Need the best ACCUPLACER study guide!

September 5, 2010 5:01 PM

What is the best study guide for the ACCUPLACER?

I am returning to school after 15 or so years and I have to take the ACCUPLACER but really need to brush up on everything. There are a lot of study guides out there but I need to know which one is the best for my money?

posted by senseofsurreal to education (6 answers total)

As I understand it, this accurately places you where you need to be for community college intro courses.

My CC let you take it once and then take it again.
posted by k8t at 5:30 PM on September 5, 2010

Yes, you would be correct in your understanding of the ACCUPLACER but I would still like to study and brush up on topics it's been 15 years since I've used. I am also aware you can take it more then 1 time but after the first try you have to pay for it. Also I don't want to have my education delayed since you can only take the test once per semester.
posted by senseofsurreal at 6:44 PM on September 5, 2010

Well, I would honestly let it just place you; if you study a bit and get placed into college algebra instead of beginner's algebra, are you going to sink or swim? I'm currently at community college and have seen plenty of people placed into classes and proceed to struggle...

But if it's something you want to pursue, I wouldn't pay for a study guide. There's plenty of free ones. Your best bet is probably to read those in conjunction with taking the (many) free practice tests available.
posted by asciident at 1:56 AM on September 6, 2010

Take one of the practice tests, find which areas you've forgotten the most, then get the study guides for those areas. That's what I did. I'd been out of school for a comparable amount of time. And ponder checking the guides out of the local library. They're expensive, and you're not going to use them for very long.

For those of you who are saying that refreshing yourself is somehow going to place you in courses where you're incompetent.. I've had a 4.0 til this semester (when I had to take a final while having a migraine, which lead to a B in that class), so I don't believe that ~refreshing~ your memory is likely to lead to placement above your abilities.
posted by Meep! Eek! at 8:59 AM on September 6, 2010

Here's a website with practice questions
posted by mjcon at 9:13 AM on September 6, 2010

Wow, I messed that up. The website is www.testprepreview.com. And I work with retuning adult students for a living, you are right to study. All of the research on placement testing for adult students shows that you will get a more accurate placement if you spend a few hour reviewing the material....don't try to teach yourself new things that you never learned in the past, but brushing up is a very good idea....good luck.
posted by mjcon at 9:20 AM on September 6, 2010 [1 favorite]