutrality maintained by the papacy
(D) Disunity of the Muslim world
(E) Desire for a Jewish state
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62. Which of the following most accurately defines
feudalism?
(A) A system of strong central government
(B) A system of centralized economic
distribution
(C) An agreement to substitute money payments
for military service
(D) A system based on land grants given in
exchange for military service
(E) A religious movement
58. Which of the following rightfully could be
called the Empire of the Steppe?
(A) The Ottoman Empire
(B) The Mongol Empire
(C) The Parthian Empire
(D) The Byzantine Empire
(E) The T’ang Empire
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67. An important contribution of Thomas Aquinas
was his effort to
63. The bubonic plague led to improvements in
which of the following?
(A) reconcile reason and the teachings of
Aristotle with Christian faith
(B) reestablish the supremacy of the Pope
(C) defeat the Franks
(D) win northern Africa back from Islam
(E) halt the progress of the Reformation
in Spain
(A) Workers’ wages
(B) Church administration
(C) Prison conditions
(D) Transportation
(E) Bookbinding
64. Augustine (354–430) asserted in his City of God,
written between 413 and 426, that
(A) laws and government are unnecessary in
a Christian society
(B) humans must strive for spiritual purity,
not earthly pleasures
(C) sexual abstinence is unnatural
(D) God rarely intervenes in the events of
human history
(E) Jesus Christ is not divine
68. Which of the following is a true statement
regarding John Calvin?
(A) He agreed with both Luther and Zwingli
on the Eucharist.
(B) He opposed the doctrine of predestination.
(C) He emphasized the omnipotence and
omnipresence of God.
(D) He believed in the separation of church
and state.
(E) He practiced religious tolerance when he
governed Geneva.
65. The Age of Pericles was characterized by all
of the following EXCEPT
(A) the political domination of Greece by
Macedon
(B) the historical writings of Herodotus
(C) an ambitious building program
(D) the expansion of the Delian League
(E) reforms of Athenian democracy
69. The Investiture Controversy pitted Pope
Gregory VII against which of the following?
(A) Henry III
(B) Henry IV
(C) Frederick Barbarossa
(D) Maximilian
(E) Charles V
66. Which ancient culture produced the “Epic of
Gilgamesh”?
(A) Egyptian
(B) Hittite
(C) Assyrian
(D) Hebrew
(E) Sumerian
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70. The constitution of the Roman Republic was
comparable to the constitution of England in
that it was
(A) appended with a bill of rights
(B) written in Latin
(C) never a written document
(D) intended to provide limits on the ruler and
the nobility
(E) designed primarily to protect the rights of
the lower classes
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71. The controversies that occurred within the
Christian church between the third and fifth
centuries C.E. were principally concerned
with the
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74. The Byzantine emperor Justinian is best known
for his contributions to
(A) historical writings
(B) civil law
(C) Christian theology
(D) astronomy
(E) philosophy
(A) divinity of Jesus’ mother
(B) Eucharist (communion) as a central
component of Christian religious ritual
(C) nature of Jesus Christ and the doctrine of
the Trinity
(D) proper role of missionaries in spreading
Christianity throughout the Roman Empire
(E) role of monastic orders in governing the
Christian church
75. Magna Carta, signed by King John of England
in 1215, did which of the following?
(A) It established a written constitution for
England.
(B) It determined that education should be
controlled by monastic houses.
(C) It ensured that all landowners possessed
the right to vote.
(D) It regulated social and legal relations
between the king and the great lords
of England.
(E) It established the supremacy of the
English Parliament.
72. Which of the following best describes the aim of
the Benedictine Rule, written in 529 by Benedict
of Nursia?
(A) To isolate monks from the rest of the world
to pursue the ideal of complete self-denial
(B) To create a disciplined and effective
organization to carry out spiritual work
(C) To provide the papacy in Rome with loyal
followers
(D) To establish a hierarchy of church officials in
western Europe separate from the hierarchy
in eastern Europe
(E) To prevent the use of images in western
churches
76. Which of the following best summarizes the
lasting impact of the reign of Henry VII (Henry
Tudor) on England?
