High School Placement Testing Policies

Placing students into the appropriate courses is critical to the success of students in college. ACCUPLACER is the tool IVCC uses to place students into English, reading and mathematics courses.

Some high schools request ACCUPLACER to be administered on their campuses, and IVCC is willing to grant that request provided certain requirements are met. These requirements insure a quiet, secure, testing environment with proper working equipment.

Please review the following document to help determine if placement testing is appropriate at your high school IVCC will not test at a school that cannot meet these requirements. If you have questions or concerns, please contact Summer Studstill, Assessment Center Coordinator at 815-224-0552 or summer_studstill@ivcc.edu

GENERAL TESTING INFORMATION: Students who are registered for testing administered at high schools must have applications submitted to IVCC a minimum of three weeks prior to the scheduled testing date in order to guarantee individuals are a part of the IVCC database that is used to set up testing accounts. [Students wishing to use PSAT, SAT, and/or ACT scores to exempt them from certain placement tests must also provide high school transcripts (with PSAT, SAT and/or ACT information) or have all appropriate scores submitted to IVCC at that time].

Students who are wishing to use PSAT, ACT, SAT scores to exempt themselves from Placement Testing must have scores submitted to the college and entered in our database 3 weeks prior to the date of testing. Students who do not have scores submitted will be enrolled in the full battery of testing, unless the student has previously tested in those areas or are already enrolled in a dual credit course. We will use information from the IVCC database to determine whether or not an individual can be exempt from testing.

A minimum of 10 students must be registered for testing by the designated deadline.

Placement testing at high schools will only be administered on one date per school during the academic year. Please plan accordingly and communicate this with staff regarding any courses that are offered more than once a year (dual credit). Assessment Center staff will come to a high school more than one day in a row if 80 or more students are being administered placement testing. For staffing purposes, testing can be offered in the morning for one group and in the afternoon for another group.

Students will be tested in the areas of Reading, English and Math, unless previously communicated that students are to be tested in one or more areas for dual credit or another reason.

COMPUTER/LAB REQUIREMENTS: Assessment Center staff member must have access to the testing room at least one hour in advance from the starting time of testing. Computer Lab must have printer located within room.

If your school only has Chromebooks in which students are to take placement testing, you need to refer to the Accuplacer Test Administration Policy for Google Chromebook Users document to determine if the app can be installed and be ready by the date of testing.

Computers must be powered on and logged on with guest name and password and opened to the Desktop when an Assessment Center staff member arrives. Please refer to Computer Lab Criteria sheet for technology specifications.
Pop-up Blocker must be turned off on Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and/Firefox. 

A computer must be available for proctor’s use during testing. It is also recommended to have one or two additional computers in case of any technical issues. Printer must have a full supply of paper and another ream available.
School will need to provide two sheets of scratch paper and a pencil per each student testing. This must be at each station in advance of testing. Please have extra paper and pencils available if needed.

PRIOR TO TESTING DAY: The final list of students who are testing must be submitted to the IVCC Assessment Center no later than two weeks before the testing date. This allows the necessary time to cross check individuals in our database and make sure that their testing is set up correctly. Only cancellations will be accepted from the two weeks’ time period from day the list submitted until the testing date.

Please notify students that calculator will not be permitted during testing. Students will be provided with scratch paper and pencil to assist them during testing.

Please confirm and communicate with other staff/instructors at your institution about the testing dates/times. If changes to the schedule need to be made, this needs to be done in advance.

ON TESTING DAY: All students will begin testing at the same time. No students will be able to begin at a later time than what was agreed upon by the school and the IVCC Assessment staff member. This allows for testing to stay on schedule and provide students with a favorable testing environment.

IT and designated staff member must be available periodically during testing for any issues. To minimize distraction, please post signs outside of classroom/lab that testing is taking place. Staff and faculty should also be reminded not to enter testing room that day.

TESTING WITH ACCOMMODATIONS: Any student who needs accommodations during testing (calculator, essay extended time, etc.) must be approved at least three weeks prior to testing by IVCC’s Center for Accessibility and Neurodiversity (CAN). Students or staff need to contact the CAN office at 815-224-0634 or can@ivcc.edu to determine appropriate accommodations for the student. Students who need accommodations that require no noise disruption or those who could affect others who are testing (test read out loud) will need to schedule an appointment outside of the time that all other individuals are testing.