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Why do Assessment Testing?
The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education wants all of us to be proud of the quality and rigor of the college-level programs and courses offered by the public colleges and universities in Massachusetts. The Board is also eager for students to succeed in their college-level work. Thus, the Board requires all students attending public colleges in Massachusetts to take a series of placement tests that assess skills in writing, reading, and mathematics. The tests are not evaluated in terms of passing or failing. Rather, the tests are used to decide which courses should be taken at the beginning of a student's college career. Some students proceed directly into college- level courses, and some students will need to take skills-building courses in one or more areas to prepare for college-level work. Skills-building courses such as Introductory Writing, Preparing for College Reading I and II, Fundamentals of Mathematics, and Introductory Algebra are designed to help students succeed in their college courses. Although the credits earned by these courses do not count towards graduation, they do count for financial aid purposes. |
What are Assessments? top
ACCUPLACER is an assessment developed to help students entering a Community College achieve their educational goals. ACCUPLACER will help you identify your academic strengths and needs so that you can plan an appropriate schedule of course work at Massasoit Community College. ACCUPLACER will give you information about your skills in reading, and mathematics, and will tell you at what level you need to begin your college studies. |
| ACCUPLACER is administered on a personal computer. You will read the instructions and questions on the computer monitor and will select your answers using the keyboard or mouse. After completing ACCUPLACER and receiving your scores, you will meet with an academic advisor to discuss your results and plan your schedule of courses |
| What type of questions are on the Assessments? top |
Essay Writing
You will be asked to write an essay of about 300 words. You will be given a choice of three topics, and you will probably know something about at least one of them. You will have 50 minutes in which to write your essay. |
| The evaluators of your writing sample will hope to see an essay that responds to the question that is asked, that sticks to its main idea, and that uses clear and logical examples to back up the idea. They will expect an essay with a sense of beginning, middle, and end and they will hope to see that the essay is substantially correct in its grammar and usage. (They will not expect perfection because they understand that you have time only to write a first draft.) If your writing sample indicates that essay writing is still a substantial challenge for you, you will be placed into Introductory Writing, if you are ready to succeed in college- level writing, you will be placed in English Composition I. |
Reading Comprehension
This test is designed to measure how well you understand what you read. It contains 20 questions. Some are of the sentence relationship type in which you must choose how sentences are related. Other questions refer to reading passages of varying lengths. |
Arithmetic
The arithmetic test measures your skills in three primary categories. The first is operations with whole numbers and fractions. This includes addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and recognizing equivalent fractions and mixed numbers. The second category involves operations with decimals and percents. It includes addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division as well as percent problems, decimal recognition, fraction and percent equivalencies, and estimation problems. The last category tests applications and problem solving. Questions include rate, percent, and measurement problems, geometry problems, and distribution of quantity into its fractional parts. A total of 16 questions are asked. |
Elementary Algebra
There are also three categories in the Elementary Algebra Test. The first category, operations with integers and rational numbers, includes computation with integers and negative rationals, the use of absolute values, and ordering. The second category is operations with algebraic expressions. It tests your skills in evaluating simple formulas and expressions, and in adding and subtracting monomials and polynomials. Both of these categories include questions about multiplying and dividing monomials and polynomials, evaluating positive rational roots and exponents, simplifying algebraic fractions, and factoring. The third category tests skill in solving equations, inequalities, and word problems. These questions include solving systems of linear equations, quadratic equations by factoring, verbal problems presented in algebraic context, geometric reasoning, the translation of written phrases into algebraic expressions, and graphing. Twelve questions are presented. |
Sample Questions top
Sample questions are shown for the ACCUPLACER tests. Those presented cover only a few of the areas covered by each test. |
| These are sample questions are covered in: |
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Reading Comprehension
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Arithmetic
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Reading Comprehension
Question 1: Narrative
Read the statement or passage and then choose the best answer to the question. Answer the question on the basis of what is stated or implied in the statement or passage.
There are two types of pottery that I do. There is production pottery-mugs, tableware, the kinds of things that sell easily. These pay for my time to do other work, which is more creative and satisfies my needs as an artist The author of the passage implies that:
A. artists have a tendency to waste valuable time
B. creativity and mass-production are incompatible
C. most people do not appreciate good art
D. pottery is not produced by creative artists
Question 2: Sentence Relationships
Two bold sentences are followed by a question or statement about them. Read each pair of sentences and then choose the best answer to the question or the best completion of the statement.
The Midwest is experiencing its worst drought in fifteen years.
Corn and soybean prices are expected to be very high this year.
What does the second sentence do?
A. It restates the idea found in the first.
B. It states an effect.
C. It gives an example.
D. It analyzes the statement made in the first.
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Arithmetic
Solve the following problems and choose your answer from the alternatives given. You may use the paper you have been given for scratch work.
Question 1:
All of the following are ways to write 20 percent of N, EXCEPT
A. 0.20N
B. 20/100N
C. 1/5N
D. 20N
A. 0.035
B. 2.858
C. 0.35
D. 3.5
A. 36.156
B. 36.216
C. 351.56
D. 361.56
Question 4: Which of the following is the least?
A. 0.105
B. 0.501
C. 0.015
D. 0.15
Question 5: The average weight for a group of 20 women is 130 pounds. If the average weight for ¾ of these women was 140 pounds, what was the average weight, in pounds, for the rest of the women?
A. 100
B. 110
C. 120
D. 135
Question 6: A soccer team played 160 games and won 65% of them. How many games did they win?
A. 94
B. 104
C. 114
D. 124
Question 7: Three people who work full time are to work on a project, but their total time on the project is to be equivalent to that of only one person working full time. If one of the people is budgeted for ½ of his time to the project and a second person for 1/3 of their time, what part of the third worker's time should be budgeted to this project?
A. 1/3
B. ¼
C. 1/6
D. 1/8
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Answers
Reading Comprehension 1. B 2. B
Arithmetic 1. D 2. C 3. A 4. C 5. A 6. B 7. C |
| Tips for taking Assessments top |
| 1. Relax! Assessments were designed to help you succeed in school. Your score helps you and your advisor determine which courses are most appropriate for your current level of knowledge and skills. Once you identify your academic strengths and needs you can get the help you need to improve underdeveloped skills before they can interfere with your learning. |
| 2. You will be able to concentrate better on the test if you get plenty of rest and eat properly prior to the test. You should also arrive a few minutes early so you can find the testing area, restrooms, etc., and gather your thoughts before the test begins. |
| 3. After finishing your essay, read it over carefully, looking for misspellings, omitted words, and other errors. (You can find them more easily if you read from the end of the essay to the beginning, sentence by sentence.) |
| 4. You should understand that ACCUPLACER is an adaptive test. Questions are chosen for you on the basis of your answers to previous questions. Because the test works this way, you must answer every question when it is first given. You cannot omit any questions or come back to change an answer. You may change your answer on a particular question, but you must do so before continuing on to the next question. If you do not, the answer is accepted and you cannot return to the question. |
| 5. If you do not know the answer to a question, try to eliminate one or more of the choices. Then pick one of the remaining choices. |
| 6. Textbooks, notebooks, dictionaries, calculators, or other paper of any kind, (except scratch paper provided by the Test Administrator for use with the mathematics test), are not allowed in the testing room. Further, anyone who gives or receives help during the test, or uses notes or books of any kind, will not be allowed to continue the test. Following the test period, no test materials or notes may be removed from the room. |
| 7. Remember to bring your social security number and some form of picture I.D. |
