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:
- 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.
- You are not allowed to use any notebooks or books during the tests but scrap paper will be provided, if needed.
- Personal belongings will need to be stored in a locker or left in your vehicle.
- You will be asked to sign the Placement Testing Agreement at the time you begin your first assessment.
