Class & Placement Testing

Franklin University has established the following placement testing procedures that must be followed while taking assessments:

1. On the day of the assessment, you should be sure to take a valid, government-issued photo ID. This can be a driver’s license, passport, state ID, or military ID.
2. Notebooks or books are not permitted during the tests. Scrap paper will be provided if needed.
3. Personal belongings must be stored in a locker or left in your vehicle. (Calculators are embedded in the software for math exams.)
4. You will be asked to sign the Placement Testing Agreement when you begin your first assessment.

Who Takes These Tests 

New degree-seeking students are normally required to take Franklin University placement tests in reading, writing, and math. Results of these tests determine the required preparatory and developmental education courses that are most appropriate for each individual. These courses are usually the first courses of enrollment because they are designed to help students succeed by strengthening academic skills and self-confidence. Transfer students may have certain tests waived due to previous course credit at another institution. Additionally, students who have taken the ACT may not have to take certain placement tests. Academic Advisors and Admissions Advisors will advise students on the placement tests required, ways to prepare for tests, and appeal procedures.

Reading and Writing,  No time limit

The computer-based reading comprehension and writing placement assessments are administered simultaneously, through Accuplacer, to determine placement in English (ENG) and Communication (COMM) courses. During your first attempt, you will take both portions. It is possible to retake only one portion based on scores.

Next-Generation Reading assesses the test-taker’s ability to derive meaning from a range of texts and to determine the meaning of words and phrases in short and extended contexts. Passages on the test cover a range of content areas, writing modes, and complexities. Both single and paired passages are included. Four broad knowledge and skills categories are assessed:

• Information and Ideas
• Rhetoric
• Synthesis
• Vocabulary

Next-Generation Writing evaluates a test-taker’s ability to revise and edit multi-paragraph text. Questions cover two broad knowledge and skills categories, each containing three subcategories:

Expression of Ideas

• Development
• Organization
• Effective Language Use

 Standard English Conventions

• Sentence Structure
• Usage
• Punctuation

Math

Re-Entry Math  No time limit, multiple choice

Next-Generation Arithmetic focuses on computation, order of operations, estimation and rounding, comparing and ordering values in different formats, and recognizing equivalent values across formats. The following knowledge and skills categories are assessed:

• Whole Number Operations
• Fraction Operations
• Decimal Operations
• Percent
• Number Comparisons and Equivalents

FUNDAMENTAL ALGEBRA  No time limit, multiple choice

Next-Generation Advanced Algebra and Functions (AAF) assesses the following knowledge and skills: 

• Linear Equations
• Linear Applications and Graphs
• Factoring
• Quadratics
• Functions
• Radical and Rational Equations
• Polynomial Equations
• Exponential and Logarithmic Equations
• Trigonometry 

*Calculator use: There are both no-calculator and calculator questions.

No-calculator questions: These questions assess fluency in rational number arithmetic and include conceptual questions for which a calculator is not needed. They should help assure postsecondary instructors that students who earn high scores on the next-generation ACCUPLACER Math placement tests do not lack the ability to perform calculations manually.

Calculator questions: Questions with calculator options give insight into students’ capacity for strategic use of the tool to address problems efficiently. If a question is configured to allow for the use of a calculator on computer-based tests, the calculator icon will present in the top right corner of the screen. For questions that are configured for multiple calculators, clicking on the icon will provide the student with a drop-down menu that could include two or three of the following: – Basic calculator, or four-function calculator – Square root calculator, or four-function calculator with square root button – Graphing calculator, or TI-84 graphing calculator.

Scores and Interpretation

It is important that students answer each question to the best of their ability. Scores will be used in part to determine course placement. Failure to do one’s best may result in course placements that are inaccurate for a student’s skill level.   

Students will learn the scores of their placement assessments upon completion of each exam.  These scores will be made available to your Admissions Advisor or Academic Advisor. Students will be charged $15 per test re-take. Subsequent test retakes will be considered after a three month waiting period.

Placement Assessment Availability

The Learning Commons Testing Center, located in Frasch Hall, offers placement testing by appointment only. Please email the Testing Center to begin the process: testing@franklin.edu. Please visit our website for the most up-to-date hours and contact information.

Who Takes Placement Assessments

New degree-seeking students are normally required to take Franklin University placement tests in reading, writing, math and computer literacy. Any student for whom English is not their primary language will be required to take English as a Second Language placement tests. Results of these tests determine the required preparatory and developmental education courses that are most appropriate for each individual. These courses are usually the first courses of enrollment because they are designed to help students succeed by strengthening academic skills and self-confidence. Transfer students may have certain tests waived due to previous course credit at another institution. Additionally, students who have taken the ACT may not have to take certain placement tests. Admissions or Academic Advisor will advise students on the placement tests required, ways to prepare for tests, and appeal procedures. Students are not eligible to take a placement test for a course in which they have received a "W" or failing grade, or if it is during or after the second week of the session during which they are enrolled in the course. 

