State college placement exams are an increasingly common method for public, state colleges and universities to evaluate the relative strengths and weaknesses of incoming students and determine the most appropriate academic plan for them. Florida, for example, administers the CLAST, while Texas administers the THEA and TASP. State exams are similar in nature to general college placement tests, such as Compass or Accuplacer.
These exams are sometimes required for admission, and sometimes are just necessary before a student can be officially enrolled. Exams are usually set up and administered by the student’s school after admission is granted.
How State College Placement Exams Work
Exams are typically taken in a classroom setting with other students. They are often given before the first semester begins, often during registration sessions or campus visits. Larger schools often have walk-in appointments available through most of the academic year. Typically, exams are taken by paper and pencil, though some multiple choice exams are filled out with electronically graded bubble sheets. In some circumstances, the exams are taken via computer.
Questions are likely to cover one subject very broadly to probe what a student’s strong areas are. Time allotted for the test and the number of questions will vary by exam. Test format may include multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank and true-or-false questions. Most often, if multiple subjects need to be evaluated, they will be part of a single, larger exam or scheduled back-to-back for efficiency.
Some schools subsidize registration fees, so that enrolled students can take placement exams for free. Otherwise, students can expect to pay $20-$50 in fees. Be sure to check with individual schools for their payment policies. Special accommodations can be made for students with disabilities upon request.
Check ahead of time with the proctor and be familiar with the exam rules including items that may be prohibited inside the testing area. It is important to note that calculators can improve accuracy and timing for math sections, but avoid bringing a calculator that is not allowed in the testing site. For example, some placement exams do not allow programmable calculators such as a TI-86.
Placement Exam Content
State-issued college placement exams are usually composed of one or more subject areas, which may include reading, writing, essay/composition or math. More or different subjects may appear on a placement exam, however these highlighted areas are consistently evaluated across all state schools. Time limits on placement exams vary by subject and university, but it is important to allot an adequate amount of time to each question on the test.
Reading sections are designed to evaluate student comprehension of reading materials they are likely to encounter as freshmen at a state university. Information is usually presented in textbook or manual form, with several reading passages consisting of around 300-800 words each. Each of these passages corresponds to a set of multiple choice or true-or-false questions. Literal comprehension asks students to identify main ideas and supporting details and to infer word meaning from the passages. Critical comprehension tests students to recognize tone, bias, and author’s purpose. These sections are usually indicative of the level of literature course a student will start off with.
Writing sections focus on composition skills like word choice, sentence structure, grammar, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation skills. Appropriate use of adverbs and adjectives, logical comparisons and sentence modifiers are often evaluated through fill-in-the-blank sections where students are asked to properly complete a piece of information missing from a sentence.
Writing sections are often incorporated into one test with essay or composition evaluations, as both analyze a very similar skill set. For these sections, students are asked to produce a writing sample generated around a topic assigned in the test. Students are expected to construct a multi-paragraph sample, which will be evaluated on how effectively it communicates its message for the stated purpose (i.e. persuade, inform, entertain). In particular, a good writing sample properly organizes and supports ideas, and efficiently gets its message across within the provided space while staying on topic.
Math sections are designed to comprehensively test student comprehension of all possible math topics covered through a high school setting. Such topics include, but are not limited to: basic arithmetic, geometry, algebra, trigonometry, and calculus. Necessary formulas are provided in the tests; proper application of these formulas and concepts to the questions is necessary on the student’s part. Depending on performance in the math section, a student may be moved along to a higher math coursework at the start of enrollment.
Here is a sample question taken from the math section of the Texas Higher Education Assessment:
The height of a rocket in feet is given by the equation where t is the time in seconds after it is fired and h is the height in feet. At what time is the rocket at a height of 128 feet?
A. 1 second
B. 2 seconds
C. 3 seconds
D. 4 seconds
How to Interpret Results
State college placement exams are not graded in a pass/ail manner, and typically have no relationship to school admittance. Rather, scores highlight a student’s readiness to engage in college-level coursework in various fields. Academic counselors then work with students to set up a course load with adequate challenge. If scores from the placement exam are not satisfactory, some college preparatory coursework may be required, which may or may not count toward degree progress. Some students may be exempt from placement exams, such as those who have excelled in relevant work through an advanced placement course in high school.
Please visit our State College Placement Test Directory for more.
