Most schools require students to pre-register for the Accuplacer exam. Students should contact the school to attain the precise dates, time and locations where the Accuplacer will be administered so they can reserve their place. Students must pay a registration/test taking fee prior to taking the test. On the day of the test, students must bring a valid form of identification that includes a picture (such as a driver's license, passport, or other form of government ID).
Accuplacer is administered online and is computer-adaptive. The difficulty of the questions is determined by the student's answers to the preceding questions (correct or incorrect). The computerized test provides step-by-step instructions and has a built in calculator (some schools allow students to bring their own calculator and supplemental materials). The Accuplacer is a timed test and with the exception of the Written Essay component, the questions are all multiple choice. Students must answer the questions consecutively--you're unable to change previous answers or return to answer a question that has passed.
The Accuplacer is intended solely for placement purposes and customized specifically by the educational institution administering it. As cited on TestPrepPractice.net, each college/ technical school follows different policies and has various required ranges or percentages related to the interpretation of the scores. The school decides the precise number of questions a student must answer correctly to bypass development courses within the multiple choice segments. When it comes to Written Essay portion, all students must compose a writing sample that's graded according to the following characteristics: focus, organization, development and support, sentence structure and mechanical conventions. After students finish the test, the school will establish the level of classes for which they can register. Copies of the score report are generally mailed to the student after a few weeks.