Within the ESL and Math tests there are narrower-skills-focused “sub-tests.” ACT Compass ESL has separate exams for listening, reading, writing, and grammar. In contrast, the ACT Compass is a lineup of five different exams: Reading, Writing Skills (similar to the grammar and rhetoric questions on the ACT) Writing Essay, Mathematics and English as a Second Language (ESL).Įach of these exams can be taken separately from the other. The ACT itself is just one exam, with an optional writing section that can be added or left out. The ACT Compass has a significantly different format than the ACT. In this case, the student would be required to take a Compass Math placement exam and attend a remedial math course selected on the basis of the student’s ACT Compass placement score. So the university might accept the student, but ask the student to meet certain conditions in order to be accepted. Such a student is clearly doing well in most subjects, but will need some math help in order to succeed in the long run. An applicant with a 29 in English, a 30 in Reading, a 24 in science, and a 19 in Math might still be very appealing to the university. Suppose, for instance, that a university requires a minimum ACT score of 25. Typically, conditional acceptance is extended to applicants who got the minimum scores on most of the skills in their ACT or SAT, but did very poorly on one section. This kind of acceptance of low-scoring students is called conditional acceptance. Instead, universities administer the Compass to students who’ve been accepted into school in spite of having less than the minimum ACT or SAT score normally required.

Since universities do require admissions exams, they don’t make every admitted student take the Compass. To see an example of how ACT Compass scores correspond to placement in certain types of classes, check out Des Moines Community College’s Compass Score/Course Placement table here. These two-year degree institutions generally require the Compass for all students after they’ve applied and been accepted. Since they accept students regardless of academic ability, community colleges need to determine the level of each student in order to place students in their appropriate classes. Since remedial courses are taught below the college level, they do not count as course credit toward your major or toward graduation.Ĭommunity colleges typically do not require actual admissions exams, they will accept any applicant who is interested in attending. Remedial courses help you improve academic skills that you’re weak in. Instead, the Compass exam is a placement exam.īeing a placement exam, your ACT Compass scores determine whether you will be able to take regular course-credit classes in all subjects right away, or will need to take some remedial courses.

By this I mean that the Compass does not determine whether or not you get into a school. If you need to prepare for the ACT Compass, it’s important to understand that the Compass is not an admissions exam like the ACT. This exam is called the ACT Compass and for years it has been used to test the level of community college students, and sometimes university students as well. However, the ACT also administers a placement exam for students who have already been admitted to colleges and universities.

The most well-known ACT test is (of course) the ACT, which is commonly used as an admission test for four-year universities. That being said, ACT Compass will remain an important exam for colleges and universities for the next twelve months and may be replaced by a similar exam in the future. By David Recine on Febru, UPDATED ON September 1, 2018, in ACTĭue to a decline in popularity, ACT phased out its Compass exam at the end of 2016.

Compass math practice