The College-Level Examination Program or CLEP examinations cover material taught in courses that most students take as requirements in the first two years of college. A college usually grants the same amount of credit to students earning satisfactory scores on the CLEP examination as it grants to students successfully completing that course. Many examinations are designed to correspond to one-semester courses; some, however, correspond to full-year or two-year courses. Unless stated otherwise in its description, an examination is intended to cover material in a one-semester course. Each exam is 90 minutes long, and except for English Composition with Essay, is made up primarily of multiple-choice questions; however, some exams do have fill-ins.

CLEP provides students of any age the opportunity to demonstrate college-level achievement through a program or exams in undergraduate college courses.  There are 2,900 colleges that grant credit and/or advanced standing for CLEP exams.