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Computerized Placement Test

Basic Information

The Computerized Placement test is a standardized test required for anyone planning to take credit classes at CFCC.  It is not a pass or fail test.  Instead, it is a placement test.  It is designed to check how much you remember from your previous education and place you in a course that is right for you.  If you fall below a certain score, you may be required to take preparatory, or remedial, classes to bring your knowledge in a particular area up to the level of a college freshman.

Applicants for an AA or AS degree must take this test, unless they have previously taken the ACT, SAT, ASSET, MAPS, or COMPANION test within the last three years.

CPTs are administered in CFCC’s Testing Center by Miki Cox (building 93) and are scheduled by appointment. For more information on test times and dates, phone (352) 746-6721 x 6168

Computerized Placement Tests are administered on a personal computer.  Students are to read all instructions and questions on the computer screen and mark their answers using the computer keyboard.  Minimal typing and computer skill is necessary.

Each test is designed using adaptive techniques.  The computer automatically determines which questions are presented to an individual based on his/her responses to prior questions.  The greater one’s demonstrated skill level, the more challenging the questions that will be presented to the student.

The areas tested include English, reading, arithmetic, and elementary algebra.

The computer scores each test and provides students with printouts that show their (1) total right score and (2) percentile score.

In addition to the computerized score report, students receive a completed CFCC CPT Results Form immediately following the test which provides placement information based on the state’s cutoff scores.

CFCC’s CPT testing fee is $10 for first-time testing.  Persons taking retest are charged $5 total regardless of the number of tests taken.

Pre-registration is required to take the placement test.  Pre-register at the administrative office (Building L1) on the Citrus Campus.

On the day of the test, arrive 15 minutes early and bring your registration receipt, a picture ID, and two #2 pencils.

The Purpose of the Tests

The Computerized Placement Tests (CPTs) were developed by The College Board, with the help of committees of college professors, to provide information about the reading, English, and mathematics skills that are required for success in college.  By assessing your ability levels in these areas, the CPTs help to determine the English, mathematics, and reading courses most appropriate for you at this time.

 

The Types of Tests

Four tests are available in the Computerized Placement Test program.  Your college will determine which of these tests you should take.  The Reading Comprehension test measures your ability to understand what you read.  The Sentence Skills test measures your understanding of how sentences are put together and what makes a sentence complete.  There are two mathematics tests: Arithmetic Skills and Elementary Algebra.  All four tests consist of multiple choice questions.

Test Administration

The Computerized Placement Test is administered on a personal computer.  You will actually read the instructions and questions on the computer screen and will mark you answers using the keyboard or the mouse.

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Score Reporting

When you have completed all of the tests, you will see a report of your scores on the screen.  The onscreen report indicates you Total Right Score and your Percentile Rank for each subtest.  See the Test Administrator for a print copy of your test scores.

The Total Right Score shows how many of the questions you could expect to answer correctly if you took a test made up of 120 questions.  Any test score is an estimate, not an exact measure of your skills.

The Percentile Rank compares your score with the scores of typical students entering college who completed tests composed of similar questions.  For example, a percentile rank of 70 means that you score is higher than the score of 70 percent of the students who completed the test.

 

Who Must Take the Test

Anyone seeking an AA (Associate in Arts) or AS (Associate in Science) degree must provide placement test scores.  The CPT is one of the five tests authorized for this purpose.  The others include the ACT, SAT, Companion, and ASSET. No score may be more than three years old.

 

Fees for the Tests

The CPT testing fee is $10.  You must pay this fee when you pre-register.

Special Arrangements for Handicapped Students

If you have a handicap or temporary disability that will prevent you from taking the tests under standard conditions, inform the Test Administrator before taking the test.  These requests should be made directly to the Test Administrator at your college.  No additional charge should be made for the special arrangements.

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What to Take With You on the Test Day 

On the day of the test, you must have your social security number, a picture ID, your receipt and two #2 pencils with erasers.

Testing Regulations

Textbooks, notebooks, dictionaries, calculators, or other papers of any kind (except scratch paper provided by the Test Administrator for use with the mathematics tests) are not allowed in the testing room.  Further, anyone who gives or receives help during the test, or uses notes or books of any kind, will not be allowed to continue the test.  Following the test period, no test materials or notes may be removed from the room.  Your college may cancel any test score if there is reason to question its validity.  Before canceling a score, the college may offer the student an opportunity to take the test again. 

