ALEKS Placement, Preparation and Learning Assessment

The Placement Assessment is used to determine the mathematics course in which you will have the greatest success. Upon completion of the Placement Assessments, your scores are sent to the Advising Center. They will review your scores and work with you to make appropriate recommendations for your enrollment, or edits for your course registration, if needed.

All students who have been accepted to Iona’s Nursing program or who have indicated an interest in majoring in STEM fields and who will need to take MTH 231, CHM 107 or CHM 109 must take the placement test. Students who have been admitted to Nursing and those who have indicated an interest in majoring in STEM will receive an email from Advising with the relevant information to register for and take the placement.

Students must plan to take the assessment as close to their scheduled advisement meeting as possible, ideally, prior to meeting. When that is not possible, the assessment should be taken no later than May 24.

Students should plan on taking the placement test in a quiet, private space, with reliable WIFI, and power. If you are a student with a documented disability, and in need of accommodations for this exam, please contact the Accessibility Services Office at Access@Iona.edu, and put ALEKS Assessment in the subject. If any student needs to use Campus computers to take this exam for some reason, we will be publishing two dates in the coming months for interested students. Information on these dates will be shared in our instructional email along with your Access Code.

No. There are no required plug-ins or applets required with your use of ALEKS PPL. As long as you have access to the internet and are using an updated browser, you should not experience difficulties in taking your Placement Assessment. For a list of preferred browsers, please review the ALEKS system requirements on their support site. 

ALEKS PPL is an online, adaptive system that covers a broad spectrum of mathematics topics. The length of the Placement Assessment will vary, but can be up to 25 questions. You will see some, but not all, of the math you have learned in high school. It is a Placement Assessment, not a preview of math courses at Iona University. It is designed to identify if you are prepared for a particular course. After you take your first Placement Assessment, you will have the opportunity to review and master additional topics to reassess and improve your placement.

Topics Covered

• Real numbers (including fractions, integers, and percentages);
• Equations and inequalities (including linear equations, linear inequalities, systems of linear equations, and quadratic equations);
• Linear and quadratic functions (including graphs and functions, linear functions, and parabolas);
• Exponents and polynomials (including integer exponents, polynomial arithmetic, factoring, and polynomial equations);
• Rational expressions (including rational equations and rational functions);
• Radical expressions (including higher roots and rational exponents);
• Exponentials and logarithms (including function compositions and inverse functions, properties of logarithms, and logarithmic equations);
• Geometry and trigonometry (including perimeter, area, and volume, coordinate geometry, trigonometric functions, and identities and equations).
   

ALEKS will begin with a brief tutorial to make sure you are comfortable with the math palette tools before your Placement Assessment begins. The tutorial shows you how to enter different types of answers, how to use the ALEKS calculator, and how to graph. If you aren’t sure how to input an answer, or need help while you are taking the ALEKS Placement Assessment, select the Help button below the answer pallet tools. Going to the tutorial during your Placement Assessment will NOT impact your Placement Assessment results.

ALEKS is not a multiple-choice Placement Assessment. It is open-response and requires you to work out solutions with a paper and pencil, then enter them into ALEKS. Be sure to have scratch paper with you.

ALEKS will provide an on-screen calculator if you need one to complete a particular problem. Otherwise, you may not use a calculator.

You may only use a pen or pencil, paper, and the resources provided within ALEKS. You should not receive assistance from friends, family, other websites, textbooks, or any other resource not provided by ALEKS. Using outside resources will lead to improper placement and potentially course failure. It is a violation of Iona’s Academic Integrity policy.

Because ALEKS is adaptive, once you submit an answer, you cannot change it. Be sure to carefully check your answer before submitting your response.

It is likely that you will be asked questions on material you have not yet learned. On such questions it is appropriate to answer, I don't know. On any question that you have familiarity with, however, it is important to do your best. I don't know is interpreted by ALEKS to mean that you do not know how to solve the topic, and this will be reflected in the Placement Assessment results. There is no penalty for incorrectly answering a question on the Placement Assessment, it only helps ALEKS understand what you know and don’t know.

No, you are free to complete the Placement Assessment at your own pace. The system will allow you to access your Placement Assessment for 24 hours. If you need to exit the Placement Assessment for any reason, you will be able to log back in and pick up where you left off.

If the Placement Assessment is unproctored, you will have to restart the Placement Assessment. If the incomplete Placement Assessment is proctored and timed, you will be given a placement result, but it will not be a true reflection of your abilities.

1. You must have your ALEKS Access Code, which will be provided via email to your Iona email account, after you have deposited, from the Center for Advising and Academic Services.
2. You must review the Registration Instructions for ALEKS PPL Assessment found here. (See attached instructions about registering)
3. You may click on this link to begin: Registering for ALEKS PPL Assessment
    

Your placement result (overall score) is a number between 0 and 100. It represents the percentage of topics ALEKS has identified you have mastered.

• You will receive your score immediately upon completion of your Placement Assessment.
• Your ALEKS score can be viewed by re-entering ALEKS using the same access link for which you took the Placement Assessment.
• Your scores are shared with Center for Advising who will work with you to schedule the appropriate courses and sequencing.

Your placement result is valid for 12 months.

This is a perfect opportunity to take advantage of the Prep and Learning Modules offered within ALEKS PPL. An individualized study plan will be created based on your performance on the Initial Placement Assessment. ALEKS will identify what you know and what you are ready to learn next so you can brush up on lost knowledge.

No, you must achieve the minimum placement result to take each corresponding class.

Congratulations! Continue to use your Prep and Learning Module to improve your chances for success. The placement result required is the minimum preparation for your course. Take advantage of the individualized review and learning features in ALEKS to get a better grade in your class.

Yes, you may take up to three Placement Assessments. However, to make each attempt worthwhile, it is important that you spend time working in your ALEKS Prep and Learning Module between Placement Assessments so that you can improve your skills.

No. You must wait 48 hours between Placement Assessments. There is generally no benefit to re-taking the Placement Assessment immediately after completing a prior attempt. You cannot improve your results by simply re-taking the Placement Assessment without spending time in the Prep and Learning Module to refresh material that you may have forgotten.

You will have 12 months of access to your Prep and Learning module. Access to the prep course will not begin until you select start on the top of your screen. DO NOT select into the Prep and Learning Module until you are ready to start working.

You can retake the Placement assessment up to three additional times to improve your score. (The highest score will be used for math placement). We require students to work in the Prep and Learning Modules for a specific amount of time prior to each Placement Assessment to increase success.

• 2nd attempt—required to complete 3 hours of work in the Prep and Learning Modules before attempting assessment.
• 3rd attempt—required to complete 3 additional hours of work in the Prep and Learning Modules before attempting assessment.

While working in a Prep and Learning Module, you will periodically complete a Knowledge Check to make sure you have mastered the topics you gained in Learning Mode. If you do not show mastery during the Knowledge Check, the topics will be added back into your Learning Pie so you can review them again.

No. You must complete a new Placement Assessment to change your placement result. Select the placement tab in the upper right corner of the ALEKS page to start a new Placement Assessment.

No. You may only use one Prep and Learning Module. If you are unsure which module to select, use the module recommended by ALEKS or consult with your advisor.

Simply close the browser, or log out and log back in. ALEKS will resume the Placement Assessment exactly where you left off, with no loss of your previous answers.

Please find the ALEKS support page here. You can also contact ALEKS support here.