73. The Greek city-state of Sparta is best defined
as a
(A) tribal state based upon kinship
(B) participatory democracy
(C) conservative military oligarchy
(D) society that placed great emphasis on the
arts
(E) society in which women had no public role
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(A) It produced the first major confrontation
between king and Parliament over budgetary
issues.
(B) It led to the establishment of a national legal
system based on trial by jury.
(C) It resulted in the return to England of all
territories lost in the Hundred Years’ War.
(D) It marked the beginnings of English
colonization of North America.
(E) It ended the Wars of the Roses and led to
greater political centralization.
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77. The execution of Mary Queen of Scots was the
catalyst for which of the following?
80. The schism in Islam between Shi‘ites and Sunnis
occurred primarily over which of the following?
(A) The Dutch revolt against Spain
(B) The political union of Scotland and England
(C) Puritan opposition to Elizabeth I
(D) The sailing of the Spanish Armada
(E) An alliance between Scotland and France
78. Male Spartans were able to dedicate their lives to
full-time military training and service because
(A) Sparta supported itself with treasure and
tribute from foreign conquests
(B) Sparta’s foreign colonies provided financial
support for the army
(C) Sparta had extensive silver mines
(D) non-Spartan slaves (helots) provided the
labor for the Spartan economy
(E) non-Spartan merchants paid taxes based on
foreign trade
(A) The marriage of Muhammad
(B) Regional rivalries
(C) Tribal disputes over territory
(D) Disputes between Umayyad caliphs over
political authority
(E) The question of succession to the caliphate
81. The quest for economic self-sufficiency, the
expansion of colonial possessions, and the
introduction of manufacturing standards are
most closely associated with
(A) bartering
(B) laissez-faire
(C) utopianism
(D) mercantilism
(E) capitalism
79. The dominance of Mediterranean trade by Italian
city-states can be traced to the
(A) Crusades
(B) Ciompi Revolt
(C) plague
(D) rise of the Médicis
(E) defeat of France
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82. In the thirteenth century C.E., which of the
following was a major point of contact between
people of Muslim, Jewish, and Western Christian
cultures?
(A) Rome
(B) Paris
(C) Aachen
(D) Sicily
(E) Milan
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83. The eleventh and twelfth centuries saw a
growing emphasis on which Biblical figure as an
object of Christian devotion?
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85. Which statement most accurately reflects the
status of Jews in early medieval European
society (circa 500–1000 C.E.)?
(A) Moses
(B) Mary
(C) Peter
(D) Paul
(E) Judith
84. Which of the following pairs of religious
thinkers or leaders most directly challenged
Christian orthodoxy in pre-Reformation Europe?
(A) John Wycliffe and Jan Hus
(B) Isabella I of Spain and Ferdinand II of Spain
(C) Hildegard of Bingen and Catherine of Siena
(D) Thomas Aquinas and William of Ockham
(E) Joan of Arc and Christine de Pisan
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(A) They were forced to either convert to
Christianity or emigrate in many western
and central European countries.
(B) They were completely excluded from
property ownership and participated in only
a few urban professions.
(C) They were persecuted more vigorously by
the rulers of Muslim Spain than they were
persecuted by Christian rulers elsewhere in
Europe.
(D) They were present in many urban
communities, frequently spoke the same
language as non-Jews, and occasionally
owned rural estates.
(E) They were largely absent from many
European countries, with the exception of
Germany and Italy.
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Study Resources
Answer Key
Most textbooks used in college-level Western
civilization courses cover the topics in the outline
given earlier, but the approaches to certain topics
and the emphases given to them may differ. To
prepare for the Western Civilization I exam, it is
advisable to study one or more college textbooks,
which can be found in most college bookstores.
When selecting a textbook, check the table of
contents against the knowledge and skills required
for this test.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
You may also find it helpful to supplement your
reading with books listed in the bibliographies
found in most history textbooks. In addition,
contemporary historical novels, plays and films
provide rich sources of information. Actual works
of art in museums can bring to life not only the
reproductions found in books but history itself.
