Placement Testing

Placement testing is offered online from March through August and from November through January. Testing is available 24 hours a day, and students can take the test whenever they choose on their own computer. Students will need testing instructions to enroll in testing.

New, incoming students automatically receive testing instructions in their Orientation Confirmation Emails. It is possible that this email was automatically filtered to your junk or spam folder. If you cannot find this email, please visit this webpage to get help. Please include your full name and your UMBC Campus ID.

Currently enrolled students can visit this webpage for instructions about taking or retaking the placement test. Please include your full name and your UMBC Campus ID.

Visiting students interested in taking a summer or winter math course must visit this webpage to get help. Please include your full name and your UMBC Campus ID.

Students with a documented disability may request reasonable accommodations for UMBC placement testing. Students with disabilities seeking accommodations must register with the Office of Student Disability Services and submit appropriate documentation to determine accommodation eligibility. Students are encouraged to complete the SDS registration process with a minimum of two weeks advance notice of the assigned placement testing date.

Beginning in 2021, UMBC students no longer need to take the English Placement Test to enroll in an English Composition course. Students will work with their academic advisors to determine which English composition course is appropriate and then register for that course.

English Department Course Descriptions

Contact:  Carol Fitzpatrick, cfitzpat@umbc.edu

ENGL 100 and ENGL 110 both fulfill the English Composition general education requirement.

ENGL 100 is a course in critical thinking, reading, and composing, with an emphasis on integrating academic research and documentation. Students read and produce work for a variety of purposes and audiences, focusing on strategies for researching, organizing, drafting, sharing, and revising.

ENGL 110 is a composition course for students whose first language is other than English or who speak a language other than English at home. Similar to English 100, English 110 is a course in critical thinking, reading, and composing, with an emphasis on integrating academic research and documentation. Students read and produce work for a variety of purposes and audiences, focusing on strategies for researching, organizing, drafting, sharing, and revising. Course work will emphasize academic essay patterns and writing techniques. Students may be assigned additional grammar work if necessary.

Who should take ENGL 110? Watch this video for more information.

English Language Institute (ELI) Course Descriptions

Contact: Ryan Sheldon, sheldo1@umbc.edu

ELI courses do NOT fulfill the English Composition requirement but prepare students to take ENGL 110.

The ELI is an Intensive English Program that offers classes to language learners of all levels.  Our Academic English Program (AEP) is designed for current or future degree seeking students who are in need of additional practice with their reading and writing skills.  More information on these classes can be found at https://eli.umbc.edu/academic-english-program-aep/.

ELC 41/51:
These courses are designed to prepare advanced English Language students to develop academic writing skills to write in English with university-level competence and accuracy. Students develop their skills with the writing process, academic vocabulary, advanced grammatical structures, presentation and analysis of research topics, and narrative and persuasive writing. Students learn to write for specific audiences and purposes and to produce a research paper.

ELC 42/52:
These courses are designed to work in tandem with ELC 41/51 to help advanced English learners develop critical reading skills using a variety of source materials. Readings may include articles, non-fiction writing gathered from a wide range of genres, and data presentations. Students will develop advanced comprehension skills and be able to identify major points and types of support, separate fact from opinion, and analyze vocabulary used in the text.

College credit for the English Composition General Education Requirement can be achieved in four ways:

1. Successful completion of English 100 or English 110 with a grade of “C” or better within the first 30 credits of enrollment at UMBC. 
2. Advanced Placement (AP) Exams 
   • English Language and Composition (4 or higher)
   • English Literature and Composition (4 or higher)
3. College Level Examination Program (CLEP) Testing
   • College Composition (67 or higher)
   • The following exams are also equivalent to ENGL100: English Comp with Essay, Freshman Comp with Essay, or College Comp Modular with essay.
4. Transfer credit
   • Any course that transfers in exactly as ENGL 100 or ENGL 110, and not a “100-level Elective”—this credit MUST be on file with the Office of the Registrar by Orientation or before you register for courses.

If you are transferring from any community college in Maryland, you can use the ARTSYS website as a guide for transferring courses. Please note that UMBC’s transfer policies may change without being reflected on the ARTSYS website. The Academic Success Center does NOT handle any external testing scores. Please visit the Office of the Registrar’s website for more information about transfer credit and transfer policies.

Testing scores do NOT transfer from one institution to another. Scores must be sent from the testing institution to UMBC. UMBC’s CEEB code is 5835.

The Math Placement Test helps determine which math course you should take first at UMBC. (Your mathematics placement also affects which science courses you can take at UMBC.) The Math Placement Test is administered through a system called ALEKS and uses the ALEKS Placement, Preparation and Learning (ALEKS PPL) Assessment. Testing is available 24 hours a day, and students can take the test whenever they choose on their own computer. Students need instructions to access the test. All students are required to take the Math Placement Test unless they have any course credit or exam scores that would exempt them from testing.  (See FAQ “Can I skip the Math Placement Test?”)

The ALEKS PPL Math Placement Test covers topics in numerical operations, algebraic operations, geometry, and trigonometry.  It is a 30-question adaptive test designed to accurately assess your current mathematics knowledge and to determine which mathematics course should be your first at UMBC. You will have 2 hours and 30 minutes to complete the ALEKS PPL Math Placement Test. Calculators and outside resources are not allowed on the exam. After you complete the test, you will see your score and Math Placement within 48 business hours.

You may be exempt from the Math Placement Test if you have credit that transfers EXACTLY as the Math course needed for your major or as a prerequisite to a math course needed for your major. If no specific math course is required for your major, your career goals, or other required STEM courses, then you may be exempt based on transfer credit which fulfills the university mathematics general education requirement (GEP).  Please check with your advisor.

