Taking the Mathematics Placement Examination

Incoming first year students at BGSU go through a mathematics placement process, typically before Orientation - Registration the summer before they begin.  Transfer students may or may not have to take the mathematics placement examination.   Most incoming students take the mathematics placement examination online.  Here are brief directions how to do this:

1. Use Internet Explorer to go to http://my.bgsu.edu and authenticate with your student ID, user name, and password.
2. Click on the Community Tab (near the top)
3. Click on the 'Placement Test' link that appears in your organization list
4. Read the information that appears
5. Click on the 'web sites' link (along the left hand side)
6. Click on 'Placement Test Application'
7. You should now be in the Placement Tests Site.  Feel free to browse around the site.  When you are ready to begin your Math test, click on the 'Take My Test' link on the Math pages.  You can also take the Writing test here; click on the 'Take My Test' link on the Writing pages.

Once on campus, students may ask to take the mathematics placement test
by contacting Roger Spears by email, placementtest@bgsu.edu.  Explain any
extenuating circumstances in your email.

Three Placement Tests

At the beginning of the placement process, students are asked some background questions about what courses they had in high school. If they report having had trigonometry, they take Placement Test C. Based on the score on that test, their ACT Math score and subscores (or their SAT Math score), the other mathematics courses they report having had in high school, and their declared major, if any, they may be placed into Math 1310H, 1310 or 1340, 1300, 1260, or 1280. If they perform very poorly on the Placement Test, they are advised to take Placement Test B, described below, or take Math 1120 or Math 1150.

Students who report having had two years of high school algebra with a grade of C or better, but no trigonometry, take Placement Test B. Based on the same criteria as listed above, they may place into Math 1300, 1260, 1280, 1220, 1120 or 1150, or 95.  It is not easy to describe the specifics of the decision tree or the cutoffs, but they take into account the factors listed above and a few subscores relating to intermediate and college algebra material.

Students whose high school mathematics is insufficient to place them into the categories above take Placement Test A. They may place into Math 1120 or 1150, 95, or 90.

Enforcement of the mathematics placement

Students are not allowed to take a course above their mathematics placement. This policy is strictly enforced for the benefit of the individual student and for the benefit of other students with higher placements. Historically, students who have taken a course above their mathematics placement have done worse than students who placed into the course. Students are encouraged to re-take the placement test if they believe their placement is inappropriately low. Students are allowed to take any course below their placement. This means that a student can choose any course which comes later in this list than the course they placed into:  1310H, 1310 or 1340, 1300, 1260, 1280, 1220, 1120, 1150, 95, or 90.

Study mathematics on your own to improve your placement result (click this link)