Test Descriptions

The ACCUPLACER English-As-A-Second Language (ESL) tests are computer-adaptive tests intended for use in placing non-native speakers of English into ESL courses. ACCUPLACER ESL tests are ESL Reading Skills, ESL Language Use, ESL Sentence Meaning, ESL Listening, and WritePlacer ESL. 

ESL READING SKILLS, No time limit, 20 questions, multiple choice The ESL Reading Skills test measures a student’s ability to read English. Specifically, it assesses students’ comprehension of short passages. The test contains brief passages of 50 words or less and moderate length passages of 50 to 90 words. Reading passages are drawn from five content areas: (1 Science, (2 History/Social Science, (3 Arts/Humanities, (4 Narrative, (5 Psychology/Human Relations, and (6 Practical Situations. Half of this test contains straightforward comprehension items (paraphrase, locating information, vocabulary on a phrase level, and pronoun reference). The other half assesses inference skills (main idea, fact vs. opinion, cause/effect logic, identifying irrelevant information, author's point of view, and applying the author's logic to another situation). 

ESL SENTENCE MEANING No time limit, 20 questions, multiple choice The ESL Sentence Meaning test measures how well students understand the meaning of sentences in English. It assesses the understanding of word meanings in one- or two-sentence contexts. The sentences are drawn from the content areas of natural science, history/social studies, arts/humanities, psychology/ human relations, and practical situations. There are four content areas measured: (1 Particles, Phrasal Verbs, and Prepositions; (2 Adverbs, Adjectives, Connectives Sequence, (3 Basic Nouns and Verbs, and (4 Basic and Important Idioms. 

ESL LISTENING No time limit, 20 questions, multiple choice ESL Listening is a direct measure of the listening skills of non-native English speaking students. The test measures the ability to listen to and understand one or more people speaking in English. The conversations take place in academic environments such as lecture halls, study sessions, a computer lab, the library, and the gymnasium; and in everyday environments such as at home, shopping, at a restaurant, at a dentist’s office, listening to the radio, reading the newspaper, and performing tasks at work. While looking at pictures of the speakers, the student listens to a conversation or lecture. The question is then read followed by the four answer choices. Students can click on the appropriate Play button to replay the conversation, the question, or any of the answer choices. Each of these can be heard only two more times after the initial reading. 

ESL WRITEPLACER 60 minutes, presented with a prompt and asked to write an essay of 300 to 600 words. The essay will be given a holistic score that represents how clearly and effectively you expressed your position. The following four characteristics of writing will be considered. Word Use—The extent to which you are able to use a wide range of words and phrases accurately. Sentence Use—The extent to which you are able to use a variety of sentence patterns with both independent and dependent clauses. Grammar—The extent to which you are able to express ideas using grammatically correct English. Organization and Development—The extent to which you are able to focus on the assigned topic and to develop ideas clearly.

Scores and Interpretation

It is important that students answer each question to the best of their ability. Scores will be used in part to determine course placement. Failure to do one’s best may result in course placements that are inaccurate for a student’s skill level. Students will learn the scores of their placement upon completion of each exam. These scores will be made available to your admissions advisor or academic advisor. Students may appeal placement for any test if they have reason to believe that a placement test did not give an accurate assessment of their skills. To appeal the results of these tests, students will need to request permission to complete a “re-take” assessment which will cover the same material but will not be identical to the original placement assessment. If permission by the admissions advisor or academic advisor is granted, there is a one-week waiting period between the original and re-take placement test to allow students to review the placement study guides before re-testing. Students will be charged $15 per test re-take. Subsequent test retakes will be considered after a three month waiting period. 

Taking the Assessments

Franklin University has established procedures that must be followed while taking the placement assessments. They are as follows: 

1. On the day of the assessment, you should be sure to take a valid, government-issued photo ID. This can be a driver’s license, passport, state ID, or military ID. 
2. You are not allowed to use any notebooks or books during the tests but scrap paper will be provided, if needed. 
3. Personal belongings will need to be stored in a locker or left in your vehicle. 
4. You will be asked to sign the Placement Testing Agreement at the time you begin your first assessment. 
    

General Prep Items 

Accuplacer Study App: This free study app, provided by Accuplacer, will walk you through portions of the placement tests while providing explanations for answers. You will need to create an account once you click on the link to begin. Please select "Next Generation" for Reading, Writing and/or Math tests.

Free Accuplacer Practice Resources: Prepare for your test with practice tests, sample questions (including ESL tests with essays), and additional skill building resources.

• Sample Questions