Frequently Asked Questions

The CLT is our flagship test, designed for high school juniors and seniors preparing to apply for college. It is an alternative to the SAT and ACT. Over 280 colleges colleges accept the CLT and many offer academic scholarships to high-scoring students. Go here to learn more and register for the CLT.

The CLT10 is designed for 9th and 10th graders as an alternative to the PSAT and the ACT Aspire, and serves as preparation for the CLT or any college entrance exam. Students who take the CLT10 may be eligible for our CLT10 awards, and sophomores are eligible for the CLT10 National Award, worth $2,500. Go here to learn more and register for the CLT10.

CLT3-8 exams are designed for 3rd through 8th grade students. Our CLT3-8 exams assess language arts and mathematics with content designed to engage students’ imaginations and problem-solving skills. These standardized exams equip parents and home educators with in-depth analytics to better understand how to meet their students’ needs and maximize their potential. Students often take this test as a diagnostic or summative assessment. Go here to learn more and register for CLT3-8.

The CLT costs $69, the CLT10 costs $49, and CLT3-8 cost $39. Unlimited score shares are also included with the CLT and CLT10.

All test fees include comprehensive Student Analytics.

CLT exams are open to every student, regardless of educational background.

The ‘classic’ in Classic Learning Test refers to its use of the greatest and most enduring texts that have informed and shaped society. Although these texts are featured prominently in a classical education, CLT exams instead emphasize intellectual aptitude and achievement which is not limited to classical curricula.

The CLT is open to students of all ages, including those who have taken gap years. Please fill out your Student Profile with your correct graduation year (even if it was several years ago) and the GPA you had upon graduation when registering.

International students are welcome to take the CLT. They do not need to pay a separate fee to take the exam. All publicly available testing dates are available to them.

CLT is not religiously or politically affiliated. What differentiates CLT from other standardized tests is that the CLT does not censor reading passages from different viewpoints and includes content on a variety of topics, including philosophy, religion, literature, history, science, and more. The majority of these passages are drawn from classic literature and historical texts that have had a lasting influence on Western culture and society.

Students do not need a prior knowledge of these texts to succeed on the CLT; instead, what is assessed is a student’s ability to read, comprehend, and analyze a text. Students who take the CLT will read atheist as well as religious authors, Karl Marx as well as Adam Smith, Aristotle as well as Mahatma Gandhi. These are the texts that students are likely to encounter throughout high school and college, and by the end of high school, students should be able to read texts that they agree or disagree with and glean information from them.

To register for our at-home, online CLT3-8 exams, register here.

Registration for our at-home CLT and CLT10 exams is made through an online account. Registrants choose the date they prefer, fill out a brief student profile, and pay online to complete their registration.

Our step-by-step guide:

1. Go to the account registration page to create an account or sign in to an existing account.
2. Once you are logged in, select ‘Register for a Test’ and select the test type you would like.
3. Select a test date from the drop-down menu and click ‘Register for Selected Test Date.’
4. Complete your student profile, or skip ahead to payment and complete it later.
5. Make your payment with our secure online portal.

We’ve also created a short video tutorial to walk you through the process.

If you are a school administrator seeking to register your students for an in-school exam, please head to our “For Schools” page.

We offer financial assistance up to the full cost of a test for qualifying students. Financial assistance must be applied for at least two weeks before the registration deadline to be considered.

Each student taking a CLT or CLT10 exam must have their own account and must be registered individually under a unique email address. 

For CLT3-8, parents may register for several exams (for multiple students) with one test manager account. Parent proctors will receive instructions to log into their online account where they will find instructions and test access codes for their students to access the exams. 

To cancel a registration, please log into your CLT account and navigate to your dashboard. Under “Upcoming CLT Test” click the blue button labeled “Reschedule My Test.” Then click the red “Cancel Registration” found at the bottom right of the screen. If you cancel a registration before the deadline of the original test, you are eligible for a refund. Please fill out this form to request a refund. Please note that we are unable to provide refunds for tests canceled after the registration deadline for your original test.

To reschedule an exam, please log into your CLT account and navigate to your dashboard. Under “Upcoming CLT Test” click the blue button labeled “Reschedule My Test.” This will allow you to pick from upcoming test dates. Please note that you can only reschedule your test up through the day of the test.

While we cannot issue a refund for a missed test day, students can reschedule their own exams by clicking “Reschedule My Exam” on their account dashboard through the day of the test. We cannot reschedule tests after the test day has passed. 

