General ACCUPLACER Testing Info

  1. Students must present a valid Student I.D. and proof of Birth Date [preferably a Driver's License].  If you are a new student and do not have a Student I.D., then you must either bring the letter from CU-Denver Admissions which has your name, student number, and PIN registration number, or you must obtain a letter from the Academic Success and Advising Center (NC 1503) which contains the equivalent information.  In any event, you must still produce a positive photo I.D. and proof of Birth Date [preferably a Driver's License].
  2. Tell the Lab Assistant which course you intend to register for.   The Assistant will fill out the form.  When you sign it, you affirm that you will not cheat while taking the ACCUPLACER.
  3. No calculators allowed.
  4. Bring a pencil.  Scratch paper will be provided.
  5. The ACCUPLACER tests are multiple-choice.  The Elementary Algebra [ELALG] ACCUPLACER has 12 questions and the College-Level Math [CLM] ACCUPLACER has 20 questions.  Allow at least 55 minutes for the ELALG ACCUPLACER and 70 minutes for the CLM ACCUPLACER.
  6. The ACCUPLACER is “adaptive”.  The first two questions are of medium difficulty.  Every time you answer a question correctly, you receive points for that question and then the next question will be slightly more difficult, but worth MORE points.  Conversely, if you answer incorrectly, the next question will be easier, but will be worth FEWER points.  If you miss more than two or three questions in a row, the point value of the easier questions will be very small and it will be nearly impossible to attain the passing score.  Thus, our best advice to you is to be VERY careful when answering the first few questions!
  7. The choice “None of these” is rarely used.  Thus, almost always, the correct answer is one of the choices.  When possible, try and substitute all of the choices back into the original problem.  There is a small penalty for using too much time on the Accuplacer, but it is neglible when compared to the points saved by checking your answers diligently!!!

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Please send comments to Mike.Kawai@cudenver.edu.

Last updated:  18 February 2007 by Mike Kawai.