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Welcome to Enrollment Services

WHY DOES THADDEUS STEVENS COLLEGE REQUIRE AN ASSESSMENT?

Thaddeus Stevens College uses the COMPASS Educational Assessment to assess an applicant's ability to succeed at the post-secondary level. Schools that receive federal funding are required to show that the students they admit have an ability to benefit.

COMPASS™ takes advantage of adaptive testing technology to measure students' mathematics, reading, and writing skills on demand-this is of great value for placement and advising.
The scores that are recommended as minimum acceptance levels were identified after several years of study to evaluate those scores that correlate with success in specific courses and graduation.

The emphasis on these academic areas is related to the need for individuals in the workforce who can communicate effectively in both written and verbal formats, who are capable of problem solving, who are proficient in math skills and who have specific technical skills.

At Thaddeus Stevens, the technical and theoretical levels of our programs and academic courses demand that students read at a minimum of a 10th grade reading level. Further, to succeed students will need to accept that they will be reading outside the classroom, a practice that they will need to maintain to stay current with their specific technical career.

WHAT DO THESE SECTIONS EVALUATE?

Writing Skills Section
The Writing Skills section helps institutions determine whether students are ready for entry-level college writing courses or other courses with significant writing loads, or whether students require developmental writing instruction prior to entry into those courses. This test asks students to find and correct errors in essays presented on the computer screen. The test items include the following content categories:

   · Usage/Mechanics Rhetorical Skills
   · Punctuation
   · Basic grammar and usage
   · Sentence structure
   · Strategy
   · Organization
   · Style

Reading Skills Section
The Reading Skills section can help determine if students have the skills to succeed in standard entry-level college courses or if they need developmental reading courses or other instructional support.
Five types of reading comprehension passages are included:

   · Practical Reading
   · Prose Fiction
   · Humanities
   · Social Sciences
   · Natural Sciences

Items have multiple-choice response options. The new format in COMPASS™ for Windows makes it possible for students to see and read a passage on one side of the screen while the test questions and answer choices are displayed on the other half of the screen.

Numerical Skills Section
Multiple-choice items in each of the five mathematics areas test the following:

   · basic skills-performing a sequence of basic operations
   · application-applying sequences of basic operations to novel settings
     or in complex ways 
   · analysis-demonstrating conceptual understanding of principles and
     relationships in mathematical operations

Students are permitted to use approved calculators when completing the COMPASS™ mathematics placement or diagnostic tests. An online calculator is available for those students who wish to access it via Microsoft Windows; students also may use their own calculators as long as they meet the calculator-use guidelines specified by ACT.

HOW DO I PREPARE FOR THE COMPASS EDUCATIONAL ASSESSMENT?

The best preparation for the COMPASS Educational Assessment is a solid academic background during high school. The students, who tend to score higher, tend to be students who have participated in college prep academic programs and have maintained at least a 2.0 GPA in high school. The students who generally struggle are those students who chose a slower paced high school curriculum or who do not do well in academic subjects.

Preparation for the assessment may include the following: