Wallace Community College requires a comprehensive assessment of students upon admission to the College and prior to enrollment in associate degree or certificate programs. Unless a student meets one of the exemptions listed below, all first-time students are assessed in the areas of English and mathematics through administration of the ACCUPLACER® Inventory and placed at the appropriate level as indicated by the assessment results. Students who are not satisfied with their placement in assigned developmental courses may retake the ACCUPLACER® Inventory. Students will be given a different version of the tests. Students must pay $10 per subject to retest ACCUPLACER® Inventory. Testing must be completed in one session. Students testing into developmental courses must remain in those courses unless they satisfy requirements by retesting. Test scores are valid for a five-year period from the date of the original retest assessment. After five years, scores become invalid and students must retest. No fee is charged to retest if scores are invalid.
EXEMPTIONS
Students are exempt from assessment requirements in a specific subject area if they meet one of the following criteria:
- Score 510 or above on the new SAT® mathematics and writing, or score 18 or above on the ACT® mathematics and English and enroll within five years of high school graduation.
- Possess an associate degree or higher.
- Transfer degree-creditable, college-level English or mathematics courses with a grade of C or better.
- Be a student who is enrolling for personal enrichment purposes only.
- Be enrolled in a particular short certificate program having no English, mathematics, or reading requirements.
- Have completed required developmental coursework at another Alabama Community College System institution within the last three years.
- Be an audit or transient student.
- Be able to provide documentation of assessment (ASSET® or ACCUPLACER®) within the last five years.
Students may enroll in college-level courses while enrolled in developmental courses only if the discipline is different from the discipline in which they score below the standard placement score. Students who score below the standard placement score of Wallace Community College are placed into a developmental course of instruction in a given discipline(s) and must remain in the discipline(s) until academic competencies are developed. Students enrolled in developmental courses in two of the discipline areas of English and mathematics, and will receive specialized advising focused on their unique academic needs.