CLEP^® Biology Practice Test

Free CLEP Biology Practice Test (updated 2026)

The College Board administers the College-Level Examination Program^® (CLEP^®), which offers affordable exams that help students receive college credits. This article covers the CLEP Biology exam, which tests molecular, cellular, organismal, and population biology.

Click “Start Test” above to take a free CLEP Biology practice test!

What is the CLEP Biology Exam?

CLEP exams are taken by students every year to earn college credits for the things they already know. If you have learned a substantial amount of information about a particular topic through on-the-job training, previous studies, or simple life experience, you can take this one exam and potentially receive college credit as if you took the course!

By taking and passing the CLEP Biology exam, you may receive college credits without having to take a biology course. This will potentially:

• Allow you to earn three or more college credits
• Save you money because the test is cheaper than a semester at college
• Allow you to graduate on time or possibly to graduate ahead of schedule
• Add flexibility to your degree program

You should check with your college before taking this exam to make sure they will accept your CLEP scores.

Eligibility

The CLEP Biology exam is available to a wide range of test-takers! Here are some examples of who takes the CLEP Biology exam:

• College students
• High school students who are preparing to graduate
• Homeschool students
• Adults who are returning to school
• Professionals who want to use the exam results to help advance their careers
• Applicants to master’s degree programs that still have undergraduate prerequisites they need to fulfill

If you plan to take the exam with remote proctoring, additional requirements apply. You must:

• Be at least 13 years old, except Illinois residents must be at least 18 years old
• Be located in the United States, excluding US territories, or be DANTES-funded
• Meet all of College Board’s computer, smartphone, and testing-room requirements for remote proctoring

Anyone involved in creating CLEP test-preparation materials or in developing or delivering CLEP-related courses, tutoring, workshops, or other exam-preparation activities may be prohibited from taking a CLEP exam.

CLEP Biology Exam Outline

The CLEP Biology exam contains approximately 115 multiple-choice questions and has a time limit of 90 minutes.

Every question on the exam is designed to test one or more of the following:

1. Your knowledge of biology-related facts, processes, and principles
2. Your ability to collect and interpret information, hypothesize using available information, and draw conclusions from given information
3. Your understanding that science has social consequences

The exam is split into three main sections, each of which contains several subsections.

1. Molecular and Cellular Biology (33%)

The questions in this section cover six main topics:

• Chemical composition of organisms
• Cells
• Enzymes
• Energy transformations
• Cell division
• Chemical nature of the gene

2. Organismal Biology (34%)

The questions in this section cover five main topics:

• Structure and function within plants (with emphasis on angiosperms)
• Structure and function within animals (with emphasis on vertebrates)
• Plant reproduction and development
• Animal reproduction and development
• Principles of heredity

3. Population Biology (33%)

The questions in this section cover four main topics:

• Principles of ecology
• Principles of evolution
• Principles of behavior
• Social biology

Registration

You can register for the exam online via the College Board website. The CLEP Biology exam is administered throughout the year on a very flexible schedule.

At the top of the page on the far right-hand side, you will see a heading marked “My CLEP account.” This drop-down menu will allow you to go to the correct page to establish an account, manage your profile, see the exams you have taken, and view the grades of the exams you have taken. You can also request a transcript from this page.

During the registration process, you will need to pay the $97 exam fee. You will also choose whether to take the exam at a testing center or remotely. If you choose to take the test remotely, you’ll need to pay the $30 remote-proctoring fee.

Testing Remotely

Before registering to take the exam remotely, you should ensure that you meet the technical requirements:

• A PC desktop or laptop running Windows 10 or Windows 11
• Google Chrome version 100 or higher
• A camera, microphone, and internal or external speaker
• One keyboard and mouse; wireless keyboards and mice are not permitted
• A compatible smartphone with a working front-facing camera
• A reliable internet connection
• Administrative access to the computer so the required testing applications can be installed

After registering for remote proctoring through your CLEP account, you will receive instructions for completing the Proctortrack onboarding process. Your Proctortrack profile must be approved before you can schedule your testing appointment. You will also need to download the required ETS Online Test application before taking the exam.

Once you have selected the day and time that you want to take the exam, you will need to return to the portal of the CLEP website and download the ETS Online Test application. This application is what allows you to take the exam on your computer at home.

Test Day

On the day of your test, you should arrive at the testing center at least 15 minutes earlier than the scheduled exam time. When you arrive, you will be asked to provide a form of valid, government-issued photo identification, as well as your registration ticket.