All students are welcome to take the CLT, whether for self-evaluation or to send results to colleges.

Yes. Testing accommodations are individualized and considered on a case-by-case basis for the CLT and CLT10 examinations. Regardless of diagnosis, all individuals seeking disability-related accommodations must provide evidence that their condition rises to the level of a disability and provide information about functional limitations in areas central to daily life. Accommodations for the CLT10 and CLT must be submitted to CLT for approval at least four weeks prior to the test administration date.

It is no longer necessary to submit requests for accommodations for CLT3-8. It is the responsibility of schools, co-ops, and homeschool parents to provide accommodations for CLT3-8 exams that reflect what the student requires in normal classroom settings. Accommodations for the CLT10 and CLT must be submitted to CLT for approval, even if a student has been granted accommodations for CLT3-8 in prior academic years.

Questions? Find out more – including our documentation guidelines – on our testing accommodations page or email cltaccommodations@cltexam.com.

Our most commonly granted accommodations are extended time (25%, 50%, and 100% extended time) and accommodations for students with Type 1 Diabetes. Other, more specific accommodations may be requested.

If a student has previously received testing accommodations for the CLT or CLT10, those accommodations are applied to the exact CLT username/account used by the student for the duration of the approval period, and there is no need to reapply.

No. Your accommodations status will never be shared with a college or university and will be kept confidential in order to maintain your privacy.

Remotely-Proctored CLT: Students should test between the hours of 7AM – 7PM Eastern Time on test day. CLT provides live online technical and customer support during this time. The test must be taken in one sitting.

CLT10: The at-home CLT10 is available for a two-day period, but must be completed in one sitting.

CLT7 and CLT8: The CLT7 and CLT8 are available over a period of several weeks in both the fall and the spring. However, these exams must be completed in one sitting.

CLT3-6: The CLT3-6 exams are available over a period of several weeks in both the fall and the spring; sections must be completed in one sitting but the tests can be split up over multiple days.

Students are welcome to take the CLT as many times as they would like. However, students are only allowed to take one exam per exam date. Students attempting to take the test more than one time on a test date will have their test voided.

The CLT is taken at home on remotely proctored test dates. Please refer to the remote proctoring page for details of the requirements. The CLT3-8 and CLT10 can be administered at home with a responsible adult, including family members, serving as the proctor.

The remotely proctored CLT is proctored through a combination of technology and video/screen recording. Students do not need an adult proctor for the remotely proctored CLT because they must remain alone for the duration of the exam.

The at-home CLT10 and CLT3-8 are proctored by a parent or other responsible adult.

For in-school tests, schools provide their own proctor for the exam.

For the remotely proctored CLT, students use their own laptop or desktop computer. Please note that tablets are not currently supported for the remotely proctored CLT. 

For the at-home CLT3-8 and CLT10, students use their own laptop or desktop computer.

For in-school tests, please check with your school.

The CLT does not allow calculators. The Quantitative Reasoning section is designed to test for logical reasoning abilities, rather than the performance of complex calculations, so calculators are unnecessary.

The CLT and CLT10 take a total of 2 hours and 20 minutes to complete, with 20 minutes of pre-test instructions and 2 hours of testing time. After starting the CLT or CLT10, students have 40 minutes to complete the Verbal Reasoning section, 35 minutes for the Grammar/Writing section, and 45 minutes for the Quantitative Reasoning section, for a total testing time of 120 minutes (2 hours).

Students taking the CLT10 or in-school CLT who choose to write the optional essay will receive an additional 30 minutes to do so.

The CLT7 & CLT8 take a total of 2 hours and 15 minutes of testing time. The CLT7 & CLT8 section times are as follows: 45 minutes for Verbal Reasoning, 40 minutes for Grammar/Writing, and 50 minutes for Quantitative Reasoning.

CLT3, 4, 5 & 6 each have four sections: two Verbal Reasoning sections and two Quantitative Reasoning sections. Because CLT3-6 are untimed, sections can be administered over the course of several days.

Extended time may be offered as part of approved testing accommodations.

An optional essay is available for in-school testers; currently, it is not available on the remotely proctored exam.

In-school testers who choose to complete the optional essay will do so based on a prompt provided by CLT to send to colleges along with their CLT score. Students will receive 30 additional minutes to write their essay. The essay does not affect their numerical score on the exam.

No. Test scores are calculated from the cumulative number of correct answers; it benefits students to choose an answer for every question.

