Toledo Campus Assessment

What is COMPASS?

COMPASS is a computerized assessment that provides information about a student’s reading, writing and math skills and preparation for college-level course work.  The assessment is an un-timed, placement test.  The scores will help place students in courses that develop the necessary skills for success in future classes. 
This assessment measures knowledge in three skill areas:

Reading Skills: Finding the Main Idea, Locating Explicit Information, Making Inferences.
Writing Skills: Punctuation, Spelling, Capitalization, Usage, Verb Formation/ Agreement, Relationships of Clauses, Shifts in Construction, Organization.
Math Skills: Algebra Problems, Numerical Skills, Trigonometry, Geometry, Integers, Fractions, Decimals, Exponents, Rations and Proportions, Percentages, Averages, Substitution, Setting-up Equations, Basic Operations/ Polynomials, Linear Equations, Exponents, Rational Numbers

Who is required to take the COMPASS assessment?
  • Students who have completed less than 15 credit hours of college coursework are required to complete the math, writing and reading COMPASS assessment.
  • Students who have not completed college English composition within the past seven years are required to complete writing and reading COMPASS assessment.
  • Students who have not completed college math within the past seven years are required to complete the math COMPASS assessment.

When is COMPASS administered?

This assessment is administered to students before Mercy College orientation and will take approximately two hours to complete. To schedule the assessment, after you receive your acceptance letter, simply call the Mercy College library at 419-251-1700.  Students will be permitted to take COMPASS tests from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday.  If you have not completed COMPASS, academic advisors are unable to register you for classes. All assessment arrangements must be made at least 48 hours before your orientation session. 

Can COMPASS delay my enrollment?

Students should be aware that if scores indicate a need for remedial course work, they will not be able to enroll at Mercy College.  Students will be notified after their assessment is evaluated if they do not meet Mercy College’s COMPASS cut off scores. 

Please click on the PDF document link below to review the cut-off scores for the COMPASS assessment
Click Here to review the COMPASS cut-off scores

Students have two attempts to take the COMPASS assessment. If a student does not successfully meet COMPASS cut-off scores after two attempts, he/she will not be allowed to enroll as a student at Mercy College. If a student tests into developmental coursework, he/she is required to successfully complete that coursework, either at Mercy College or elsewhere within the first two semesters at Mercy College. Failure to complete all developmental coursework within the first two semesters at Mercy College could lead to dismissal from the institution.

Do Post Secondary Options (PSO) students have to take COMPASS ?

Admission into the Mercy PSO program is contingent upon successful completion of all sections of the COMPASS placement test. PSO students will not be allowed to enroll in the College if his/her COMPASS scores show placement into developmental coursework. Students will be given the option to reapply for admission and retest the following academic year.

Can students practice for the COMPASS assessment?

Click on the following link to obtain practice questions from the COMPASS assessment:  http://www.act.org/compass/sample/index.html.

What do the scores mean?

Please click on the PDF document below to review the scores for the COMPASS assessment. Mercy College has determined cut-off scores for enrolling and for placement in certain coursework. 

Click Here to Review the COMPASS scores

Where do I go to take the COMPASS assessment?

Students may park in the black, fenced-in parking lot directly across the street from the Madison Avenue main entrance for the College.  Please use the front parking spaces designated for visitor parking. 
Click Here for Directions to Mercy College