Confidentiality

Your test scores and the information you provide when taking the tests will be used by your college and the College Board and Educational Testing Service for research purposes.  Your test information will not be used for any other reason without your permission.  If the data is used for research purposes, special precautions will be taken to ensure that your identity is kept confidential.  If you have any questions about the confidentiality of the data you have provided, or about your test scores, you should see your college’s Test Administrator.

Computerized Adaptive Testing Computer-Delivered Testing

The Computerized Placement Tests use testing methods based on computerized adaptive testing techniques.  You will take the tests using a personal computer.  You will communicate with the computer by using the keyboard and the mouse to enter your answers to the questions and supply other information.  A monitor connected to the computer will allow you to see instructions, questions, multiple-choice options, your responses, and other information presented to you.  The test instructions are easy to understand.  Entering information is also very easy.  A Test Administrator will always be present should you have any questions or problems.  The Test Administrator can resolve any difficulties that may occur.

Answering the Questions

Because you take the CPTs on a computer, you do not have to answer as many questions as on traditional paper and pencil tests.  You will be presented with from 12 to 20 questions in one or more of the four test areas.  The questions will appear one at a time on the computer screen.  All questions are multiple choice and all you will need to do is use the mouse or keyboard to select the desired answer.  When you have completed the question and verified your answer, a new screen will appear with your next question.  Each test is untimed so that you can give each question as much thought as you wish.

Adaptive Testing

We have found that each test usually takes students 15 to 20 minutes to complete.  However, you may take as long as you need to complete a test.  The tests are untimed.  Each test is designed using adaptive techniques.  This means that the computer automatically determines which questions are presented to you based on your responses to prior questions.  This technique “zeroes in” on just the right questions to ask you without being too easy or too difficult.  The greater your demonstrated skill level, the more challenging the questions that will be presented to you.

The Order of the Tests

The four areas covered by The Computerized Placement Tests are Sentence Skills, Reading Comprehension, Arithmetic Skills, and Elementary Algebra.  The order in which the tests are given is determined in a number of different ways.  Your institution’s Test Administrator may set the order before testing.  All you need to do is follow the instructions provided by the Test Administrator and the computer. 

 

Guessing

You should understand that this is an adaptive test.  Questions are chosen for you on the basis of your answers to previous questions.  Because the test works this way, you must answer every question when it is first given.  You cannot skip any question or come back later to change an answer.  You may change your answer on a particular question, but you must do so before confirming it and continuing on to the next question.  If you do not, the answer is accepted and you cannot return to the question.  If you do not know the answer to a question, try to eliminate one or more of the choices.  Then pick one of the remaining choices. 

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Descriptions of the Tests

Reading Comprehension

This test is designed to measure how well you are able to understand what you read.  It contains 20 questions.  Some are the sentence relationship type, in which you must choose how two sentences are related.  Other questions refer to reading passages of various lengths.  Some passages are 75 words or less, while others are longer.

 

Sentence Skills

Two kinds of questions are given in this test.  Sentence Correction questions ask you to choose a word or a phrase to substitute for an underlined portion of a sentence.  Construction Shift questions ask that a sentence be rewritten in a specific way without changing the meaning.  A broad variety of topics is included here.  You will be presented with a total of 20 questions.

 

Arithmetic Skills

The Arithmetic Skills test measures your abilities in three primary categories.  The first is operations with whole numbers and fractions.  This includes addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and recognizing equivalent fractions and mixed numbers.  The second category involves operations with decimals and percents.  It includes addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, as well as percent equivalencies, and estimating problems.  The last category involves applications and problem solving.  Questions include rate, percent, and measurement problems; geometry problems; and distribution of a quantity into its fractional parts.  A total of 16 questions is asked. 

 

Elementary Algebra

There are also three categories in the Elementary Algebra test.  First, operations with integers and rational numbers includes computation with integers and negative rationals, the use of absolute values, and ordering.  The second category is operations with algebraic expressions.  This tests your abilities with the evaluation of simple formulas and expressions, and adding and subtracting monomials and polynomials.  Both of these categories include questions about multiplying and dividing monomials and dividing monomials and polynomials, the evaluation of positive rational roots and exponents, simplifying algebraic fractions and factoring.  The third category tests abilities in equation solving, inequalities, and word problems. These questions include solving systems of linear equations, solving quadratic equations by factoring, solving verbal problems presented in algebraic context, geometric reasoning, translating written phrases into algebraic expressions, and graphing.  Twelve questions are presented.

