Placement Assessments

This document is a brief summary of the knowledge, skills and placement scores expected for admittance into college-level courses at Missouri State University-West Plains. For more information or questions, please contact the Office of Advising and Academic Support at (417) 255-7222.

Reading Course ACT SAT ERW NextGen Accuplacer Other Options
RDG 107 Critical Reading & Study Skills in Academic Texts 0-12 0-380 0-227  
ENG 101 Integrated Reading and Writing 0-14 0-420 0-246  
ENG 100 Introduction to College Composition 15-17 440-480 247-255  
ENG 100A &
ENG 110A
Introduction to College Composition (ALP) &
Writing I (ALP)
15-17 440-480 247-255  
No Reading Course Required 18 or higher 500 or higher 256 to 300
  1. 24 or more transfer hours with 2.5 or higher GPA
  2. Completion of ENG 110 with a C or higher

Indicators of College Readiness

College-Level Math Course at Missouri State University-West Plains:

Math 136 is entry-level College Algebra. A student prepared to succeed in MTH 136 Pre-Calculus I - Algebra is able to:

  • Solve linear, absolute value, and quadratic equations and inequalities
  • Simplify exponential and radical expressions
  • Graph linear equations and inequalities
  • Find the equation of a line passing through two points
  • Perform arithmetic operations on polynomials and rational expressions, including factoring
  • Solve radical and rational equations
  • Use algebraic equations and functions to solve application problems

College-Level Writing Course at Missouri State University-West Plains:

English 110, Writing I, is the entry-level college composition course. It is a course in argumentation. A student prepared to succeed in ENG 110 is able to:

  • Apply prior experience with the writing process to writing situations
  • Critically read and evaluate material from many sources
  • Develop an essay that meets the needs of the target audience and achieves the intended purpose
  • Summarize and paraphrase appropriately
  • Recognize plagiarism and how to avoid it
  • Possess basic research skills
  • Locate and evaluate appropriate source materials for a college essay
  • Possess a basic understanding of the need to document sources
  • Control surface features such as syntax, grammar, punctuation and spelling.

College-Level Reading Expectations at Missouri State University-West Plains:

  • Critically read primary source documents
  • Summarize and/or paraphrase various academic readings
  • Draw conclusions and make inferences from printed graphic material and materials found on the Web
  • Use context clues or appropriate tools (i.e., glossary, dictionary, thesaurus, English language translation dictionaries) to determine meaning of unfamiliar terms