College Algebra CLEP Practice Exam 2026 – Complete Exam Prep

The degree of a term in an algebraic expression is the exponent or power of the variable. In this case, the variable is y and it has an exponent of 5, therefore the degree of the term is 5. Option A, 6, is incorrect because it represents the sum of the exponents of 3 and 5, which is not the degree of the term. Option B, 1, is incorrect because it only represents the exponent of y, not the full term. Option D, 4, is incorrect because it represents the degree of the term 12y4, not 3y5. Therefore, the correct answer is C, 5, because it represents the degree of the term 3y5.