Visit www.collegeboard.org/clepprep for additional
Western civilization resources. You can also find
suggestions for exam preparation in Chapter IV of
the Official Study Guide. In addition, many college
faculty post their course materials on their schools’
websites.
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D
B
A
A
C
E
A
A
B
D
E
A
C
C
E
D
E
A
B
A
E
C
B
A
E
D
D
B
E
C
E
C
C
C
D
E
A
D
C
D
A
E
A
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
79.
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.
85.
C
D
E
C
A
B
D
A
C
C
A
A
C
D
B
A
E
D
D
A
B
A
E
A
C
B
C
C
B
C
B
D
E
D
D
A
E
D
D
B
A
D
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Test Measurement Overview
Format
There are multiple forms of the computer-based test,
each containing a predetermined set of scored
questions. The examinations are not adaptive. There
may be some overlap between different forms of a
test: any of the forms may have a few questions,
many questions, or no questions in common. Some
overlap may be necessary for statistical reasons.
In the computer-based test, not all questions
contribute to the candidate’s score. Some of the
questions presented to the candidate are being
pretested for use in future editions of the tests and
will not count toward his or her score.
Scoring Information
CLEP examinations are scored without a penalty for
incorrect guessing. The candidate’s raw score is
simply the number of questions answered correctly.
However, this raw score is not reported; the raw
scores are translated into a scaled score by a process
that adjusts for differences in the difficulty of the
questions on the various forms of the test.
Scaled Scores
The scaled scores are reported on a scale of 20–80.
Because the different forms of the tests are not
always exactly equal in difficulty, raw-to-scale
conversions may in some cases differ from form to
form. The easier a form is judged to be, the higher
the raw score required to attain a given scaled score.
Table 1 indicates the relationship between number
correct (raw score) and scaled score across all forms.
The Recommended Credit-Granting
Score
Table 1 also indicates the recommended
credit-granting score, which represents the
performance of students earning a grade of C in the
corresponding course. The recommended B-level
score represents B-level performance in equivalent
course work. These scores were established as the
result of a Standard Setting Study, the most recent
having been conducted in 2010. The recommended
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credit-granting scores are based upon the judgments
of a panel of experts currently teaching equivalent
courses at various colleges and universities. These
experts evaluate each question in order to determine
the raw scores that would correspond to B and C
levels of performance. Their judgments are then
reviewed by a test development committee, which, in
consultation with test content and psychometric
specialists, makes a final determination. The
standard-setting study is described more fully in the
earlier section entitled “CLEP Credit Granting” on
page 4.
Panel members participating in the most recent study
were:
Andrew Barnes
Lolene Blake
April Brooks
Paul Buckingham
Elizabeth Clark
Marcia Frey
David Frye
Kim Klimek
Oscar Lansen
Wenxi Liu
Deena McKinney
Jennifer McNabb
Martin Menke
Michael Nagle
Aaron Palmer
Jotham Parsons
Michael Polley
Travis Ricketts
Arizona State University
Salt Lake Community College
South Dakota State University
Morrisville State College
West Texas A&M University
Kansas State University
Eastern Connecticut State
University
Metropolitan State College
of Denver
University of North Carolina
at Charlotte
Miami University
East Georgia College
Western Illinois University
Rivier College
West Shore Community College
Wisconsin Lutheran College
Duquesne University
Columbia College
Bryan College
To establish the exact correspondences between raw
and scaled scores, a scaled score of 50 is assigned to
the raw score that corresponds to the recommended
credit-granting score for C-level performance. Then
a high (but in some cases, possibly less than perfect)
raw score will be selected and assigned a scaled
score of 80. These two points — 50 and 80 —
determine a function that generates a raw-to-scale
conversion for the test.
