ENGLISH PLACEMENT TEST

MEDICAL EDUCATION CAMPUS

TESTING CENTER

Northern Virginia Community College requires a specific skill level for entry into the English Composition Course (ENG 111). An interactive computer generated test called COMPASS, developed by American College Testing will determine the skill level.

This test is not timed and each part begins with instructions to help familiarize you with the format of the test and the use of the keyboard and mouse.

Do not double click, you may send in a blank response and lose points.

GUIDELINES

TO TAKE an english PLACEMENT TEST

· FIRST, APPLY FOR ADMISSION to NVCC

· Arrive 2 hours before closing

· BRING A VALID PICTURE ID

· HAVE YOUR STUDENT ID NUMBER (EMPLID #)

english SCORES ARE VALID FOR 3 YEARs

COMPASS engLISH MAY BE TAKEN once EVERY year

The Compass English Placement Test is divided into two parts: Reading & Writing.

PART 1: Reading TEST

A reading test passage and questions will appear like the figure above on the computer screen. Use the “More” buttons on the left to move toward the beginning or the end of the passage. The numbered boxes in the lower right of the screen correspond to the number of questions associated with the current passage. Click on the first box to see the question number one. Once you have read the passage and are ready to answer the question, click on one of the left small squares of your choice. A green checkmark will appear in the box number one indicating you have answered that question. Click on another box and follow the same steps to answer the question. Be sure to click on all boxes in order to respond to all relevant test questions. A reading test passage may have different number of questions. After answering and reviewing all the questions, click on the “Go On” button to proceed to the next computer-selected passage and its associated questions.

ENGLISH READING SECTION

SAMPLE PASSAGES

I. When I’m in New York but feeling lonely for Wyoming I look for the Western movie ads in the subway. But the men I see in those posters with their stern, humorless looks remind me of no one I know in the West. In our earnestness to romanticize the cowboy we’ve ironically disesteemed his true character. If he’s “strong and silent” it’s because there’s probably no one to talk to. If he “rides away into the sunset” it’s because he’s been on horseback since four in the morning moving cattle and he’s trying, fifteen hours later, to get home to his family. If he’s “a rugged individualist” he’s also part of a team: ranch work is teamwork and even the glorified open-range cowboys of the 1880s rode up and down the Chisholm Trail in the company of twenty or thirty other riders. It’s not toughness but “toughing it out” that counts. In other words, this macho, cultural artifact the cowboy has become is simply a man who possesses resilience, patience, and an instinct for survival. “Cowboys are just like a pile of rocks – everything happens to them. They get climbed on, kicked, rained and snowed on, scuffed up by the wind. Their job is ‘just to take it,’” one old-timer told me.

Adapted from Gretel Ehrlich, The Solace of Open Spaces. ©1985 by Gretel Ehrlich

(Referring)

1. According to the passage, cowboys are probably “strong and silent” because:

A. Their work leaves them no time for conversation.

B. They have been cautioned not to complain.

C. They are stern and humorless.

D. There is no one nearby to listen to them.

E. Their work makes them too tired to talk.

(Reasoning)

2. For which of the following statements does the passage give apparently contradictory evidence?

A. The cowboy’s work takes endurance.

B. Cowboys work alone.

C. Cowboys are adequately paid.

D. The cowboy’s image has become romanticized in American culture.

E. Cowboys think of themselves as humorless.

II. Regular tune-ups of your heating system will cut heating costs and will most likely increase the lifetime and safety of the system. When a service technician performs a tune-up, he or she should test the efficiency of your heating system. The technician should measure the efficiency of your system both before and after servicing it and provide you with a copy of the results. Combustion efficiency is determined, based on some of the following tests:

1) temperature of the fuel (or chimney);
2) percent carbon dioxide or percent oxygen in the atmosphere;
3) presence of carbon monoxide in the atmosphere; and
4) draft
Incomplete combustion of fuel is the main contributor to low efficiency. If the technician cannot raise the combustion efficiency up

to a least 75% after tuning your heating system, you should consider installing a new system or at least modifying your present system to increase its efficiency.

Adapted from Alex Wilson and John Morrill, Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings. Copy write 1993 by the American

Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

(Reasoning)

1. The passage suggests that the presence of carbon monoxide in the atmosphere:

A. can provide information regarding combustion efficiency.

B. is found in 75% of heating systems tested.

C. can be reduced by decreasing heating system draft.

D. is the main cause of low efficiency in heating systems.

E. is more reliable than flue temperature as an indicator of combustion efficiency.

(Referring)

2. According to the passage, when performing a tune-up of a heating system, the service technician should:

A. Ensure that the combustion efficiency is at least 75%.

B. Modify the heating system before initially measuring efficiency.

C. Measure combustion efficiency both before and after servicing the system.

D. Provide his or her supervisor with a written report of the system’s efficiency.

ANSWERS:

Passage I: 1. D 2. B

Passage II: 1. A 2. C

part 2: Writing Test

The figure above shows a sample essay of the Writing Skills section of the English Placement Test and illustrates how it would appear on the computer screen. Click on each sentence of the essay. After you click, the sentence is highlighted in yellow, and five revision choices are shown in the right half of the screen. If you find errors on the sentence, select the revision choice that best fixes them. Choice A is a duplicate of the highlighted section. Click on the small square next to your choice and then go back to the essay and click on the next section. Don’t skip any sentence. Continue in this fashion until all errors in the essay have been corrected. There could be 10 to 25 errors in the essay you are working on. Once you think you have found all the errors, review carefully the essay, back and forth for the last time. After that, click on the “Finished editing essay” button.

