ThelmaLou Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 As far as standardized testing, ds has only ever taken IOWA and PSAT. His selection index on the PSAT was 168, and he was in the 93rd percentile for reading, 78th for math, and 90th for writing (no test prep). He'll be a junior this year. Just how easy/tough is the Compass test? (We live in TX, if that matters...don't know if all states have the same test.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwen in VA Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Great question! My dd2 is off to take the test in the morning, so I'll have a better answer by noon! :tongue_smilie: Seriously, your son should do fine. At least in my area all kinds of homeschooled kids of widely varying abilities pass it and go on to take dual-enrollment classes at the local CC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThelmaLou Posted April 2, 2012 Author Share Posted April 2, 2012 Great question! My dd2 is off to take the test in the morning, so I'll have a better answer by noon! :tongue_smilie: Seriously, your son should do fine. At least in my area all kinds of homeschooled kids of widely varying abilities pass it and go on to take dual-enrollment classes at the local CC. Keep me posted! Ds will go tomorrow to take his test. Keeping my fingers crossed for your daughter, too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jann in TX Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 This test is taken on the computer. The math portion moves from easy to hard. If you make silly mistakes on the Pre-Algebra it will NOT let you progress to the Algebra problems!!! Make sure to do a quick review of fractions and percents tonight. -- Also the English editing is a bit unusual. My dds used englishgrammar101.com for review-- it is FREE. (We used this as the 'grammar' portion of their Jr and Sr year English credit). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwen in VA Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Our community college no longer uses the Compass test but as of last year has apparently switched to something called the Virginia Placement Test. ??? The math VPT took much longer than I expected. The results -- dd2 is only 25% of the way through her algebra 2 text but placed into pre-calculus, only getting one wrong on the entire test. She won't be taking math at the CC, but she feels pretty good about that result! Unfortunately, she ran out of time (we forgot to allow over an hour for waiting and a half-hour to fill out forms.....). We need to go back on Wednesday so she can take the reading and writing placement tests. Since she just wants to sign up for a U. S. history class, I'm still not quite sure why she had to do the complete placement test -- you would think she could have just done the reading and writing parts and skipped the math. Oh well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThelmaLou Posted April 2, 2012 Author Share Posted April 2, 2012 Congrats on your daughter's results. My son wants to take some science courses, and I think doing well on the math portion will be important for him. He's currently doing Algebra II, and is about 2/3 of the way through the text. He's not exactly an amazing math student, though. We'll see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nan in Mass Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 Gwen - My non-mathy middle one who in general tests badly had exactly the same math results with the Accuplacer exam - placing into precalc when only a little way into the algebra II text. We even had to go back to finish the exam because it took longer than I had planned. LOL. And the mathy fell just short of placing out of precalc 1 before having had any precalc. Obviously, one needs to take the math placement, at least, with a grain of salt. Something for the original poster to keep in mind... Nan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwen in VA Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 Obviously, one needs to take the math placement, at least, with a grain of salt. My feelings exactly! I'm not ready to have her skip 75% of algebra 2!!! But I do wonder about the questions on the exam -- how do the exam results end up so odd? I ran out of reading material today. When we go back so dd can do the reading and writing, I'll bring the fattest novel I can find! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nan in Mass Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 My feelings exactly! I'm not ready to have her skip 75% of algebra 2!!! But I do wonder about the questions on the exam -- how do the exam results end up so odd? I ran out of reading material today. When we go back so dd can do the reading and writing, I'll bring the fattest novel I can find! I asked the engineering department head about this. She said that the results would be more accurate if one told one's student to skip any questions that deal with things they haven't covered. I think the tests work by asking about a few key subjects from each semester and assuming that if the student knows those, he or she also remembers how to do all the rest of the things normally covered in that semester as well. The Accuplacer exam is multiple choice, so one can use logic to eliminate some of the wilder answers and be lucky enough guessing among the rest to simulate remembering a reasonable portion of one's textbook. That is just my guess, though. The second time my youngest took the math test (at the point when we wanted him to switch to doing his math at the cc), I told him only to answer the questions that dealt with material he had covered, and not to guess at all answering those; the results were much more accurate. Perhaps community college dropout rates would be lower if this were included in the directions... I discovered that I could wait for my sons at the library - warm, sunny, armchairs and lots of books and magazines - a big improvement on a hard plastic chair in an interior passage. Nan Nan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 I told him only to answer the questions that dealt with material he had covered, and not to guess at all answering those; the results were much more accurate. Perhaps community college dropout rates would be lower if this were included in the directions... In the lower-level math courses (in effect algebra I & II), we always make an announcement on the first night of class that there's an exemption exam if a student thinks they know the material covered in the course. They can take it in the first 3 days of class and if they pass, move on to the next class. Similarly, there are earlier classes and just because a student is placed in course, it doesn't mean they can't go back to an earlier course. I've had a number of students move to a different class in the first days. I see much better placement with the COMPASS than at a prior school where students were placed on the basis of their SAT scores. That was dreadful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara H Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 As far as standardized testing, ds has only ever taken IOWA and PSAT. His selection index on the PSAT was 168, and he was in the 93rd percentile for reading, 78th for math, and 90th for writing (no test prep). He'll be a junior this year. Just how easy/tough is the Compass test? (We live in TX, if that matters...don't know if all states have the same test.) Those are very solid PSAT scores. I would not expect he'd have any difficulty with the Compass. Here are some sample questions: http://www.act.org/compass/sample/index.html If he wants to do just a tiny bit of prep it may be worthwhile to look at the sample writing prompt and give that a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThelmaLou Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 (edited) Well, ds passed everything with flying colors. He didn't do amazingly well on the math, but I didn't expect him to. The language portion was a breeze for him, as was the writing sample. He scored very high on both. In any event, he's cleared for taking the courses I want him to take this summer. Yay!! I feel much better now. Edited April 6, 2012 by ThelmaLou Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwen in VA Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 Congratulations! That's wonderful! My dd passed the reading and writing with perfect scores -- I guess she is qualified for the U.S. history course! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.