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Table 1: Western Civilization I
Interpretive Score Data
American Council on Education (ACE) Recommended Number of Semester Hours of Credit: 3
Course Grade
B
C
Scaled Score
Number Correct
80
79
78
77
76
75
74
73
72
71
70
69
68
67
66
65
64
63
62
61
60
59
58
57
56
55
54
53
52
51
50*
49
48
47
46
45
44
43
42
41
40
39
38
37
36
35
34
33
32
31
30
29
28
27
26
25
24
23
22
21
20
88-90
87
86
86
85
85
84
83
82-83
81-82
80-81
79-80
78-79
77-78
75-76
73-75
72-73
70-71
68-70
66-68
63-66
61-63
59-61
56-59
53-56
51-53
48-51
45-48
42-45
40-42
37-40
34-37
32-34
29-32
27-29
25-27
23-25
21-22
19-20
17-18
15-17
14-15
13
11-12
10-11
9-10
8
7-8
7
6
5
5
4
3
0-2
*Credit-granting score recommended by ACE.
Note: The number-correct scores for each scaled score on different forms may vary depending on form difficulty.
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Validity
Reliability
Validity is a characteristic of a particular use of the
test scores of a group of examinees. If the scores are
used to make inferences about the examinees’
knowledge of a particular subject, the validity of the
scores for that purpose is the extent to which those
inferences can be trusted to be accurate.
The reliability of the test scores of a group of
examinees is commonly described by two statistics:
the reliability coefficient and the standard error of
measurement (SEM). The reliability coefficient is
the correlation between the scores those examinees
get (or would get) on two independent replications
of the measurement process. The reliability
coefficient is intended to indicate the
stability/consistency of the candidates’ test scores,
and is often expressed as a number ranging from
.00 to 1.00. A value of .00 indicates total lack of
stability, while a value of 1.00 indicates perfect
stability. The reliability coefficient can be interpreted
as the correlation between the scores examinees
would earn on two forms of the test that had no
questions in common.
One type of evidence for the validity of test scores is
called content-related evidence of validity. It is
usually based upon the judgments of a set of experts
who evaluate the extent to which the content of the
test is appropriate for the inferences to be made
about the examinees’ knowledge. The committee
that developed the CLEP Western Civilization I
examination selected the content of the test to reflect
the content of Western Civilization I courses at most
colleges, as determined by a curriculum survey.
Since colleges differ somewhat in the content of the
courses they offer, faculty members should, and are
urged to, review the content outline and the sample
questions to ensure that the test covers core content
appropriate to the courses at their college.
Another type of evidence for test-score validity is
called criterion-related evidence of validity. It
consists of statistical evidence that examinees who
score high on the test also do well on other measures
of the knowledge or skills the test is being used to
measure. Criterion-related evidence for the validity
of CLEP scores can be obtained by studies
comparing students’ CLEP scores with the grades
they received in corresponding classes, or other
measures of achievement or ability. CLEP and the
College Board conduct these studies, called
Admitted Class Evaluation Service or ACES, for
individual colleges that meet certain criteria at the
college’s request. Please contact CLEP for more
information.
Statisticians use an internal-consistency measure to
calculate the reliability coefficients for the CLEP
exam. This involves looking at the statistical
relationships among responses to individual
multiple-choice questions to estimate the reliability
of the total test score. The formula used is known as
Kuder-Richardson 20, or KR-20, which is equivalent
to a more general formula called coefficient alpha.
The SEM is an index of the extent to which students’
obtained scores tend to vary from their true scores.1
It is expressed in score units of the test. Intervals
extending one standard error above and below the
true score (see below) for a test-taker will include
68 percent of that test-taker’s obtained scores.
Similarly, intervals extending two standard errors
above and below the true score will include
95 percent of the test-taker’s obtained scores.
The standard error of measurement is inversely
related to the reliability coefficient. If the reliability
of the test were 1.00 (if it perfectly measured the
candidate’s knowledge), the standard error of
measurement would be zero.
Scores on the CLEP examination in Western
Civilization I are estimated to have a reliability
coefficient of 0.92. The standard error of
measurement is 2.80 scaled-score points.
1
True score is a hypothetical concept indicating what an individual’s score on a
test would be if there were no errors introduced by the measuring process. It is
thought of as the hypothetical average of an infinite number of obtained scores
for a test-taker with the effect of practice removed.
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