How to prepare for the College Placement Test
To prepare yourself to take the College Placement Test, you should:
- Find out what the test will be like, and what material it will cover.
- Review the appropriate subjects and topics that you learned in high school.
1. Middlesex County College uses some of the the College Board’s ACCUPLACER tests for our College Placement Test. The entire placement test consists of:
- ACCUPLACER WritePlacer Essay Test (60 minutes long)
- ACCUPLACER Reading Comprehension Test
- ACCUPLACER Elementary Algebra Test
- Either the ACCUPLACER Arithmetic Test or the ACCUPLACER College Level Math Test, depending on your score on the Elementary Algebra Test
You will be allowed to use scrap paper during the entire test, and an online calculator (provided by the College Board/ACCUPLACER) during the math portions of the College Placement Test. You will not be allowed to have any electronic devices (e.g., cell phone, hand held calculator, IPod, PDA, etc.) with you during the test.
To learn about the ACCUPLACER tests, and what material they cover, visit the College Board’s ACCUPLACER website. Also, read the two attachments listed below [“ACCUPLACER Sample Questions for Students (Revised October 2012)” and “WritePlacer Guide with Sample Essays (12-10-2008)”]. The website and documents will tell you how the ACCUPLACER computer adaptive tests work, as well as what topics each of them cover.
2. Once you know how the ACCUPLACER tests work, what subjects and topics are covered, and what the questions will be like, you should review the appropriate subjects and topics that you learned in high school to prepare for the test. Here are some suggestions on how you might study for the College Placement Test:
- If you still have your old high school notes and/or text books, start reviewing this material first.
- Use an ACCUPLACER review book or an SAT review book to help you study for the test. However, please remember that the ACCUPLACER and the SAT tests are not exactly alike (e.g., the questions in the Reading Comprehension sections are different).
- If you don’t have your old high school notes and/or text books, or it has been several years since you attended high school, an ACCUPLACER or SAT review book might not be very helpful to you (they usually assume that you are currently a high school junior or senior—thus, they review the subject matter rather quickly). If so, use other subject level review books (e.g., “Basic Math” or “Algebra”) to help you study for the College Placement Test.
- You can also use the Middlesex County College Mathematics Department review documents listed below (for “Basic Math”, “Algebra I”, Algebra II”, and “PreCalculus”) to help you study for the math portion of the College Placement Test.
- Lastly, here are several websites that provide free ACCUPLACER test prep practice questions, guides, and videos to help you prepare for the College Placement Test (Please note: Every school is allowed to choose which tests to give in their placement test. Thus some of the information on these websites do not apply to the College Placement Test at Middlesex County College):
- Aims Community College – Provides study guides for both the verbal and math parts of the College Placement Test.
- Brookdale Community College – Provides sample questions and additional information for both the verbal and math parts of the College Placement Test.
- Community College of Aurora – Provides study guides and online videos for the math part of the College Placement Test.
- Khan Academy – Provides online videos to help you prepare for the math part of the College Placement Test.
- Passaic County Community College – Provides online practice tests and explanations to all of their sample questions.
The college also offers free, two hour workshops to help you prepare for the College Placement Test (Please note: The workshops do not provide a review of high school level reading, writing, and math skills). Please click here to see when the next workshop will take place.
