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NextGen Accuplacer

The ACCUPLACER test will help you and your academic advisor select classes and plan an appropriate course of study. The tests are not used to determine admission to the college.

Reading

There are 20 multiple choice questions in the Reading Comprehension Accuplacer.

The reading placement test is a broad-spectr um computer-adaptive assessment of test takers’ developed ability to derive meaning from a range of prose texts and to determine the meaning of words and phrases in short and extended contexts. Passages on the test cover a range of content areas (including literature and literary nonfiction, careers/history/social studies, humanities, and science), writing modes (informative/explanatory, argument, and narrative), and complexities (relatively easy to very challenging). Both single and paired passages are included. The test pool includes both authentic texts (previously published passages excerpted or minimally adapted from their published form) and commissioned texts (written specifically for the test). Four broad knowledge and skill categories are assessed:

Information and Ideas (reading closely, determining central ideas and themes, summarizing, understanding relationships)
Rhetoric (analyzing word choice rhetorically, analyzing text structure, analyzing point of view, analyzing purpose, analyzing arguments)
Synthesis (analyzing multiple texts)
Vocabulary

Reading Practice Websites:

WriterPlacer

This test measures your ability to write effectively, which is critical to academic success. There is a 60 minute time limit.

Your writing sample (which will be between 300-600 words) will be scored on the basis of how effectively it communicates a whole message to the readers for the stated purpose. Your score will be based on your ability to express, organize and support your opinions and ideas, not the position you take on the essay topic. The following five characteristics of writing will be considered:

Focus — The clarity with which you maintain your main idea or point of view
Organization — The clarity with which you structure your response and present a logical sequence of ideas
Development and Support — The extent to which you elaborate on your ideas and the extent to which you present supporting details
Sentence Structure — The effectiveness of your sentence structure
Mechanical Conventions — The extent to which your writing is free of errors in usage and mechanics

Writing Practice Websites:

Math

There are a total of 60 questions to test the student’s Arithmetic, Quantitative Reasoning, Algebra, and Statistics, and Advanced Algebra and Functions skills. The Arithmetic test focuses on computation, order of operations, estimation and rounding, comparing and ordering values in different formats, and recognizing equivalent values across formats. The Quantitative Reasoning, Algebra, and Statistics (QAS) test assesses the following knowledge and skills.

Math Practice Websites:

Arithmetic

There are 20 multiple choice questions administered on the Arithmetic test, divided into the following content areas:

Operations with whole numbers – Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of fractions and mixed numbers, including order of operations, estimation and rounding, and applying operations to real-life contexts.
Operations with fractions – Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of fractions and mixed numbers, including order of operations, estimation and rounding, and applying operations to real-life contexts.
Operations with decimals – Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of decimal numbers, including order of operations, estimation and rounding, and applying operations to real-life contexts.
Operations with percentages – Calculation with percent with or without a context, including percent increase, percent decrease, determining the percent of a number, and applying percent to real-life contexts.
Number comparisons and equivalents – Comparisons of differently formatted values by ordering, using the number line, and using equality/inequality symbol notation; and evaluation of equivalent number statements (to assess mental math strategies).

**Students with a 263 or higher on the Arithmetic need to take the Next Generation Accuplacer Quantitative Reasoning, Algebra, and Statistics**

Quantitative Reasoning, Algebra, and Statistics

There are 20 multiple choice questions administered on the Quantitative reasoning, algebra, and statistics test, divided into the following content areas:

Rational numbers — Calculating and applying rational numbers (with or without a context), including usage of absolute value.
Ratio and proportional relationships — Calculating with rates, ratios, and proportions (with or without a context), and using unit conversions.
Exponents — Calculating with exponents, radicals, fractional exponents, and applying scientific notation.
Algebraic expressions — Creating and evaluating expressions to represent situations, and using properties of operations to combine like terms and identify equivalent expressions.
Linear equations — Creating linear equations in one or two variables, solving linear equations, simplifying linear equations and inequalities, and solving systems of two linear equations.
Linear applications and graphs — Applying linear equations to real-life contexts, using elementary linear functions to describe relationships, and graphing linear equations in two variables, linear inequalities, parallel and perpendicular lines, and systems of equations.
Probability and sets — Calculating probability (simple, compound, and conditional), and defining sample spaces and events using set notation.
Descriptive statistics — Interpreting graphical displays of data (histograms, box plots, and scatterplots), describing shape and spread of a sample set, and calculating measures of center.
Geometry concepts for Pre-Algebra — Determining area and perimeter, circle area and circumference, and volume of prisms.
Geometry concepts for Algebra 1 — Creating expressions for area, perimeter, and volume, using distance formula and Pythagorean theorem, and evaluating basic geometric transformations.

Advanced Algebra and Functions

There are 20 multiple choice questions administered on the Advanced algebra and functions test, divided into the following content areas:

Linear equations — Creating linear equations in one or two variables, solving linear equations, simplifying linear equations and inequalities, and solving systems of two linear equations.
Linear applications and graphs — Applying linear equations to real-life contexts, using elementary linear functions to describe relationships, and graphing linear equations in two variables, linear inequalities, parallel and perpendicular lines, and systems of equations.
Factoring — Factoring methods applied to quadratics, cubics, and polynomials.
Quadratics — Creating quadratic equations in one or two variables, solving quadratic equations (via factoring or using the quadratic equation), simplifying equations and inequalities, and solving systems that involve a quadratic equation.
Functions — Creating functions using function notation, evaluating linear and quadratic functions, graphing functions, and interpreting functions within a context.
Radical and rational equations — Creating radical and rational equations and functions in one variable, determining domain and range for radical and rational functions, graphing radical and rational fumctions, and simplifying radical and rational expressions and equations.
Polynomial equations — Creating polynomial equations in one and two variables, solving polynomial equations, and graphing polynomial functions.
Exponential and logarithmic equations — Creating exponential and logarithmic equations in one and two variables, solving exponential and logarithmic equations, graphing exponential and logarithmic functions, and interpreting exponential and logarithmic functions.
Geometry concepts for Algebra 1 — Creating expressions for area, perimeter, and volume, using distance formula and Pythagorean theorem, and evaluating dilations, rotations, translations, and reflections.
Geometry concepts for Algebra 2 — Determining volume of non-prism objects, using intersecting line theorems, using triangle similarity and congruency theorems, and using circle equations in the coordinate plane.
Trigonometry — Solving trigonometric equations, using right triangle trigonometry including special triangles, evaluating equivalent trigonometric functions, graphing trigonometric relationships, determining arc length and radian measures, and using the law of sines and the law of cosines.

Test Prep Resources

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