CLEP Principles of Marketing

About this Book This book provides you with comprehensive preparation for the CLEP Principles of Marketing CBT. Inside you will find a concise review of material typical of a one-semester introductory course in marketing, as well as tips and strategies for test-taking. We give you three full-length REA practice tests, all based on the official CLEP subject exam. Our practice tests contain every type of question that you can expect to encounter on the CLEP CBT. Following each practice test you will find an answer key with detailed explanations designed to help you more completely absorb the test material.

About thE EXAM Who takes CLEP exams and what are they used for?
CLEP (College-Level Examination Program) examinations are usually taken by adults who have acquired knowledge outside the classroom and wish to bypass certain college courses and earn college credit. The CLEP Program is designed to reward students for learning—no matter where or how that knowledge was acquired. The CLEP is the most widely accepted credit-by-examination program in the country, with more than 2,900 colleges and universities granting credit for satisfactory scores on CLEP exams.
Although most CLEP candidates are adults returning to college, many graduating high school seniors, enrolled college students, and international students also take the exams to earn college credit or to demonstrate their ability to perform at the college level. There are no prerequisites, such as age or educational status, for taking CLEP examinations. However, because policies on granting credits vary among colleges, you should contact the particular institution from which you wish to receive CLEP credit.
There are two categories of CLEP examinations:
1. CLEP General Examinations, which are five separate tests that cover material usually taken as requirements during the first two years of college. CLEP General Examinations are available for English Composition (with or without essay), Humanities, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences and History.
2. CLEP Subject Examinations, which include material usually covered in an undergraduate course with a similar title. The CLEP Principles of Marketing CBT is one of 29 subject examinations.

Who develops and administers the exams?
The CLEP is developed by the College Entrance Examination Board, administered by Educational Testing Service, and involves the assistance of educators from across the United States. The test development process is designed and carried out to ensure that the content and difficulty of the test are appropriate to the college level.
When and where is this exam given?
The CLEP Principles of Marketing exam is administered each month throughout the year at more than 1,400 test centers in the U.S. and can be arranged, on request, for candidates abroad. To find the test center nearest you and to register for the exam, you should obtain a copy of the free booklets CLEP Colleges and CLEP Information for Candidates and Registration Form. These booklets are downloadable and are available at most colleges where CLEP credit is granted, or by contacting the CLEP Program at:
CLEP Services P.O. Box 6601
Princeton, NJ 08541-6601
Phone: (609) 771-7865
Website: http://www.collegeboard.com Military personnel and CLEP CLEP exams are available free-of-charge to eligible military personnel and eligible civilian employees. The College Board has developed a paper-based version of 14 high volume/high pass rate CLEP tests for DANTES Test Centers. Contact the Educational Services Officer or Navy College Education Specialist for more information. You can also visit Collegeboard.com for details about CLEP opportunities for military personnel.

How to Use this Book What do I study first?
It's best to read over the course review, along with our suggestions for test-taking, first. Then take Practice Test 1 to pinpoint your area(s) of weakness.
For details on how to utilize your study time, follow our Independent Study Schedule in the front of this book. The schedule is based on a six-week program, but can be condensed to three weeks if necessary by collapsing each two-week period into one.
In effect, this book offers a blueprint for how to put yourself in the best possible position for success on the CLEP CBT. Follow it all the way the through, and you'll be well on your way to a good score!
When should I start studying?
It's never too early to start studying for the CLEP Principles of Marketing exam. The earlier you begin, the more time you will have to sharpen your skills. Do not procrastinate! Last-minute cramming is not an effective way to study, since it does not allow you the time needed to learn the test material. The sooner you learn the format of the exam, the more time you will have to familiarize yourself with it.
Format and CONTENT of the CLEP CBT The CLEP Principles of Marketing CBT covers material that is usually taught in an introductory college course in marketing. This type of course is commonly known as Basic Marketing, Introduction to Marketing, Fundamentals of Marketing, Marketing, or Marketing Principles. Such a course (and thus, the exam itself) covers the role of marketing in society and within a firm, understanding consumer and organizational markets, marketing strategy planning, marketing institutions, the marketing mix, as well as topics like international marketing, ethics, marketing research, services, and not-for-profit marketing. The CLEP candidate is also expected to have a basic knowledge of the economic, demographic, social/cultural, political/legal and technological trends that undergird a competent understanding of marketing.
The CLEP Principles of Marketing CBT features 100 multiple-choice questions, each with five possible answer choices, to be answered in 90 minutes. As with most standardized tests, there are actually several unique forms of the CLEP CBT used during a given test administration.
The approximate breakdown of topics on the exam is as follows:
7-12% The role of marketing in society, including the historical development of marketing in the United States, the U.S. economy, ethics, not-for-profit marketing and international marketing.
10-15% The role of marketing in a firm, including the marketing concept, planning and strategy and research (competitive, economic, political/legal, socio-cultural, and technological).
25-30% Target markets, including demographics and consumer behavior, demand estimation and forecasting, and marketing segmentation, positioning, and business-to-business markets.
45-55% The marketing mix, including product and service management, pricing policies and methods, distribution logistics, promotion (mass mediated, personal selling, public relations, sales promotion, direct marketing, and Internet marketing).

