Amy in TX Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Dd took the Compass test in January and scored extremely high on the verbal sections and is allowed to take any English, language, or history classes at our local CC. But she scored extremely low on the math portion, I think because of the nature of the test, which stops as soon as a question is missed. I want her to take her higher math (precalc and calc) and her lab sciences (chem and physics) at CC, but I'm afraid small errors will derail the math test when she takes it again. What's the best way to prepare for the Compass math test? I want her to take it again at the end of the school year (late May), and be able to start precalc and chemistry next fall. There is a website with sample Compass problems that she is already using, but does anyone have a "plan of attack," or specific texts that they have used to prepare for this? Thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Does the test really stop after the first question is missed? That seems harsh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in TX Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 I believe the questions get easier whenever a question is missed. She said the math portion was over very quickly, and the resulting score didn't even place her into pre-algebra. So she didn't even get to algebra questions, presumably. She must have flubbed several arithmetic/pre-alg type questions and the test stopped. She's always been somewhat of a poor tester, making "silly" mistakes that lower her score. This is my fear--that although she's always been a B student in math (Alg 1, Geometry, Alg II), she'll flub enough early questions to stop the test before she gets to the higher stuff. If worst comes to worst, we can do the higher math at home, but I really need her to be able to take her lab sciences at CC, which she can't do without a good Compass score. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 The Compass practice questions seemed pretty straightforward. I'm not aware of any study guides specifically for the Compass. Maybe you could get a copy of Lial's Basic Math and Lial's Introductory Algebra and try some test questions (or chapter review questions) to see how she does, then go back and work on the sections that need review. These books can be obtained fairly cheaply on Amazon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 The same thing happened to my dd. She flubbed the early questions so they didn't even let her attempt the higher level problems. We took a couple of weeks and reviewed fractions, decimals, percents, and stuff using Life of Fred, and then she retook the test. I guess she just needed some brushing up on her arithmetic ,because the second time she scored right where I expected her to score. It's weird, though, because you'd think they'd let the student take the whole test and let it show where their weak areas are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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