I found the information here helpful but the instructional parts and math review were not very good if you are not comfortable with algebra already. There were some key ideas and concepts that were not covered. I did not feel adequately prepared to take the CLEP after using this book, although I didn't give it very much time to "sink in", and ended up taking Algebra over the internet at a local college.

Complete waste of money, and I really don't understand the positive feedback I see on Amazon for this book. My daughter used a different book for the CLEP biology and passed it. This time we tried REA for College Algebra and she failed. How could she pass a 6-credit biology test yet fail a 3-credit algebra test, especially when she just finished Algebra 2 with an A grade? It's easy when this book barely covered a third of the material on the exam. There were at least ten questions on the test on graphs, which the book didn't even cover. She did all the practice tests and scored high, so she felt confident about taking the test. This book gave her a false sense of security.

If the rest of the REA books are like this, then save your money. Definitely save your money with this worthless book.

This book helped me crack CLEP Algebra with a good grade. CLEP exam was pretty easy. The practice tests were extreemly useful. I would highly recommend referring this book for the CLEP Algebra exam. I had also bought other books for the test, but they were more difficult that the test. CLEP College algebra is enough to crack the test if u know the basics of algebra.

I have just recently successfully taken the CLEP college algebra (computer based test) exam after preparation with this book. There are a few annoying typos (which are significant because they affect some of the questions and answers in the practice tests). However, this is still a very good book for test preparation. This book does assume you have some knowledge of college algebra. The best feature of this book is the three practice tests that are provided. If you attempt all the tests and carefully review your mistakes and then retake all the tests until you get most of the questions right, this would be a pretty effective exam strategy. The review material is not as good as the tests. For general review purposes and to brush up on weak areas I suggest another book also by REA: Super Review Algebra and Trigonometry. Eventhough that book is intended for the CLEP algebra and trigonometry exam, the algebra portion provides a truly excellent review for the CLEP college algebra exam as the review material is presented in a much clearer, simpler, and more pleasing format that encourages learning. I strongly suggest the use of both these books for their relative merits. I got a great score and I did not have to use any other preparation at all except for these two inexpensive REA books.

This book was really helpful to me in my quest to pass the College Algebra CLEP. The problems on the CLEP were very similar to the problems in the three practice tests in the end of the book. There are a few typos, especially in the third test. You wonder how in the world they got there, then realize that it was a typo.

In some parts, I had a tough time grasping the concepts, and the book didn't explain things the best. For those things I used this free and excellent resource:

http://www.wtamu.edu/academic/anns/mps/math/mathlab/col_algebra/index.htm

Courtesy of West Texas A&M University.

This book is definitely worth the price, especially for the three practice tests it contains.

Using these two resources, I achieved a 71 on the College Algebra CLEP.