Polk State reminds students of Civic Literacy Exam requirement for graduation
With Polk State College celebrating America’s 250th birthday, the College continues to remind students that passing the Florida Civic Literacy Exam is a requirement to earn an associate or baccalaureate degree.
The post-secondary Civic Literacy requirements were implemented by the Florida Legislature to ensure that students “demonstrate competency in civic literacy.” According to the Florida Department of Education, this includes an understanding of basic principles of American democracy, the U.S. Constitution and landmark Supreme Court cases’ and founding documents’ impact on law and society.
Who needs to take the exam
For degree-seeking students who enrolled in college for the first time for the Fall 2022 Semester or after, the state requires them to pass National Government (POS 2041) or American History (AMH 1010 or 1020) with a D or greater and score at least 60% on the Civic Literacy Exam. The exam is an 80-question test broken into four parts of 20 questions each, requiring 48 total correct answers. The College is advocating that students take the test while enrolled in one of the required courses or within 30 days of passing POS 2041, AMH 1010 or AMH 1020 to optimize their opportunity to successfully pass the exam.
How to practice and take the exam
Students can take the exam at the Teaching Learning Computing Centers (TLCCs) on the Winter Haven or Lakeland campus or the JD Alexander Center in Lake Wales. They can schedule a time and their preferred location online. Polk State staff members have also developed a free course and study guide in Canvas.
Additionally, Polk State faculty from diverse disciplines including English, Nursing and History are working collaboratively to seek opportunities to integrate Civic Literacy content across all course areas. As of Feb. 17, Polk State students have passed the exam at 75% rate on more than 900 attempts. There is no limit to how many times students can take the test.*
Possible alternatives
There are alternatives for meeting the post-secondary Civic Literacy requirements. Students who completed and passed the AP Government and Politics: United States course in high school and achieved a 3 or better on the exam are exempt from further requirements in college. Students who completed and passed the AP United States History course in high school and achieved a 4 or better on the exam are exempt from further requirements in college. Finally, if a student struggles with the Florida Civic Literacy Exam, they could potentially meet the requirements through the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) for American Government or CLEP History of the United States I.
A list of frequently asked questions about the Florida Civic Literacy Exam can be found here. More information, contact Cathryn Goble-Smith, Program Director for Civic Literacy, at cgoble@polk.edu.
*NOTE: Failures are not reflected in the data in cases where students need multiple tries to pass the test. For example, if a Polk State student passes on the fourth try, their three failures would not be reflected in the College’s overall pass rate.