The Mycenaean

LRHS became one of 261 high schools across the US to participate in the NC Early Math Placement Test.

The NC Early Math Placement Test contacts public high schools across the country who may have an interest in administering the tests to students. With a positive response from Leesville, math teachers chose to give the tests to underclassmen while Seniors attended the VIP Program on Thursday, April 17.

The NC Early Math Placement Test is designed to make an early prediction of what math course an individual student would take upon entry into a North Carolina College or University. The questions are all based off of the actual exam that a rising college freshman would take during college orientation.

The test is free and sponsored by the NC EMPT Program; however, taking remedial math classes in college is both expensive and time consuming. Though the classes have to be paid for, the credit hours are often not counted towards graduation. This can delay the completion of other required coursework and, depending on a student’s chosen major, a student may not be able to complete their degree requirements within four years.

The goal of the test is to reduce the number of entering freshmen that require mathematics remediation course upon entering college. The test hopes to give students a glimpse of their current academic standing and decide whether corrective action needs to be taken while there is still time in high school.

There are four levels to the NC EMPT tests. Depending on the number of questions answered correctly, a student can score a level one through four; level one indicating that the student is not yet prepared for college mathematics and level four meaning the student has acquired a solid  mathematical foundation and may just need to work on retaining the information. Some universities allow students who score a four on the actual Math Placement Test to skip their first college math course, depending on the student’s major.

For more information on the tests, contact any math teacher or visit NC EMPT’s official website.

Dyamond Howell, managing editor 2014-2015