English Placement Exam
English Placement Exam Policy
The English placement exam is used to determine the best level at which to begin studying composition at IU South Bend. Students taking the exam are placed as follows:
Level |
Composition course in which to enroll |
| 20 | English W031 – Pre-Composition (does not count for college credit and is graded satisfactory/fail) |
| 30 | English W130 – Principles of Composition (graded course, counts as elective credit) |
| 40 | English W131 – Elementary Composition (graded course, required for all majors at IU South Bend) |
The following criteria also applies:
Student did not take the SAT or their score is more than three years old:
English placement exam requiredStudent took the SAT within the last three years:
If the combined score on the Critical Reading and Writing sections is equal to or less than 950, the English placement exam is required.
If the combined score on the Critical Reading and Writing sections is equal to or greater than 960, the English placement exam is highly encouraged, especially for students who wish to place directly into English W131.
OR
Student may opt for automatic placement at Level 30 and enroll in English W130
Other information about the English placement exam:
- Students are responsible for knowing their SAT scores and determining if the exam is required based on the above criteria.
- The ACT cannot be used to waive the English placement exam.
- Students majoring in education, nursing, dental hygiene, or radiography are highly encouraged to take the exam because English W130 does not count toward degree requirements in those majors.
- If you are required by the Office of Admissions to take the English placement exam as a basis of being admitted to the university, you must take it. You do not have the option to waive the exam based on your SAT score.
- The English exam can be taken once a semester until you enroll in a writing course.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the format of the exam?
The exam consists of two reading passages. You are asked to write an essay based on one of the two passages (you select which one). You may handwrite your essay in a composition book or type it on a computer.
Who evaluates the English placement exam?
Two experienced composition instructors read and evaluate each student's exam.
What are the criteria for evaluating the exam?
Your exam is evaluated for:
- Full development of your own ideas and opinions, supported by sound reasoning and relevant examples
- Careful organization of paragraphs and varied sentence structure
- Evidence of good reading comprehension
- Correct grammar, spelling, word usage, and syntax
- You have 60 minutes to plan, write, and proofread your work. What matters most is how thoroughly you respond to the topic. A substantial and fully-developed response to the topic can improve your score, so use all the time to get your ideas and examples into the essay.
How can I prepare for the English placement exam?
The English placement exam is designed to allow you to demonstrate skills you have already developed, so you do not need to study for it as you might for another type of exam. However, because you do want your effort to reflect your best abilities, we encourage you to review the practice exam question below.
English Placement Exam Practice Question
Here is a passage about an incident in the history of American public education. Read the passage and then write an essay addressing the questions listed below.
James Moffett is an educator who influenced many American teachers and schools in the last third of this century. He wrote about traveling to West Virginia in the 1970s to talk with people there who had recently voted to remove from their local public schools a set of textbooks he had designed. Moffett tried to assure the people he spoke with that the goal of his textbooks was not to promote any one set of beliefs or attitudes but to present students with a variety of ways of seeing their world. From the conversations he learned, however, that the local people understood his aims well enough, and in fact his effort to allow students a choice among competing values was precisely what they most disliked. Moffet's texts supported the values of self-criticism and tolerance, but his vocal critics wanted texts that supported continuity with the past and the preservation of particular values. Moffet's texts supported classroom practices that made students evaluate knowledge while his critics wanted their children to absorb knowledge. Everyone involved saw that much more was at stake here than the sale of certain textbooks.
What do you believe is at stake in the controversy between Moffett and his critics? Use some of the terms or ideas from the passage to discuss in detail one or more of your own school experiences, and use those experiences to show what you think is at stake in this dispute. What difference does it make when a community chooses one of these educational paths? With the help of the examples you have chosen, explain where you stand on the conflicting views of education you find in this passage.
Questions
If you have any questions, please contact the Gateway Information Center.
