Classic Learning Test: An Alternative to Traditional College Entrance Exams
The Classic Learning Test (CLT) is emerging as an alternative to the SAT and ACT for college admissions. It offers online and paper assessments for Grades 3-12 that evaluate reading, grammar, writing, and mathematics, providing a comprehensive measure of achievement and aptitude. While the SAT and ACT have long dominated the college entrance exam landscape, the CLT is gaining traction, particularly in states with a "back to basics" approach to education.
What is the Classic Learning Test (CLT)?
The Classic Learning Test, developed in 2015 by Classic Learning Initiatives, is a college entrance exam designed for 11th and 12th graders. Like the SAT and ACT, the CLT assesses verbal reasoning, grammar, writing, and math skills. However, unlike its counterparts, the CLT draws its reading comprehension passages exclusively from "classic" works, which the test claims provides an "invaluable opportunity to engage students with the texts and authors that have shaped history and culture."
Jeremy Tate, the founder and CEO of the Classic Learning Test, says testing students’ ability to understand classic works, as the CLT does, assesses their readiness to engage with the Western intellectual tradition that has shaped much of the literature, politics, and philosophy students might study in college. “Students need to have a deep understanding of these texts, or you can’t be educated in any serious sense,” he said.
The CLT is similar to its counterparts in many ways, Tate said; it tests for math skills and basic science education in addition to the literature, religion and philosophy that sets it apart.
Test Format and Content
The CLT covers reading, writing, and math content and takes about two hours to complete. Students take the test online. The main difference in the reading sections is the passages themselves. The CLT draws its text from authors whom its board have deemed "shaped history and culture," including secular and Christian religious works from the ancient, medieval, early modern, and late modern periods. The writings of Plato and Aristotle, epics like Beowulf and Dante’s Inferno, and the work of Christian saints and philosophers all appear on the test’s public author bank.
Read also: HBCU Swingman Classic: Tickets and Prices
The excerpts students see are longer in the CLT, compared with the new digital SAT’s 25-150 word passages. The longer excerpts, typically around 500-600 words, better evaluate students’ ability to engage with dense text, Tate said.
The CLT math section tests algebra, geometry, and mathematical reasoning and does not allow a calculator. The SAT and ACT, by comparison, both additionally include statistics in their math sections and allow calculators for part of or the whole test.
Acceptance and Recognition
The CLT is gaining broad acceptance by colleges and universities across the United States and abroad. The Florida system’s approval lends the CLT some newfound legitimacy, and the effects are already showing.
Florida is the first state higher education system to approve the exam, which focuses on the “classical” Western and Christian canon. In 2023, Florida’s state university system approved the exam for undergraduate admissions to its 12 public universities, the first state to do so. In May, Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill requiring the state-funded Bright Futures Scholarship to accept the CLT, opening the door for institutions attended by Bright Futures recipients to do the same.
Lawmakers in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming passed legislation this spring encouraging its use in college admissions and state-funded scholarships. Some states have recognized the CLT as an equal alternative to the SAT. Arkansas, for example, has ordered all public institutes of higher education that use the SAT or the ACT for admissions to accept the CLT to the same extent.
Read also: Celebrating HBCU Culture
Test Preparation
At CLT, our test prep philosophy is unique. We believe an education that emphasizes reading, discussion, mathematics, and critical thinking is the best preparation for our exams. Practice tests are valuable tools to help you better prepare for the CLT or CLT10, offering detailed explanations of answers and additional analytics on your performance. To take a free practice test for the CLT or CLT10, you must log into your CLT account.
Criticism and Controversy
The Classic Learning Test has won the favor of some Republican politicians who promote a “back to basics” approach to education. Its board includes Christopher Rufo, the Manhattan Institute senior fellow who has been a leading voice in the movement to ban “critical race theory” from K-12 schools, and representatives from the conservative American Enterprise Institute; Hillsdale College, a private Christian liberal arts school; and the conservative education media company PragerU.
Many critics of CLT argue it places too heavy an emphasis on biblical passages and traditional Western thought, and that the authors represented are largely white men with questionable positions on race, LGBTQ+ rights and multiculturalism. “This decision shows that DeSantis doesn’t care about research, education, science or students,” said Akil Bello, senior director of advocacy at the National Center for Fair and Open Testing.
“Framing these things as traditional or classical or Western, to me that simply means old white guys … in truth, what they’re saying is racist, sexist, homophobic-you name it,” Bello said. “For people who are inheriting our system of government, that inheritance is largely English and influenced by the West, the texts that influenced America’s founding generation,” he said.
When asked about the test’s association with conservative politics, Tate said that classical education can, and should, be a big tent. “We’ve got people left, right, and center,” he said, of the CLT board.
Read also: A Celebration of Black Culture and Football
The Future of the CLT
The number of test-takers has since ballooned, according to the company. While about 24,000 students took the test between 2016 and 2023, an additional 500,000 took it as of this fall. This month, Politico reported that the nation’s service academies will accept the test for the 2027 admissions cycle.
Tate was confident, however, not only that CLT could stand as an equal beside the SAT and ACT, but that it will one day soon eclipse them. “We’re going to be No. 1. We think that we’ve got a better vision for education. So the goal is to win,” he said.
Refund Policy
CLT will provide a full refund for tests canceled prior to the registration deadline. Tests canceled after the registration deadline has passed are not eligible for refunds. To receive a refund for an eligible test, please fill out our Refund Request Form.
tags: #classic #learning #test #florida
