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COMPASS®

Year Introduced

1992

Intended Users

College and university students and course placement/advising personnel

Purpose/Description

COMPASS is a computer- or Internet-delivered adaptive test that evaluates students' skill levels for placement in postsecondary institutions. Five subject areas are measured: reading, writing skills, writing essay, mathematics, and English as a second language.

Volume/Number of Users

Annually, more than 1,300 postsecondary institutions and more than 2.5 million students currently use COMPASS or COMPASS/ESL.

Additional Facts

  • The score range for COMPASS tests is 0 to 100, with 0 being the lowest score and 100 the highest.
  • COMPASS tests are untimed and designed for individual or group administration.
  • COMPASS software provides immediate scoring on the exams.
  • COMPASS offers customization of test packages, cutoff scores, and placement messages specific to each institution.
  • High school outreach for early intervention and dual-enrollment programs in feeder high schools is included in the program.
  • The program provides for remote testing to meet the assessment needs of students anywhere in the country.

COMPASS tests include:

  • Reading Placement - a multiple-choice test that helps determine if your students have the reading skills they need to succeed in standard entry-level college courses.
  • Writing Skills Placement - a multiple-choice test that requires students to find and correct errors in essays, including basic grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and rhetorical skills.
  • Writing Essay (e-Write) - e-Write can be used alone or in conjunction with the Writing Skills Test to place students in appropriate English courses.
  • Mathematics Placement - a multiple-choice test that evaluates students' ability levels in terms of basic mathematical performance and application skills such as demonstrating conceptual understanding of principles and relationships for mathematical operations.
  • English as a Second Language (ESL) -Tests assessing non-native English speakers' abilities in four areas—Listening, Reading, Grammar/Usage for placement in appropriate ESL courses.

The College Readiness Benchmarks for COMPASS are designed to be comparable to the College Readiness Benchmarks for the ACT® test. As with the benchmarks for the ACT, COMPASS benchmarks might not serve as the appropriate course placement score at all colleges. Rather, the COMPASS benchmarks represent a criterion for success for a typical student at a typical college. ACT will work with any particular postsecondary institution to conduct its own validation studies to establish local benchmarks that can be used as college course placement scores.