Placement - Academic Center for Tutoring - Columbia College Chicago

New Student Placement at Columbia College Chicago is a resource to ensure that students who need credits in college level mathematics and first-year writing begin in the most appropriate level of our curriculum. All students, regardless of major, are required to complete English and mathematics courses to complete their degree, and New Student Placement can assist with making sure students begin at the most appropriate level.

English Placement
Students are required to complete The Write Class (TWC) to determine their English placement scores. As students prepare for first-semester registration, students will complete TWC and this will determine the appropriate first class a student should take in first-year writing at Columbia College Chicago.

New, incoming students will find a link to TWC on their Columbia Connect portals.

TWC is an online, multiple-measures placement process that helps determine which first-year writing class is the most appropriate for students to take. TWC takes into account the following information to determine placement: a student’s self-report of standardized test scores and high-school GPA; a student’s self-assessment of previous experiences and levels of confidence with reading and writing; a student’s thoughts about which course is appropriate, based on descriptions of each course, as well as sample assignments, instructor assumptions, and typical workload in each course.

Students who have questions regarding TWC should contact the English and Creative Writing Department directly and speak with Brendan Riley, Coordinator of First-Year Writing at briley@colum.edu
Mathematics Placement
To determine the most appropriate placement in mathematics, students without previously-earned, college-level mathematics credit are required to complete the ALEKS assessment. New, incoming students will find a link to ALEKS on their Columbia Connect portals after they submit their tuition deposit.

Continuing students without math placement scores on file can contact Academic Advising at collegeadvising@colum.edu to arrange access to ALEKS.

New and current students access ALEKS with the same login credentials they use for their Columbia email accounts.

ALEKS is not a test—at least not in the usual sense. It’s a dynamic assessment that adjusts to your skill level as you answer questions. The assessment consists of 30 questions. Most students complete it in fewer than 90 minutes, but you’ll have three hours in case you need to take a short break. Once you’ve finished, you’ll have access to learning modules that can help you brush up for your next attempt. That’s right: You can take the assessment more than once—in fact, we encourage you to do that.