Credit may be earned through AP test scores, IB scores, CLEP scores, or transfer credits from an accredited college or university. To ensure a smooth registration process, all transfer credit and test scores MUST be on file before you attend Orientation. High school AP classes cannot be used to exempt you from testing.

Test Credit for Placement Testing Exemptions

Transfer Credit for Placement Testing Exemptions

To determine how your Maryland community college credits will transfer, please view the ARTSYS database.

For all other colleges and universities, please view the UMBC Course Articulation Database – Transfer Evaluation System.

If you are unsure about your transfer credit, please visit this webpage to get help. Please include your full name and your UMBC Campus ID.

The ALEKS PPL Math Placement Test has a brief tutorial which shows you how to input responses; however there is no ALEKS PPL practice test before the actual test. If you would like to prepare for the test, we recommend you use a website like Khan Academy or other sources such as the free worksheets on https://www.kutasoftware.com/ to review and to do practice problems. Please be advised that the test is meant to assess your current mathematics knowledge, and the goal of the assessment is for you to be placed into an appropriate course where you will be successful. Reviewing is fine, but attempting to teach yourself topics that you have never learned in order to get a higher placement score may result in you being placed into a course that you are not prepared to take.

Specific topics that may be covered on the test include:

• 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).

You will work with your advisor to determine your math course requirements for your studies at UMBC, based on the requirements of your major, your STEM and other course requirements, and your career path.  You can learn more about major requirements at https://apps.my.umbc.edu/pathways/.  You can learn more about the mathematics course pathways at https://mathstat.umbc.edu/undergraduate-programs-of-study/

Some career pathways and post-graduate programs benefit from the concepts and skills associated with calculus. For this reason, some UMBC majors and career pathways require a calculus course.  If you are in a major which requires calculus; or are pursuing a career pathway such as the health professions or commissioning officer that require a calculus course; or plan to take the STEM courses that require calculus, you should follow the guidance in the Calculus Path section.   If you are unsure of your calculus requirements, you may want to consider pursuing the Calculus Path.

If your major, career path, and STEM and other course requirements do not require a calculus course, you are on the Non-Calculus Path and your placement is described in the Non-Calculus Path section.

It is important that you work with your advisor to determine your math course requirements.

The placement process described below is data-informed and based on the analysis of thousands of UMBC students’ mathematics course taking. It is designed to give you a beneficial placement for you to build the foundation for the rest of your mathematical course sequence and to help you be the most successful as you start your course-taking journey at UMBC.

Calculus Path: Placement for First-Year Students and Transfer Students

If you are coming to UMBC directly from high school (First-Year Student) with test (AP/IB/CLEP) credit or are a Transfer Student with transfer credit on file at UMBC for a course in the calculus sequence, you may be able to take the next course in the sequence. For example, if you have test or transfer credit for the equivalent of MATH 150 on file at UMBC, you may be able to take MATH 151.

If you are coming to UMBC directly from high school (First-Year Student) and do not have test (AP/IB/CLEP) credit for math on file at UMBC, your Aleks Math Placement Score and your unweighted high school GPA will be used to determine placement for your first math course at UMBC. See Table 1 below.

Table 1: Calculus Path for First-Year Students without test credit

Unweighted High School GPA + ALEKS Math Placement Score ⇾ Math Milestone Level ⇾ Math Placement

If you are a Transfer Student and do not have transfer credit for math, your Aleks Math Placement Score will be used to determine your placement for your first math course at UMBC. See Table 2 below.

Table 2: Calculus Path for Transfer Students without transfer credit

ALEKS Math Placement Score ⇾ Math Milestone Level ⇾ Math Placement

Non-Calculus Path: Placement for First-Year Students and Transfer Students

If you are coming to UMBC directly from high school (First-Year Student) with test (AP/IB/CLEP) credit or are a Transfer Student with transfer credit on file at UMBC for a mathematics or statistics course, you may be able to take the next course in the sequence. For example, if you have test or transfer credit for the equivalent of Math 106 on file at UMBC, you may be able to take MATH 120 or STAT 121 for your General Education Program (GEP) Math credit.

If you are coming to UMBC directly from high school (First-Year Student) and do not have test (AP/IB/CLEP) credit or are a Transfer Student and do not have transfer credit for math, and are on the Non-Calculus Path, your Aleks Math Placement score will be used to determine placement for your first math class at UMBC.

Table 3: Non-Calculus Path for First-Year Students and Transfer Students without test or transfer credit

ALEKS Math Placement Score ⇾ Math Milestone Level ⇾ Math Placement

All students who have not yet taken a math course at UMBC are allowed to retake their Math Placement Test. You can retest up to two more times. The retest does not have to happen during your current testing window—you have one year or until you start your first math course at UMBC (whichever comes first) to retake the Math Placement Test.

Before you decide to take the Math Placement Test again, please consider the following information:

• If you have already taken a MATH course at UMBC (even if you withdrew), you CANNOT take the Math Placement Test again to skip a course.
• You can retake the Math Placement Test up to two times by accessing the ALEKS system within one year of your first test attempt. After one year, you cannot retest until your current Math Placement expires.
• There is a mandatory 72 hour “cooling off” period after you first complete the Math Placement Test. To take the Math Placement Test again, you MUST wait at least 72 hours AND spend at least 5 hours working in the Prep and Learning Module for your target course. To have the best chance of being successful, you should aim to master 80% of the topics in the Prep and Learning Module.
• If you are attempting to test for the third and final time, you MUST wait an additional 72 hours and AND spend 8 hours working in the Prep and Learning Module for your target course.
• If you retake the Math Placement Test, only the highest score is kept.

After considering all of these things, if you would still like to retake the Math Placement test, please visit this webpage to get help.

Please be advised that it will take 24-48 hours for your Math Placement Test score to update. This process is automated and cannot be rushed.