Before you enter the testing room, you will be asked to put away all personal items, including your cell phone, pencils, books, notes, bags, and food items.

Remote Testing

At your scheduled appointment time, log in to your Proctortrack account and select the option to begin your testing session. You should have your government-issued photo ID ready.

During check-in, you’ll review the exam guidelines, verify your identity using a face and ID scan, and complete a scan of your testing room. Your smartphone will be used as a second camera during the exam, and you’ll communicate with your proctor through the on-screen chat function.

Once your check-in and room scan are approved, launch the ETS Online Test application. The proctor will provide the information needed to start your exam.

How the Test is Scored

The CLEP Biology exam is scored so that one point is awarded for each correct answer, and you will not have points taken away for any incorrect answers. You will also not have points taken away if you skip a question altogether. The number of correct answers you have will be your raw score.

The raw score will be converted into a scaled score, which is typically in numeric form ranging from 20 to about 80.

Your unofficial score report will be available on your screen as soon as you finish the exam, and an official report will be made available the next business day when you log in to your CLEP account.

How to Pass

Start with a CLEP Practice Test

Before creating your study schedule, take a CLEP Biology practice test to establish a starting point. You don’t need to wait until you have reviewed every organ system, genetic principle, and ecological relationship. At this stage, the goal is to identify where your preparation time will have the greatest effect.

Review your results based on the three test sections:

• Molecular and Cellular Biology: Do you understand properties of water, cell membranes, photosynthesis, chromosome structure, and DNA replication?
• Organismal Biology: Do you understand plant reproduction, homeostasis, Mendelian inheritance, food translocation, and major animal organ systems?
• Population Biology: Do you understand migration, biomes, speciation, adaptive radiation, population growth, and energy flow?

Identifying those specific weaknesses will show you where to devote more attention during your study time.

Review Difficult Questions

After each practice session, review every question you answered incorrectly AND every question you guessed on or answered with low confidence. A correct guess does not demonstrate that you understood the principle or selected the answer for the right reason.

For each difficult question, determine which of the following caused the problem:

• You memorized terminology without understanding what it does.
• You confused two similar biological structures.
• You reversed the direction of a process.
• You confused mitosis with meiosis.
• You confused transcription with translation.
• You knew the genetics concept but set up the problem incorrectly.
• You overlooked an important plant process.
• You misread a graph, table, or experimental result.
• You confused correlation with evidence of causation.
• You failed to identify the experimental control.
• You overlooked the independent or dependent variable.
• You spent too long trying to recall a detail that could have been inferred from biological principles.

Then, outline a specific plan for improvement based on what you discovered. In other words, don’t just say, “I need to study cells.” Note that you need to practice predicting what happens when a particular organelle fails.

Similarly, replace “study ecology” with something specific, such as reviewing the water cycle or distinguishing primary and secondary succession.

Utilize Answer Explanations

Answer explanations are an underutilized studying resource. To take full advantage of them, read the explanation for every question you found difficult, including questions you answered correctly.

For each one, make sure you can confidently explain:

1. Why the correct answer is correct
2. Why each incorrect answer is wrong
3. Which biological principle is being tested
4. What information in the question supports the answer
5. What would happen if one important variable changed
6. How the same principle could appear in another biological system

If the question involves cellular respiration, ask yourself where each process occurs, what enters and leaves each stage, where electron carriers are involved, and what role oxygen plays.

If it involves genetics, determine what type of inheritance is occurring, which alleles can enter the gametes, what offspring genotypes are possible, what phenotypes result, and whether the genes are linked or not.

Study Biological Processes as Cause-and-Effect Relationships

CLEP Biology becomes much easier when you stop treating biology as a giant vocabulary list. It’s helpful to build chains of cause and effect.

For example:

Higher temperature → increased molecular motion → increased enzyme activity up to an optimum → excessive heat alters protein structure → enzyme activity declines

For every major process you study, figure out what begins the process, what structures are involved, what regulates it, what is produced, and how the process contributes to survival and/or reproduction.

FAQs

By Amber Pippins

Amber is an interactive content lead at Mometrix, collaborating with online course managers to develop and maintain accurate, high-quality study materials. She holds a master’s degree in biology from Plymouth State University, which has sharpened her analytical thinking and research skills, allowing her to experiment with new features to support Mometrix’s goals.

Edited by Aaron Lanni

Aaron is the content manager and lead editor for Mometrix Academy. He regularly produces, updates, proofreads, and edits content to ensure it meets Mometrix’s quality and accessibility standards.

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