ALEKS math placement test (ALEKS PPL)

Up to 30 questions chosen one at a time from your earlier answers, across the math colleges teach from arithmetic up to precalculus. McGraw Hill describes the placement assessment as open response and adaptive, placing students from basic math through calculus; college pages put the maximum at 30 questions.

Everything from fractions to trigonometry, because one test has to place students anywhere from a developmental course to Calculus I. McGraw Hill’s published topic list starts with whole numbers, fractions, decimals, perimeter and area, then moves through signed numbers, linear equations and inequalities, relations and functions, exponents and factoring, systems of equations and polynomials. The upper end, which decides placement into precalculus and calculus, is the four areas below.

Like the four below: one from each upper area, with the working. On the real test there are no answer options, so the trap answers listed here are what you would have typed if you made the slip. Cover the options and solve on paper first; that is the habit ALEKS rewards.

It is an online course built from your own result: after the placement assessment, ALEKS opens a study path through exactly the topics it thinks you have not mastered, and you can reassess afterwards. McGraw Hill sells it as part of ALEKS PPL (source).

Many colleges make module time a condition of a retake. Kennesaw State, for example, asks for at least 5 hours in the learning modules after each attempt and 48 hours between attempts (Kennesaw State); Bradley asks students to work in the modules for a set time before each placement assessment (Bradley FAQ). Module progress itself does not count toward placement: only the next assessment score does.

Usually up to three placement attempts after the first, with your highest score counting, but the rules are your college’s, so check its page. Three examples:

The one that opens the course your major needs. Across the colleges we checked, the same lines recur: about 46 for College Algebra, 61 for Precalculus and 76 for Calculus I. The ALEKS scores page lists each college’s cut-offs with a link to its own page.

Not harder in content, but less forgiving, because you cannot guess. ACCUPLACER, the TSIA2 and the PERT are multiple choice, so eliminating two options helps; ALEKS gives you a blank box, so a half-remembered rule earns nothing. The math is the same college algebra to precalculus range. If your college offers a choice, practise for the one it uses: ACCUPLACER is College Board’s test used nationally, the TSI is required in Texas and the PERT in Florida.

Take one honest practice set, fix the area that cost you most, then take the real assessment rested and without notes. Here is the order that works:

• Sit the free ALEKS-style practice test without a calculator. Write each answer before you look at the options.
• Read the working for every miss and note which of the four areas it came from. Most students lose the most on exponentials and logs or trigonometry, the topics furthest from high school.
• Review those areas until you can solve them with no options in front of you, then take a fresh set: every set is new.
• Take the first ALEKS attempt seriously. It is often the one colleges use for advice, and a low first score can mean module hours before you are allowed to retake.
• If your score is just under a cut-off, use the Prep and Learning Module for the hours your college requires, then reassess. A few points can be a whole semester.