The purpose of ACCUPLACER tests is to provide you with useful information about your academic skills in math, English, and reading.  The results of the assessment, in conjunction with your academic background, goals, and interests, are used by academic advisors to determine your course selection.

You can not "pass" or "fail" the placement tests, but it is very important that you do your very best on these tests so that you will have an accurate measure of your academic skills.

Sentence Skills
   In an ACCUPLACER placement test, there are 20 Sentence Skills questions of two types.

•     The first type is sentence correction questions that require an understanding of sentence structure.  These questions ask you to choose the most appropriate word or phrase to substitute for the underlined portion of the sentence.
•     The second type is construction shift questions.  These questions ask that a sentence be rewritten according to the criteria shown while maintaining essentially the same meaning as the original sentence.

  Within these two primary categories, the questions are also classified according to the skills being tested.  Some questions deal with the logic of the sentence, others with whether or not the answer is a complete sentence, and still others with the relationship between coordination and subordination.

Reading Comprehension
   In an ACCUPLACER placer test, there are 20 questions of two primary types in the Reading Comprehension.

•     The first type consists of a reading passage followed by a question based on the text.  Both short and long passages are provided.  The reading passages can also be classified according to the kind of information processing required including explicit statements related to the main idea, explicit statements related to a secondary idea, application, and inference.
•     The second type of question, sentence relationships, presents two sentences followed by a question about the relationship between these two sentences.  The question may ask, for example, if the statement in the second sentence supports that in the first, if it contradicts it, or if it repeats the same information.

Arithmetic
   This test measures your ability to perform basic arithmetic operations and to solve problems that involve fundamental arithmetic concepts.  There are 17 questions on the Arithmetic tests divided into three types.

•     Operations with whole numbers and fractions:  topics included in this category are addition, substraction, multiplication, division, recognizing equivalent fractions and mixed numbers, and estimating.
•     Operations with decimals and percents: topics include addition, substraction, multiplication, and division with decimals.  Percent problems, recognition of decimals, fraction and percent equivalencies, and problems involving estimation are also given.
•     Applications and problem solving:  topics include rate, percent, and measurement problems, simple geometry problems, and distribution of a quantity into its fractional parts.

Elementary Algebra
   A total of 12 questions of three types are administered in this test.

•     The first type involves operations with integers and rational numbers, and includes computation with integers and negative rationals, the use of absolute values, and ordering.
•     A second type involves operations with algebraic expressions using evaluation of simple formulas and expressions, and adding and subtracting monomials and polynomials.  Questions involve multiplying and dividing monomials and polynomials, the evaluation of positive rational roots and exponents, simplyfing algebraic fractions, and factoring.
•     The third type of question involves the solution of equations, inequalities, word problems, solving linear equations and inequalities, the solution of quadratic equations by factoring, solving verbal problems presented in an algebraic context, including geometric reasoning and graphing, and the translation of written phrases into algebraic expressions.
    

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