COMPASS SECTIONS
COMPASS Test assesses the student’s knowledge and expertise in the areas of reading, writing and mathematics, through which the students get an idea of the courses that are best suited for them.
COMPASS writing test helps in determining the eligibility of students to college entry-level writing courses or whether they need any developmental instructions in writing before entering into these courses. The writing test section carries an on-screen essay, which the students are required to check for grammatical, usage and style and punctuation errors. On finding an error, the students can replace it with one of the five alternatives provided therein.
COMPASS reading test helps in determining whether a student can succeed in college-level courses or requires any further courses on building up his reading skills. This section will have about two to four passages, which the students are required to read carefully. The passages could be pertaining to practical reading, prose fiction, natural science, social science or humanities. COMPASS reading test basically assesses a student’s reasoning and referring skills. The referring skills are assessed by directly asking questions pertaining to the matter in the passage, while the reasoning skills are assessed by asking questions that require good understanding of the matter, finding the hidden meanings and by drawing inferences. It also measures the prior knowledge a student had about the topic in the given passage. With a new format COMPASS™ for Windows being introduced, the students can read the passage on one side of the computer screen and choose the answers provided at the other side of the screen.
COMPASS Mathematics has five main categories which include pre-algebra/numerical skills, algebra, college algebra, trigonometry and geometry. The numerical skill/pre-algebra section will have questions pertaining to basic mathematics (like integers, decimals, fractions, whole numbers, ratio and proportion, etc). The entry-level algebra will have questions pertaining to percentages, absolute values, exponents, formula manipulations and polynomials, forming equations for given situation etc., while the college-algebra section will have questions on functions, matrices and factorials. The trigonometry test which includes trigonometric identities and functions, equations and inequalities and graphs of trigonometric functions, is designed to assess understanding of basic concepts of trigonometry and its application.
COMPASS mathematics test mainly helps in assessing performance of students in three main levels i.e., basic skills, application skills and analysis. The basic skills can be assessed by solving problems that require basic operations, application skill can be judged by applying the basic skills to solve complicated problems, while an analysis skill is assessed based on the student’s understanding of the principles and usage of relationships in solving complicated problems. Students are allowed to use calculator on all Windows and Internet versions of COMPASS mathematics test.