ACCUPLACER

ACCUPLACER Placement Testing at SC4

Students enrolling at St. Clair County Community College (SC4) are required to complete placement tests at the college or submit prior test scores before registering for English and math classes. SC4 uses the ACCUPLACER placement test. Blue Water Middle College students enroll before they have taken the SAT, and will likely need to take the ACCUPLACER to place into ENG 101 or MTH 104 or higher.

Why ACCUPLACER Matters

ACCUPLACER tests make sure you get placed in classes that are right for you, so you don’t waste time or money taking courses you don’t need. Colleges use ACCUPLACER to assess your skill levels in reading, writing, and math to determine if you’re ready to take courses that will earn you credits at that school. If you show proficiency in a subject, you won’t have to take developmental courses and can start earning credits right away that count toward a degree or certificate.

Preparing for ACCUPLACER

Like any test, the more you know about ACCUPLACER, the better you are likely to do. We recommend incoming middle college students and students retaking one of the ACCUPLACER tests spend time learning about each test and trying the practice items before taking the tests.

About the ACCUPLACER tests

Students will take the Math and WritePlacer Essay tests.

Note: Students will not take the multiple choice ACCUPLACER Writing test, so it is not necessary to practice for the Writing test. WritePlacer Essay is different than the Writing test.

ACCUPLACER Practice Website

The "Practice" section of the ACCUPLACER website provides free practice tools and resources to help you prepare to succeed on each of the ACCUPLACER tests. College Board writes and scores the ACCUPLACER tests, SAT, and PSAT. If you do not already have one, you will need to create a free College Board account to access practice resources. Many students may have made a College Board account when taking the PSAT exam.

The Student Practice page also provides free ACCUPLACER sample questions. You will see links to PDF documents that include the sample questions, the correct answer for each and a detailed explanation of why it is the correct answer. If nothing else, you should look at each Sample Question document and give them a try.

Recommended Sample Question documents for review:

Arithmetic Sample Questions
Quantitative Reasoning, Algebra and Statistics Sample Questions*
Next Generation Advanced Algebra and Functions Sample Questions*
WritePlacer Guide with Sample Essays

The other sample question documents listed are not tested at SC4.

*Do not worry if you find the sample questions in the 2nd and 3rd math documents difficult. Focus more practice and learning time on the Arithmetic sample questions. Doing well on that test can place you in a good spot at SC4.

Test taking tips:

Take your time. The tests are not timed. Do not rush through them.
Stay focused, but do not get stressed. You can retake these tests, and your spring SAT scores can also be used for course placement at SC4.

Scheduling the ACCUPLACER

Using Your SAT Scores for Placement

If you have taken the SAT exam, your English score can be used to place you into ENG 101, and your mathematics score can be used to place you into a math course at SC4.

SC4 must have your SAT scores in their system for them to be used for course placement. The middle college tries to get your SAT scores transferred to SC4, but because of SAT testing in the fall (2021) due to Covid, that process has been delayed. Students can print a copy of their score report from the College Board website and take that to the SC4 Welcome Center. The scores will then be entered into SC4’s system.

You can view what scores SC4 has for you by going to the ”Test Summary” section of your SC4 Service Center. Placement charts for the ACCUPLACER and SAT scores are linked to below.

Placement charts:

Use the following placement charts to see where your ACCUPLACER and/or SAT scores place you.

ACCUPLACER placement chart
SAT placement chart