At-home testers (remotely proctored CLT and at-home CLT10 and CLT3-8) may finish a section early if they’ve completed it before the allotted time has elapsed. Students may not return to an earlier portion of the exam if they finish a section early. 

In-school testers must remain for the full tests, per in-person proctoring requirements, even if they finish early.

For the CLT and CLT10, three section scores, combined to make one overall score, will be reported for each exam:

• Verbal Reasoning (section score, 1-40 scale)
• Grammar/Writing (section score, 1-40 scale)
• Quantitative Reasoning (section score, 1-40 scale)
• Score (overall score, 1-120 scale)

For CLT3-8, two section scores, combined to make one composite score, will be reported for each exam:

• Verbal Reasoning (section score, 150-300 scale)
• Quantitative Reasoning (section score, 150-300 scale)
• Composite Score (overall score, 300-600 scale)

Please visit our CLT vs. SAT and CLT vs. ACT pages for more information about score concordances.

Please visit our CLT10 vs. PSAT page for more information about score concordances.

Students and/or school administrators will be notified of the score release date for their particular exam. Scores can be found through students’ CLT accounts.

For CLT3-8:

• At-home and online in-school CLT3-8 scores will be available at 2pm EST, 2 days after exam completion.
• In-school paper test score release will occur within 30 days of when CLT receives the answer sheets.

For the CLT10:

• At-home and online in-school CLT10 scores are available on the Wednesday following the exam administration.
• In-school paper test score release will occur within 30 days of when CLT receives the answer sheets.

For the CLT:

• Remotely proctored CLT scores, due to additional layers of review, are available on the third Wednesday after the administration.
• In-school online CLT scores are available on the Wednesday following the exam administration.
• In-school paper test score release will occur within 30 days of when CLT receives the answer sheets.

We have an open retake policy. Students are welcome to register for any available date, whether to boost their college applications or for self-evaluation.

Though the CLT is not accepted by all colleges, over 280 colleges partner with CLT, accepting the exam as a complete replacement of the ACT or SAT. Additionally, with many colleges going test-optional, even colleges who do not partner with CLT will accept CLT scores. Sharing your scores is a great way to strengthen your application and student profile even if they are not required.

CLT Partner Colleges tend to be private, liberal arts, or faith-based colleges which share our mission to reconnect knowledge and virtue in the classroom.

Once scores are released, students may send their CLT scores to any college they wish via their student accounts. CLT does not share scores unless a student requests that they be shared. Watch this short tutorial video to learn how to share your scores.

For a list of colleges and universities that have partnered with CLT, go here.

If you’re interested in applying to a college that isn’t currently a CLT Partner, don’t be discouraged. You can still use CLT to your advantage and ask colleges to consider your test scores! Call the college or university of interest and ask to speak with an admissions representative. Explain what CLT is, why you want to use CLT in the admissions process, and why they should consider your scores. You can share that the CLT best reflects your education and demonstrates your academic excellence. This is a great way to connect with a college and to help CLT gain wider recognition. There have been many cases where these kinds of conversations have led to a new CLT college partnership.

If you are planning on attending a CLT Partner College, sending CLT scores to those colleges demonstrates that you are a student who is well-prepared for their academics. Our Partner Colleges have noted that CLT students do very well in their classes, so these colleges respond with excited interest and generous scholarships to CLT scores.

Even if you are not planning to attend a CLT Partner College, the Student Analytics that accompany each test give invaluable insight into your education, highlighting your strengths and areas for improvement.

• College Admissions
• Bright Futures Scholarship Qualification
• State Funded In-School Test for 11th Graders
• Dual-Credit Eligibility
• Graduation Equivalence

To view a current list of official Partner Colleges in Florida that accept the CLT, head to our Partner Colleges page and select “FL” in the Filter by State option.

1. By selecting “Florida Bright Futures” from the list of colleges when sharing their scores in their CLT student account.
2. By sharing with any Florida public college or university. Scores shared with these colleges are shared with the Florida Department of Education repository, which in turn shares them with Bright Futures.
3. By taking an in-school test paid for by the Florida Department of Education. Scores are shared with the Florida DOE repository and automatically shared with Bright Futures.

Yes! Bright Futures accepts superscored CLT exams. To superscore your test you’ll need to share the results of all the exams you’d like to superscore with Bright Futures. Once you’ve done that, Bright Futures will superscore your exam.

Scores sent through the Florida repository take up to 3 weeks to reach their destination due to the intricacies of the repository process.