Admissions

Intake assessment

Plan for success.

Intake assessment involves finding out your basic skills in reading, mathematics and writing. Knowing your skill level in these areas will help you to determine which courses are best suited for your abilities and put you on the right track for academic success.

Accuplacer Intake Assessments in Reading, Math and Writing

As you plan your college career, it is important to know your basic skills. If English is your first language, the Accuplacer online assessment is used at Saint Paul College to assess your skills in these areas. Knowing your skill level will help you and your advisor determine courses best suited for you. Our goal is to help you choose courses that best match your background and help ensure your future success.

Questions and answers

Do I need to take these assessments?

You will need to take the assessments if:

• You plan to enroll in a degree, certificate or diploma program at the College.
• You plan to register for writing, math or ESL courses your first term.
• You registered your first term during Open Registration and now plan to attend the College for a second term.

Would transfer students be exempt?

The assessment requirements may be waived if you have successfully completed college-level English and/or math courses at another college. A transfer advisor may waive assessment testing, depending upon your previous college experiences and review of your college transcripts.

If you have completed the assessment at another Minnesota State College or University within the last two years, you will likely be exempt from taking our assessment. To determine if you’re exempt, call Enrollment Services at 651.846.1555.

What if English is not my first language?

If English is not your first language, you will take the English-as-a-second-language (ESL) assessment. The results of the ESL assessment will help determine if English language courses are recommended. These computerized reading and listening assessments are available on a walk-in schedule and usually take 1½ to 2 hours to complete.

What assessments do I need to take?

Reading

This assessment measures your ability to understand what you read. You’ll be given a series of paragraphs to read with questions to answer.

Math

There are several different mathematics assessments. Arithmetic will measure your ability to perform basic arithmetic problems, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals and percents. You’ll also solve problems that involve fundamental arithmetic concepts, including rate, measurement and simple geometry. Elementary Algebra includes questions on operations with integers and rational numbers, operations with algebraic expressions, and solution of equations, inequalities and word problems. College Level Mathematics assesses skills in intermediate algebra through pre-calculus. This assessment is only given to those scoring high on the elementary algebra assessment.

Writing Skills

All students take the Sentence Skills assessment to determine your ability to understand sentence structure. Students who score high on the Sentence Skills assessment will also complete a Writing Essay assessment. If you take the Writing Essay assessment, you will be given a topic and asked to write an essay on that topic. You’ll receive paper to write a rough draft on and you will then key your final draft into the computer.

Other Assessments

You may take additional assessments if your chosen program requires them. A test of spatial skills is given for many of the Trade programs, and a keyboarding assessment is given for many of the Business programs. Ask at Enrollment Services to find out what additional assessments may be needed.

What if I want to practice or brush up before I take these assessments?

There are a number of good Web sites that you can use to practice or brush up for these assessments before you take them. At the google.com search engine, type “Accuplacer practice” into the search box and press the ‘return’ key. The results are a list of sites that relate to practicing and brushing up on materials for the Accuplacer assessments. Several good sites from this search include: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/accuplacer, http://www.testprepreview.com/ and www.math.com.

You may also use the Test Practice Study Guide to try some practice questions provided as a study guide for Accuplacer (CPT) assessments.

Once you are into either of these sites, type “Accuplacer” into the site search engine and you should come up with some materials to look at.

To review for the spatial skills assessment, the Saint Paul College Library has a resource book titled: Mechanical Aptitude and Spatial Relations, by Levy and Levy (153.9LEV). A helpful chapter to review in this book is “Matching Patterns and Figures.”

How much time should I plan for taking these assessments?

Set aside at least 2½ to 3 hours for your assessment. This should give you the time you will need to complete your assessment and not feel rushed.

What will it be like taking the Accuplacer?

You’ll be taking the Accuplacer assessment on a computer. You will use either the keyboard or the mouse to enter your answers and input your answers into the computer. You will first be asked to answer basic questions about yourself (including name, address, and program choice) before starting the assessment.

When you start the assessment, you will be given clear instructions on the computer, practice questions to work through, and when you start the actual assessment, you will be presented with one question at a time. The assessments are multiple choice (except the Writing Essay), and each assessment has no more than 20 questions. These assessments are not timed so you can give each question as much thought as your wish.

There will be a Computer Lab Assistant to help you get started on the assessments and answer questions that you may have about using the computer.

Ready to take the assessments? Here’s what to do!

• Determine when you will take your assessments. Be sure to give yourself at least 2½ to 3 hours to complete this process.
• Get plenty of rest before taking the assessments and make sure that you have eaten properly.
• Bring a photo ID. You will need this for identification purposes.
• Go to Enrollment Services (Room 155) and tell staff at the desk that you wish to take the assessment. They will give you an assessment slip indicating which assessments you will be taking based upon your program of interest.
• Go to Room 324 (Assessment Center) and present your photo ID to the Computer Lab Assistant. This person will get you set up on the computer and you technical assistance as needed.

When taking your assessments remember:

• Pay close attention to the test directions. Be sure that you understand the instructions before you start!
• All materials needed for these assessments will be provided to you at the time of testing. Calculators, dictionaries or other materials are not allowed. You will be given scratch paper to use during your testing, and this will be collected when you are finished.
• If you don’t know the answer to a question, try to eliminate one or more of the choices an then answer the question.
• Once you have selected an answer and gone onto the next question, you will not be able to go back to any previous questions. However, remember, these assessments are not timed, so you can give each question as much thought as you wish before going on to the next question.
• Relax! Do the best job you can. These assessment results will help you in your college success!

What if I need an accommodation for testing?

If you need an accommodation for a disability, please contact Shai Wise, Director of Disability Services, in Enrollment Services at 651.846.1547/651.846.1548 (TTY).

How do I understanding my placement report?

An Enrollmen Services staff member can review your placement report with you. Please come to room 155 to pick up a program guide sheet and review your report.

Your assessment results are valid for two years. If it’s been more than two years since you have completed the assessment, you’ll need to retest.

Can I retest?

If you are not satisfied with the results of your assessment, you may retest one time annually but before you start any related coursework at the College. If you wish to do any additional retesting, Counselor and/or Intake Assessment Coordinator approval is required.