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Admission > Placement Testing > How to Prepare

How to Prepare for Placement Testing

Tips for Success

A placement test evaluates the knowledge and skills you already possess. This knowledge is usually acquired over a long period of time. You cannot learn it overnight or in a few weeks prior to the test.

You will want the results to honestly reflect your level of knowledge and ability at the time you take the test. A good placement result will be of little comfort and no help if you do not truly have knowledge and skills needed in a course, which could result in poor performance and possible failure of the course.

You may have the needed knowledge and skills but haven't used them for a long time. In that case, a little review may help. A number of inexpensive books are available in bookstores that preview placement tests, including ACT tests (ACT is the organization that produces COMPASS). The public library might also have such books. Certain companies offer computer programs to help you prepare for placement tests.

Kapi'olani Community College offers workshops that cover basic test preparation. Call for further information.

Familiarizing yourself with the kinds of items found in a placement test and learning how to approach the test situation can also be useful. Again, books and computer programs can help.

Before the test, get a good night's sleep. Going into a test nervous and exhausted will not help you do well.

Eat breakfast if you are taking the test in the morning. Or eat a snack half an hour before you take the test. Recent studies suggest that test performance improves if the test taker eats a light snack about half an hour before the test.

Come in to take the test during the time of day which is your peak performance time.

Allow yourself at least 2 hours to take the test. If you want to be safe, come in 3 hours before the Testing Center's closing time to take the test.

When you take a placement test, be serious. Some students become the victims of a psychological defense that goes something like this: they don't take the test seriously and (for example) write down answers quickly without thinking because (they imagine) if they don't do well, then they don't have to feel bad because they really did not try to do well. Whatever their attitude toward the test, the results of the test will determine which courses they can and cannot take. Flippant responses to the test end up costing them time, money, and work. They end up having to take courses they would have preferred not to take and not being able to take courses they wanted.

Math Placement Test

The Math Placement Test gives you problems to work out. You are not allowed to use a calculator, so it is important that you brush up on your math skills before you take the test.

The computer will start testing you for your knowledge of basic arithmetic and will go up to higher levels of math if you demonstrate that you know the material in each level. When you start missing several problems in a particular level, the computer will determine your level and will not give you any higher level problems. If you know calculus, but have forgotten your algebra, you may be placed at the pre-algebra level, so it is very important that you review all the math you learned in high school or other math classes.

Math requires practice. If you have not done any math for a while, you should review the math you learned before. Look at your old textbooks and actually try to do some practice problems without looking at your book. Practice, practice practice!

The Holomua Center (Iliahi 228) has SkillsBank on the Macintosh computers. This program contains tutorials for math and could serve to help you refresh your math skills. You can register for this program; however, it will not help you unless you are willing to put in the time to study with it. The SkillsBank program was not designed to prepare students for the COMPASS test, but it can serve as a good refresher for students who have not done mathematics problems for a while.

Go to a Listing of Mathematics Topics in the COMPASS Math Placement Test
Go to Mathematics Placement Sample Questions - [^]

Reading Placement Test

The Reading Placement Test will give you passages to read and will ask you questions about those passages. You will be tested on vocabulary in the passage, finding the main idea, locating specific information, and making inferences from the passage.

Read at least 30 minutes a day every day from now until the day of the test. When you come across a word you don't know, try to figure out what it might mean by looking at how it is used in the sentence. Then look up the new word you've read in a dictionary so you can expand your vocabulary.

If you want to see what a multiple choice reading comprehension test is like, go to a bookstore and browse through the test preparation books. Usually these books are in the reference section or a special college information section. Anything that prepares a person for the SAT or ACT would probably give you a good idea of what kinds of questions the test might ask. You don't have to buy the book. It's okay to find a place to sit down in the bookstore and read. Or go to a computer store and look for computerized SAT preparation programs. Keep in mind that these programs were not designed for the placement test and may not necessarily help you prepare for the test.

Read questions and statements carefully. Absolute words such as all, always, never, or none can change the meaning of a statement. Qualifiers such as some, many, most, or often can also alter the meaning of a question or answer. Make sure you know what the statements really say.

Use the process of elimination. Read and examine your choices carefully. Eliminate all the choices you know are incorrect. Try to throw out at least two answers on a four-choice test item.

Read the questions first. If you read the questions before you read the passage, you will know what information you are looking for in the passage. This helps if you are taking a timed test. The COMPASS test is untimed, so this strategy may or may not be helpful to you.

Answer based on information that is in the passage. Don't rely on your general knowledge to answer questions about the passage. You are being tested on the passage. Find the proof for your answer in the passage.

Look for key words that identify the requested information in the test question. Skim the passage to locate the key words when you are answering the questions. Be aware that sometimes the questions will paraphrase the information in the passage. Sometimes the answers will paraphrase the information in the passage.

If you draw a blank and can't answer the question, stop and try to think of what the answer should be. Read each of the answers separately and thoughtfully. Read the question repeatedly with each separate answer. Which answer makes the most sense? Restate the question in your own words and look at your possible answers again.

Use what you have already learned from the test itself to help you answer more difficult questions which you saved to do after you finished the easy questions.

Proofread your answers before hitting the key that tells the computer to accept your answers.

Go to Reading Placement Sample Questions - [^]

Writing Placement Test

The Writing Placement Test will test you on your ability to correct and edit grammar and mechanics problems in a passage. You may also be asked questions which show whether you understand how to organize a passage effectively.

Go to Writing Placement Sample Questions - [^]

Some of the grammar/mechanics problems you may be asked to fix are fragments, run-ons, verb formation, subject-verb agreement, shifts in person, shifts in verb tense, modifier problems, relationships of clauses, punctuation, capitalization, usage and pronoun problems. You don't have to know the technical name for the error; but you will be tested on whether you can fix it.

Go to the Guide to Grammar and Writing website and review the basic grammatical rules. Take the quizzes. You will get a score on your quizzes immediately. This might help refresh your memory about basic grammar. You don't have to know the names of grammatical errors for the COMPASS test; you just have to be able to look at a sentence and fix it if something is wrong with it.

Guide to Grammar and Writing - [^]
http://cctc.commnet.edu/grammar/

[^] - By following this link, you are leaving the Kapi`olani Community College website. KCC is not responsible for the contents of any off-site pages or links referenced. The presence of a hyper-link from a page on one of KCC's Web servers does not imply any kind of endorsement of the content of these referenced pages.