Compass Sample Items:

Mathematics Skills Section

Depending on your high school math background, you will start the mathematics portion of the COMPASS test at either Prealgebra, Algebra, College Algebra or Trigonometry.

This section of the assessment includes questions in five content areas:

I.   Numerical Skills/Prealgebra
II.  Algebra
III. College Algebra
IV. Geometry
V.  Trigonometry

You may not be presented with questions from all of these areas. The test adapts to your performance. It will present you with higher level questions if you're doing well or will move you down to lower level questions if your answers have not been correct.

1. Numerical Skills/Prealgebra primary content areas:

Basic operations with integers, fractions and decimals
Exponents
Ratios and proportions
Percentages
Averages

Algebra primary content areas:

Substituting values in algebraic equations
Setting up equations for given situations
Basic operations with polynomials
Factoring polynomials
Linear equations in one and two variables
Rational expressions
Exponents

                           ___ ___       ___
In the figure below, AB, CD, and EFare parallel, and PQ intersects all 3 lines at points R, S, and T, respectively. If the measure of ÐQTF is 33%. what is the measure of ÐPRB ?

A. 33
B. 57
C. 66
D. 123
E. 147

(Triangles)

                            __   __
In DMPB below, LA | MB. If PL/LM = 5/3 then PB/PA =?

A. 5/8
B. 2/3
C. 8/5
D. 5/3
E. 8/3

Trigonometry Placement Test

Content Areas

Trigonometric functions and identities
Right-triangle trigonometry
Trigonometric equations & inequalities
Graphs of trigonometric functions
Special angles (multiples of 30 and 45 degrees)
Polar coordinates

Which of the following is equivalent to

1 - cos² 0 / cos² 0 ?

A. sec² 0
B. (csc² 0) - 1
C. tan² 0
D. sin² 0
E. - 1 / sin² 0

A. 45 / sin 27 º
B. 45 / tan 27 º
C. 45 sin 27 º
D. 45 cos 27 º
E. 45 tan 27 º

Reading Placement Test
Sample Passage 1-Humanities

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.

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.

A. a bus route through town.
B. an underground train.
C. a pedestrian right-of-way.
D. an exit ramp.
E. a bicycle path.

Sample Passage 2-Practical Reading

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 indirectly, based on some of the following tests: 1) temperature of the flue (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 ai least 75% after tuning your healing 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. 1993 by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

Reasoning

A. heating system is losing efficiency due to incomplete combustion.
B. heating system only needs minor repans and will most likely function for a number of years.
C. temperature of the flue will be lower than expected.
D. heating system cannot be repaired and must be replaced.
E. costs for running the heating system will decrease.

A. ensure that the combustion efficiency is at least 25%.
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.
E. ignore the age of the heating system.

A. fueling.
B. charging.
C. spinning.
D. burning.
E. cooling.

You will be presented with an essay similar to the one below and asked to look for errors in grammar, punctuation, usage, and style. If you find what you believe to be an error, choose the more appropriate option for revising that area of the test. Note that the first option of each example is always identical to the original wording in the text, and thus represents NO CHANGE.

(THE ESSAY SEGMENTS IN BOLD WERE ELECTED FOR REVISION.)

An increasing number of lakes and rivers in the Northern United States invaded are being by a mussel no larger that a fingernail.

The zebra mussel probably steamed aboard a transatlantic ship sometime in the mid-1980s from the Caspian Sea into U.S. waters. Despite its growth was explosive, partly because the species was preyed upon by very few native predators in its new environment. As a consequence, the zebra mussels did find a plentiful food supply. They eat huge amounts of phytoplankton, whick time free-floating sea organisms that dwell in water. Scientists are concerned when the mussels may compete aggressively with other species that depend in the same food supply.

Othes concerned by the invading species are industry, public utilities, and boat owners. Zebra mussels cluster in huge colonies, being anchored themselves to any hard surface. These colonies can clog your water intake pipes of electric and water treatment plants. Fishery specialists are currently casting about and baiting their hooks to gun down control methods that will cause the lowest amount of damage to water supplies and other aquatic species. Two of the other alternatives exploring are interrupting the species reproductive cycle and finding a bacterium harmful only to zebra mussels.

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 rivers
E. An increasing of lakes and rivers

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

A. Scientists are concerned when the mussels
B. Scientists are concerned that if die mussels
C. Scientists are concerned where in the mussels
D. Scientists are concerned that the mussels
E. Scientists are concerned as if the mussels

Example 4

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

Answers to Sample Items

Numerical Skills/Prealgebra Placement Test
1. C
2. C
3. A
4. B

Algebra Placement Test
1. D
2. D
3. B
4. A
5. E

College Algebra Placement Test
1.A
2.E

Geometry Placement Test
1. E
2. C

Trigonometry Placement Test
1. C
2. E

Reading Placement Test: Sample Passage 1- Humanities
1.D
2.B
3.B

Reading Placement Test: Sample Passage 1- Pratical Reading
1. A
2. C
3. D

Writing Skill Placement Test
1.A
2.B
3.D
4.E