The Classic Learning Test (CLT) is a college entrance exam accepted as an SAT/ACT alternative at hundreds of partner colleges, with real scholarship money tied to CLT scores at many of them. Unlike the ACT or SAT, it draws a noticeable share of its reading material from classic literature and historical texts rather than only contemporary passages -- which changes how you should approach the reading and grammar sections in particular.
The basic format
The CLT has three sections, all covered by this site's practice question bank: Verbal Reasoning (40 questions, 40 minutes), Grammar/Writing (40 questions, 35 minutes), and Quantitative Reasoning (40 questions, 45 minutes) -- 120 questions and 120 minutes altogether. It's entirely text-based, with no essay or image-based component, so unlike the DAT or ACT, there's no separate excluded section here -- what's on this site is the complete real exam format.
Related: 6 Common CLT Mistakes -- and How to Avoid Them
What each section actually covers
- Verbal Reasoning -- four reading passages, each followed by 10 questions. The last two questions attached to each passage are analogy questions ("word 1 : word 2 :: word 3 : ___"), a format distinctive to the CLT that tests a relationship the passage itself demonstrates, not just general vocabulary knowledge.
- Grammar/Writing -- four passages presented with numbered, bracketed portions, each followed by a question asking which revision (or "NO CHANGE") best fixes or improves that portion. Errors span usage, sentence structure, punctuation, precision and concision, style/tone consistency, and organization/transitions.
- Quantitative Reasoning -- algebra, geometry, data analysis and statistics, and number sense/arithmetic reasoning. Critically, no calculator is allowed on this section -- a real, distinctive constraint compared to the ACT's Math section or the OAT's Quantitative Reasoning section, both of which permit one. A formula sheet is provided, so the emphasis is on reasoning and arithmetic fluency rather than memorized formulas.
Understanding your score
The CLT has no pass/fail threshold. It's scored on a 0-120 composite scale, made up of three section scores of 0-40 each (Verbal Reasoning, Grammar/Writing, and Quantitative Reasoning). As with the ACT, what matters is less an absolute number and more how your score compares to what the specific colleges on your list are looking for -- CLT's own site lists partner colleges and, in many cases, the scholarship thresholds tied to different score ranges, which is worth checking directly for any school you're applying to.
How to prepare
The three sections are weighted close to evenly in the real exam (roughly a third each), so unlike a test with one dominant section, your prep time should be spread fairly evenly across Verbal Reasoning, Grammar/Writing, and Quantitative Reasoning rather than concentrated on just one. Because Verbal Reasoning passages skew toward classic and historical texts, reading outside your usual material -- older essays, classic literature, historical documents -- can genuinely help you get comfortable with the CLT's particular register and syntax before test day, in a way that reading only contemporary articles won't. For Quantitative Reasoning specifically, since no calculator is allowed, practice doing the arithmetic by hand under real time pressure rather than relying on a calculator during practice and then being caught off guard on test day.
Test day
The CLT is administered on a computer, either at an official CLT test site on one of its scheduled national test dates or, in many cases, through a participating school. Registration deadlines and available test dates are managed directly through CLT's own site, so check current dates and your specific testing location's requirements there well before you plan to sit for it -- policies and offerings can change from year to year.