Once you click on the “Finished editing essay button” NO changes can be made

After you have finished editing, another screen will come up which has questions that address strategy, organization, and style related to the essay you just edited. Numbered boxes below the question field indicate how many questions you will need to answer. When you have answered all the related questions, click on the “Go On” button to move to the next computer-selected essay.

ENGLISH WRITING SECTION

SAMPLE ESSAY

The essay below contains the same number and types of errors that an actual Writing Skills Test would contain; however, for demonstration purposes, only three of the segments below have been selected for correction. These segments are indicated by bold type, and the corrections associated with them are shown below and on the next page. (Note: There are additional errors in this essay that are not shown in bold type that in an actual testing situation you would need to respond to. You should try to find and correct these.)

1. An increasing number of lakes and rivers in the northern United States
2. invaded are being by a mussel no larger than a fingernail
3. The zebra mussel probably steamed aboard a transatlantic ship sometimes
4. in the mid-1980’s from the Caspian Sea into U.S. waters. Despite its growth was
5. explosive, partly because the species was preyed upon by very few native
6. predators in its new environment. As a consequence, the zebra mussel did
7. find a plentiful food supply. They eat huge amounts of phytoplankton, which
8. tiny free-floating sea organisms that dwell in water. Scientists are concerned
9. when the mussels may compete aggressively with other species that depend on
10. the same food supply.
11. Others concerned by the invading species are industry, public utilities, and
12. boat owners. Zebra mussels cluster in huge colonies, being anchored
13. themselves to any hard surface. These colonies can clog your water intake
14. pipes of electric and water treatment plants. Fishery specialists are currently
15. casting about and baiting their hooks to gun down control methods that will
16. cause the least amount of damage to water supplies and other aquatic species.
17. Two of the alternatives exploring are interrupting the species reproductive cyclo
18. and finding a bacterium harmful only to zebra mussels.

----------------------------------------End of Essay----------------------------------------

Segment 1: (Basic Grammar and Usage: Ensuring Grammatical Agreement)

A. An increasing number of lakes and rivers

B. An increasingly number of lakes and rivers

C. A number increasing of lakes and rivers

D. A number increasingly of lakes and river

E. An increasing of lakes and rivers

Segment 2: (Style: Avoiding Redundancy)

A. was preyed upon by very few native predators in its new environment.

B. found very few predators in its new environment.

C. found very few native predators and was seldom eaten in its new environment.

D. was preyed on by very few native predator species in its new environment.

F. was seldom eaten or preyed on by native predator species in its new environment

Segment 3: (Sentence Structure: Relating Clauses)

A. Scientists are concerned when the mussels

B. Scientists are concerned that if the mussels

C. Scientists are concerned wherein the mussels

D. Scientists are concerned that the mussels

E. Scientists are concerned as if the mussels

ANSWERS:

Segment 1: A

Segment 2: B

Segment 3: D

The next question is a sample of one you would see when you have finished editing the essay.

Strategy: (Making Decisions about Cohesive Devices)

1. The writer wishes to add a sentence at the end of Paragraph 1 that will serve as a transition between Paragraphs 1 and 2 and will establish the main focus of the essay. Which of the following sentences most effectively fulfills that purpose?

A. The zebra mussel will provide a difficult challenge for public utility managers.

B. The zebra mussel is only the latest in a series of newly introduced species to thrive in the U.S.

C. No one knows how far south and west the zebra mussel is likely to spread, but scientists think they may be on the trail of important clues.

D. Although small in size, the zebra mussel may become a huge problem for pleasure boat owners in North American waterways.

E. Despite its size, however, the zebra mussel may have a dramatic effect on North American waterways.

ANSWER:

Question 1: E

DID YOU FIND THESE ADDITIONAL ERRORS?

Line 2. ‘invaded are being’

Line 4-5. ‘Despite its growth was explosive’

Line 6-7. ‘the zebra mussels did find’

Line 7-8. ‘which tiny free-floating sea organisms’

Line 12-13. ‘being anchored themselves’

Line 13. ‘these colonies can clog your water’

Line 14-15. ‘are currently casting about and baiting their hooks to gun down

control’

Line 17. ‘Two of the alternative exploring are’

CAN YOU MAKE THE NECESSARY CORRECTIONS?