ABOUT OUR COURSE REVIEW This book begins with a comprehensive review of marketing principles which is designed to acquaint you with the type of information that you are most likely to encounter on the exam. The review covers all major theories and terms of introductory marketing. It is divided into nine major sections and presented as follows:
1. The Marketing Environment
2. Marketing Research
3. Target Markets
4. Product Planning and Management
5. Distribution Systems
6. Wholesaling and Retailing
7. Promotional Strategy
8. Pricing Policies and Strategies
9. Marketing Applications in Special Fields By studying this review and taking the practice tests in this book, you will be better able to determine your strengths and weaknesses in the subject of marketing and put yourself in the best possible position to score well on the CLEP Principles of Marketing CBT.

Scoring YOUR PRACTICE TESTS How do I score my practice test?
The CLEP Principles of Marketing CBT is scored on a scale of 20 to 80. To score your practice tests, count up the number of correct answers. This is your total raw score. Convert your raw score to a scaled score using the conversion table on the previous page. (Note: The conversion table provides only an estimate of your scaled score. Scaled scores can and do vary over time, and in no case should a sample test be taken as a precise predictor of test performance. Nonetheless, our scoring table allows you to judge your level of performance within a reasonable scoring range.)

When will I receive my score report?
The test-center administrator will print out a full Candidate Score Report for you immediately upon your completion of the CBT (except for CLEP English Composition with Essay). Your scores are reported only to you, unless you ask to have them sent elsewhere. If you wish to have your scores reported to a college or other institution, you must say so when you take the examination. Since your scores are kept on file for 20 years, you can also request transcripts from Educational Testing Service at a later date.

STUDYING FOR THE EXAM It is crucial for you to choose the time and place for studying that works best for you. Some students set aside a certain number of hours every morning, while others choose to study at night before going to sleep. Only you can determine when and where your study time will be most effective. But be consistent and use your time wisely. Work out a study routine and stick to it!
When you take our practice tests, try to make your testing conditions as much like the actual test as possible. Turn off the television or radio, and sit down at a quiet table or desk free from distraction. Use a timer to ensure that each section is accurately clocked.
As you complete each practice test, score it and thoroughly review the explanations for the questions you answered incorrectly; but don't review too much at one sitting. Concentrate on one problem area at a time by reviewing the question and explanation, and by studying our review until you are confident that you completely understand the material.
Keep track of your scores and mark them on the scoring worksheet. By doing so, you will be able to gauge your progress and discover general weaknesses in particular sections. You should carefully study the review sections that cover your areas of difficulty, as this will build your skills in those areas.
Test-Taking tips You may never have taken a standardized computer-based test like the CLEP Principles of Marketing exam, but it's not hard to learn the things you need to know to be comfortable on test day.
Know the format of the CBT. CLEP CBTs are not adaptive but rather fixed-length tests. In a sense, this makes them kin to the familiar paper-and-pencil exam in that you have the same flexibility to go back and review your work in each section. Moreover, the format hasn't changed a great deal from the paper-and-pencil CLEP. For this exam, you can expect to encounter approximately 100 questions that need to be answered within 90 minutes. You are likely to see some so-called pretest questions as well, but you won't know which they are and they won't be scored.
Read all the possible answers. Just because you think you have found the correct response, do not automatically assume that it is the best answer. Read through each choice to be sure that you are not making a mistake by jumping to conclusions.
Use the process of elimination. If you don't immediately see the correct answer among the choices, systematically scan the list and eliminate as many as you can by simple inspection. Confidently casting aside choices will help you isolate the correct response, or at least knock your choices down to just a few strong contenders. This approach has the added benefit of keeping you from getting sidetracked and distracted by what in fact may be just an occasional tricky question. Importantly, your score on a CLEP CBT is based only on the number of questions you answer correctly.
Work quickly and steadily. You will have just 90 minutes to work on the roughly 100 questions you'll be facing, so take a steady-as-she-goes approach to avoid spending an inordinate amount of time on any one question. Taking our practice tests(which feature the same number of items as the actual test) will help you learn to budget your time wisely.
Learn the directions and format for each section of the test. This will put extra time on your side that you can use to review your work on test day.
Acquaint yourself with the CBT screen. Familiarize yourself with the CLEP CBT screen beforehand by logging on to the official College Board Website at www.collegeboard.com. Waiting until test day to see what the CBT screen looks like in the pretest tutorial risks injecting needless anxiety into your testing experience. One caveat: The tutorial, while a useful tool to acclimate yourself to the type of test you'll be taking, should not be taken literally in all its details, including the number of sample choices you may see. In its totality, however, it should lend greater confidence to your test-taking experience.
Be sure that your answer registers before you go to the next item. Check the screen to see that your mouse-click causes the pointer to darken the proper oval. This takes far less effort than darkening an oval on paper, but don't lull yourself into taking less care!
Throw it in reverse. One of the more unusual ways you can turn a multiple-choice format to your advantage is to work backwards from the answer choices to the question. While we do not recommend using this strategy all the time, it can be helpful if you need to plug the choices into a given formula, equation, or word problem. Consider that the answers can serve as a series of clues, often narrowing the scope of your search for the correct responses. You may even be able to make an educated guess based on eliminating choices that you know do not fit the problem. Again, however, use this approach sparingly.