You should prepare for your placement tests. They determine where you can begin your
course of study. It is important to brush up on material you have mastered in the
past so that you do not unnecessarily add to the length of time it will take to reach
your educational goals.
All students will begin with Next Generation ACCUPLACER Quantitative Reasoning, Algebra,
and Statistics (QAS). The test is adaptive. Meaning, if you do very well on the QAS
test you will automatically advance to the Advanced Algebra and Functions test. The
results of these two tests will place you somewhere between Intermediate Algebra and
Calculus. If you don’t do as well on QAS, you will automatically go on to the Arithmetic
test and be placed somewhere between Arithmetic and College Algebra.
The English test includes Next Generation ACCUPLACER Reading and Writing tests.
Reading contains 20-25 questions designed to measure how well you understand what
you read. Some questions will include reading passages of various lengths and a series
of questions about the content in the passage. Other questions will require the tester
to read two sentences and answer a question regarding the relationship of these two
sentences.
Writing includes 20-25 questions. Sentence correction questions ask you to choose
a word or phrase to substitute for an underlined portion of a sentence. Construction
shift questions ask that a sentence be rewritten in a specific way without changing
the meaning.
Testing is available for students whose native language is not English through the
English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Program. Testing for students who would
like to take classes in the ESOL Program consists of a 75 multiple choice questions.
This test is taken on the computer. The test measures knowledge of English grammar
and vocabulary. The purpose is to evaluate English. This is a timed test of 45 minutes.
The best way to be ready for the ESOL placement test is to listen, speak, read, and
write in English every day. Study of vocabulary and grammar in context may also be
helpful. Useful materials include books, newspapers, magazines, films, and TV. There
are many helpful websites available on the ESOL Program resources page.