 

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Sample Questions

Sample questions are shown below for each of the four CPT sections explained above.  Those presented cover only a few areas covered by each test.  The correct answers are shown at the bottom of this page.

Sample Questions for Reading Comprehension

Question 1: (Narrative Question)

Read the statement or passage and then choose the best answer to the question.  Answer the question on the basis of what is stated or implied in the statement or passage.

Myths are stories, the products of fertile imagination, sometimes simple, often containing profound truths.  They are not meant to be taken too literally.  Details may sometimes appear childish, but most myths express a culture’s most serious beliefs about human beings, eternity, and God.

The main idea of the passage is that myths:

  1. are created primarily to entertain young children
  2. are purposely written for the reader who lacks imagination
  3. provide the reader with a  means of escape from reality
  4. illustrate the values that are considered important to a society

Question 2: (Sentence Relationship Questions)

Two underlined sentences are followed by a question or statement about them.  Read each pair of sentences and then choose the best answer to the questions or the best completion of the statement. 

The Midwest is experiencing its worst drought in fifteen years.  Corn and soybean prices are expected to be very high this year.

What does the second sentence do?

  1. It restates the idea found in the first.
  2. It states an effect
  3. It gives an example.
  4. It analyzes the statement made in the first.

 

Sample Questions for Sentence Skills

Question 1: (Sentence Correction Question)

Select the best version of the underlined part of the sentence.   The first choice is the same as the original sentence.  If you think the original sentence is best, choose the first answer.

Mrs. Rose planning to teach a course in biology next summer.

  1. planning
  2. are planning
  3. with a plan
  4. plans

Question 2: (Construction Shift Question)

Rewrite the sentence in your head, following the directions given below.  Keep in mind that your new sentences should be well written and should have essentially the same meaning as the sentence given you.

Being a female jockey, she was often interviewed.

Rewrite, beginning with She was often interviewed…

  1. on account of she was
  2. by her being
  3. because she was
  4. being as she was

 

Sample Questions for Arithmetic Skills

Question 1

Solve the following problems and choose your answer from the alternatives given.  You may use the paper you have been given for scratch work.

 All of the following are ways to write 20 percent of N EXCEPT

  1. .20N
  2. 20/100 N
  3. 1/5N
  4. 20N

Question 2:

Which of the following is closest to ?

  1. 3
  2. 4
  3. 5
  4. 8

 Question 3:

Three people who work full time are to work together on a project, but their total time on the project is to be equivalent to that of only one person working full time.  If one of the people is budgeted for 1/2 of his time to the project and a second person for 1/3 of her time, what part of the third worker’s time should be budgeted to the project?

  1. 1/3
  2. 1/4
  3. 1/6
  4. 1/8

 Sample Questions for Elementary Algebra Skills

 Question 1:

If a number is divided by 4 and then 3 is subtracted, the result is 0.  What is the number?

  1. 12
  2. 4
  3. 3
  4. 2

 Question 2:

16x-8=

  1. 8x
  2. 8(2x-x)
  3. 8(2x-1)
  4. 8(2x-8)

    5. Question 3:

    If x2-x-6=0, then x is

    1. –2 or 3
    2. –1 o
      3. r 6
    3. 1 or 6
    4. 2 or –3

     

    Answers to the Sample Questions:

    Reading Comprehension
    1. D
    2. B
    Sentence Skills
    1. D
    2. C
    Arithmetic
    1. D
    2. A
    3. C
    Elementary Algebra
    1. A
    2. C
    3. A

     

    Questions About Individual Items on the Tests

    If you have any questions about an individual question on any of the Computerized Placement Tests, you may write to: College Board Test Development, P.O. Box 6656, Princeton, New Jersey 08541-6656.  You will receive a written response to any question you submit.  Or you can present the question to your Test Administrator who will forward the question for you to the same address.

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     Additional Questions and Information

    Additional questions may be found on the CPT Study Guide, an Adobe Acrobat file which may be downloaded here.

     

    Also, see the LSC study materials page