Placement Tests

New students take placement tests after applying for admission and must complete placement requirements according to the degree, certificate, or course they intend to register in. Please note that all Degree-Seeking students must complete placement requirements before registering for courses, and all students must satisfy course prerequisites before registering in a specific course. All placement testing taken at the Palos Hills location occurs in the college’s Testing Center, located in Building G, Room 231.

Placement Testing is offered year-round, Monday - Saturday by appointment. Call (708) 974-5309 to schedule.

Placement testing is also available at the Education Center at Blue Island and the Southwest Education Center in Tinley Park (SWEC) locations. For hours and information, call each site directly: Blue Island (708) 974-5300 or SWEC (708) 974-5400.

Placement tests are required for all Degree Seeking students, some Certificates (please see this list for more details), and for any student seeking to register in a course that has a placement prerequisite (such as English Composition, Mathematics, and many other classes). Students may not take the placement tests until they complete a Moraine Valley admission application.

Students may be exempted from all, or portions of the placement test based on SAT/ACT scores. More information on SAT/ACT scores is below. Students with previous college credit, AP scores, IB scores, and/or State Seal of Biliteracy should send a copy of their documents for review through the Prerequisite Override Form, or by visiting Academic Advising in Building S, Room S201. Any coursework that meets college-level placement will be entered as an exemption so the student will not need to complete that portion of the placement test.

The Moraine Valley Testing Center offers placement exams in Math (ALEKS), as well as Reading, Communications, and Intensive English Language (Accuplacer).  ALEKS and Accuplacer exams are taken on computer in the Testing Center.

Accuplacer exams take on average about one hour to complete.  ALEKS exams typically take 60-90 minutes to complete.  Students taking both Accuplacer and ALEKS at a single visit should plan to spend a minimum of 2 ½ hours testing.  Results of placement exams are available immediately after testing.

Previously Earned College Credit
If you’ve previously earned college credit, you may be exempt from some or all of the placement tests. Submit a college transcript showing a “C” or better in a college-level (101 or higher) English composition/rhetoric course and/or mathematics course to the Academic Advising Center at advising@hhvp.net.

All placement exam scores and ACT/SAT/GED exam scores are considered valid for placement for 18 months from the date of the exam. Other placement measures – such as high school GPA and high school course completion exemptions – are considered valid for placement for 18 months from the date of high school graduation or course completion.

SAT Scores
Students who score a 480 or above on the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing portion of the SAT test are exempt from the Reading and Writing portion of the placement test. Students who score a 520 or above on the SAT math test are exempt from the mathematics portion of the placement test.

ACT Scores
An ACT score of 20 or above in English, reading and/or mathematics may be used in place of some or all of the placement tests. Students who score a 19 or above in English and reading are exempt from the English/reading placement test. Students who score a 20 or above in mathematics are exempt from the mathematics placement test.

To receive a placement exemption, students should bring a copy of their SAT and/or ACT score report to the Records Office located in Building S, Room S111 or email them to transcripts@hhvp.net.

Additional Writing/Reading Placement Exemptions
High school unweighted cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher from a 7th semester or later high school transcript.

Submit official high school transcript to the Records office (Room S-111) for processing.

GED score of 165 or higher. Submit official high school transcript to the Records office (Room S-111) for processing.

Additional Math Placement Exemptions
High school unweighted cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher from a final high school transcript, including successful completion of 4th year of math. Submit official high school transcript to the Records office (Room S-111) for processing.

Completion of Math Transition Course with a C or higher. Submit official high school transcript to the Records office (Room S-111) for processing.

GED score of 165 or higher. Submit official high school transcript to the Records office (Room S-111) for processing.

Score reports for placement exams are available immediately after testing.  Students receive a printed copy of their ALEKS and Accuplacer scores, along with an explanation of their course placement(s).

Course placements for Math, Reading and Composition are listed online.

Yes, students are allowed one retest in each subject area for Accuplacer, and two retests for ALEKS Math, provided that the student has not started the corresponding course sequence.

Course placement will be determined by the highest score achieved.  There is no additional fee for retesting.

Retests may be taken at any of these Moraine Valley locations:

All placement exam scores and ACT/SAT/GED exam scores are considered valid for placement for 18 months from the date of the exam.  Other placement measures – such as High School GPA and High School course completion exemptions – are considered valid for placement for 18 months from the date of high school graduation or course completion.

Prepare for Your Placement Tests

Accuplacer and ALEKS are web-based, computer-adaptive exams.  Exam questions are selected and the level of item difficulty is adjusted for each individual student based on the student’s answers as the student progresses through the exam.

The ACCUPLACER Reading test is designed to assess students’ reading comprehension. Identifying main ideas, secondary/supporting ideas, inference, applications, and sentence relationship are tested with 20 multiple-choice items. Results of the test will determine student placement in MVCC Reading (RDG) courses.  Students may be required to complete developmental reading courses in addition to regular college-credit courses.

The Accuplacer Writing Test is designed to assess students’ ability to revise and edit a range of prose texts for effective expression of ideas and for conformity to the conventions of Standard Written English sentence structure, usage, and punctuation.  The test contains 25 multiple-choice items.  Results of the test will determine student placement in MVCC English composition (COM) courses. Students may be required to complete developmental composition courses prior to enrolling in a college-level composition course.

The Accuplacer IEL Test is designed to assess the academic English ability of students for whom English is a second or other language. The IEL test is comprised of two sections: IEL Grammar and IEL Reading. Students may be placed into one or more of several Moraine Valley IEL courses based on the specific combination of section scores.

The ALEKS assessment covers a wide range of Math topics from Whole Numbers, Fractions and Decimals through Geometry, Linear Equations, Exponents, and Trigonometry.  Each student starts with a question of average difficulty and is then presented with selected questions and levels of difficulty determined by the student’s answers to previous questions.  The exam consists of up to 25 questions. 

At the conclusion of the assessment, the student is presented with a score report showing the assessment score, and the corresponding MVCC Math (MTH) course placement.  The student is also invited to work in a custom-tailored program of study (ALEKS Prep & Learning), based on the student’s individual areas of strength and weakness.  

Moraine Valley strongly encourages students to prepare for their placement exams, and there are several options for doing so: