Assessment and Placement Standards

The Higher Education Policy Commission of West Virginia has adopted Assessment and Placement Standards for students of the ten universities in the System, including WLU. Students entering WLU are subject to the following requirements:

English Composition

Students may not enroll at any two-year or four-year institution in the State University System in an English composition course which is designed to be applied toward a baccalaureate degree, an A.A. degree, an A.S. degree, or an A.A.S. degree at a four-year college or university or an A.A., A.S., or A.A.S. degree at a community college unless the minimum score prescribed below is earned on at least one of the following tests:

  • A score of 18 or above on the English section of the ACT.
    • A score of 450 or above on the verbal portion of the SAT. For students taking the SAT March 2016 or later, 480 score on Evidence Based Reading & Writing (ERW).
    • A scaled score of 38 or above on the writing skills test of the ASSET.
    • A score of 71 or above on the English Skills test of the American College Testing Program’s Computerized Adaptive Placement Assessment and Support System (COMPASS).
    • A score of 88 or above on the Sentence Skills test of the University Board’s ACCUPLACER Testing System.
    • Satisfactory performance on a writing sample developed by each institution in the State College System and evaluated by the institution.
  • Students who satisfy the English placement requirements by one of the measures described in sections a. through e. above must also perform at an acceptable level on a writing sample developed by each institution in the State University System and evaluated by the institution prior to the beginning of the semester or during the first two weeks of the semester.
  • Students not meeting the standards described in (1) and (2) above must successfully complete an integrated English (ENG) 101 course.

Mathematics

Students may not enroll at any two-year or four-year institution in the State University System in a mathematics course which is designed to be applied toward a baccalaureate degree, an associate of arts (A.A.) degree, an associate of science (A.S.), an associate of applied science (A.A.S.) degree at a four-year university or university, or an A.A., A.S. or A.A.S. degree at a community university unless the minimum score prescribed below is earned on at least one of the following tests:

  • A score of 19 or above on the mathematics section of the American University Testing Program’s ACT Assessment Test.
    • A score of 460 or above on the quantitative portion of the University Board’s Recentered Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). For students taking the SAT March 2016 or later, 500 score on math.
    • A scaled score of 40 on the numerical test and 38 on the elementary algebra test of the American University Testing Program’s Assessment of Skills for Successful Entry and Transfer (ASSET).
    • A score of 59 or above on the pre-algebra test of the American College Testing Program’s Computerized Adaptive Placement Assessment and Support System (COMPASS).
    • A score of 86 or above on the arithmetic test and 84 or above on the elementary algebra test of the University Board’s ACCUPLACER Testing System.
  • Students not meeting this requirement must enroll in corequisite mathematics courses.

Reading

  • Students scoring 17 or above on the reading section of the ACT, 420 or above on the verbal section of the Recentered SAT, 36 or above on the reading skills test of the ASSET, or 30 percentile or above on the Nelson-Denny Reading Test will be considered to have met minimal reading skills requirements.
  • Students who do not meet the reading comprehension standard may petition the WLU Learning and Student Development Center for assistance in a reading comprehension program.