Yes, performance on the Math Placement Assessment (MPA) will be used to place students into the appropriate UCR entry level Mathematics course. If students attempt to enroll in classes at a higher level than the one indicated by their placement, their registration will be blocked. Students’ Academic Advisors may suggest enrolling in a lower level course to gain stronger skills and understanding before enrolling in the course in which they placed.

No. You must make an appointment with ProctorU. The appointment must be made 72 hours in advance.

Students may visit an academic advisor in their college or department in person to receive their placement information. In addition, students may request their placement information at the Academic Resource Center with picture ID.

Students will be given 1 unproctored attempt for practice and 2 proctored attempts on the MPA. Only proctored attempt scores will be used for placement. The highest of the 2 proctored scores will be used to place the student into a math class at UCR.

The Math Placement Assessment (MPA) uses ALEKS PPL which is an adaptive testing system.
Students will have up to 3 attempts in ALEKS PPL.

• Attempt 1 - Unproctored. Initial assessment to gauge where the students knowledge is at that time. Students should think of this as a practice attempt. Do NOT log into ProctorU while taking the initial assessment as it will not count for placement.
• Attempt 2 - Proctored. 1st proctored attempt for placement. If the student is happy with this placement, the second proctored attempt is not required. 3 hours of prep in ALEKS PPL is required to unlock attempt 2.
• Attempt 3 - Proctored. 2nd/Final proctored attempt for students to try to improve their score. 3 more hours of prep in ALEKS PPL after taking the 1st proctored attempt is required to unlock 2nd/Final proctored attempt.

IMPORTANT: All students that are placed into Math 3 on the first attempt are strongly encouraged to take the second attempt in order to improve the score.

Also, exam scores expire after one year so a student with a placement other than Math 3 must retake the exam to update their placement.

No, you cannot retake the MPA once you've registered for a class. Once a student registers for a math class, that student is no longer eligible to take a second attempt. Second proctored attempts are rejected by the system if a student is registered in a math class at the time that the attempt is uploaded into the system.

Students are urged to complete the MPA before the your Highlander Orientation session begins in order to be prepared to enroll in a math class if needed.

Since the MPA is online, this should not be an issue for most.

Your time during Highlander Orientation is highly structured and you will be busy. So taking it during your session is not possible.

IMPORTANT: If you need to enroll into a UCR Mathematics course, you need to take the MPA or have an acceptable alternative as stated on the MPA website. Many disciplines including Chemistry and Biology, require Mathematics before enrolling into entry level courses in these fields. Therefore, students who have not taken the MPA before they start an orientation session may be severely limited in their registration for Fall classes during Highlander Orientation sessions.

No. There are no electronic devices of any kind allowed on the MPA including, but not limited to, calculators, tablets, cell phones, mp3 players, smart watches etc.

No. No assistance of any kind is allowed on the MPA. You may only use something to write with and blank scratch paper to work out problems.

All students who plan to enter a major that requires at least one course in Mathematics should take the Math Placement Assessment (MPA) for appropriate placement. Undeclared students should consider if a major that they are considering requires at least one course in Mathematics.

Results will be shown to the student immediately after submitting the assessment.

Also, Students that are entering UCR in the Fall can find MPA results via R'Web. Log into your R'Web account and select "Student Profile"-->"Prior Education and Testing" to see all your placement exam results.
To find your math placement, look for "MAE: Placed into Math" and the number next to this entry will denote which class you placed into. For example, if "MAE: Placed into Math" says 09A, then the student placed into Math 9A.

Since MPA results are part of a student's confidential academic record, by federal law, the Academic Resource Center cannot give out results by telephone, FAX, or to a person other than the student taking the exam.

You can make an appointment with ProctorU to take a proctored attempt.

You do not need to make an appointment when taking the initial assessment (attempt 1 in ALEKS). Unproctored attempts are for practice and do not count toward your final placement even if taken with a proctor.

Results will be shown to the student immediately after submitting the assessment. But it will take some time for us to process and upload results.

We process and upload results once a week. Confirmation emails are sent out the morning after results have posted.
Only exams that are completed by the cutoff time will be processed in that batch. Any attempts completed after the processing time will be processed the following week.

Click on the MPA Calendar section to see when the exam is available and when results are processed.

DURING HIGHLANDER ORIENTATION: We process results twice a week. Confirmation emails are sent out once we confirm that the results have posted to the system.
Only exams that are completed by the processing deadline will be processed in that batch. Any attempts completed after the processing time will be processed with the next batch.

The MPA, AP scores, IB scores and transfer credit all act as prerequisites for math classes at UCR. While you will not be notified, you can check to see if your scores or grades are posted in R'Web (Student Profile -->Prior Education and Testing). So once those are posted in R'Web, you'll be able to register for a math class during your scheduled time.

It is your responsibility to have your score or transcripts sent to UCR in order for them to be posted in the system and the exemption to show in R'Web.

You can visit the Admissions website if you need help submitting your scores or transcripts.

Yes, there is a fee for the MPA. The Math Placement Assessment cost is $62 and is charged to any student that creates an account in ALEKS. This fee is paid to UCR and includes access to ALEKS PPL and 2 proctoring sessions with ProctorU. Do NOT pay any fees to ALEKS or ProctorU.

IMPORTANT: This fee is not contingent on attending UCR. The fee will be billed to student accounts even if the student does not attend UCR.

UCR students, Summer Session students and Summer Academy students will have the fee assessed on their student account if they have created an ALEKS account.

Student that are taking classes via UCR Extension will need to pay for the MPA BEFORE registering in ALEKS PPL.

ONE LAST IMPORTANT NOTE: We highly recommend that student schedule at least 72 hours (3 days) in advance with ProctorU. Any exams scheduled inside 72 hours from the desired appointment will incur a Premium Scheduling Fee (PSF) from ProctorU. This PSF is not part of the fee that UCR charges and students must pay it directly to ProctorU at the time of scheduling. This PSF is very much avoidable by planning ahead and scheduling early.

If a student's major requires them to take a math class at UCR, then the student is required to take the MPA unless the student has one of the alternatives below.

Any one of the following conditions are alternative ways to be placed into a math class at UCR:

• Receiving a score of 2 on the AB Advanced Placement Calculus Exam ( or on the AB subscore of the BC AP Calculus Exam) will allow a student to enroll into Math 4 or Math 5. Students that score a 2 on the AP exam are still encouraged to take the MAE to see if they can qualify to take Math 9A/7A (calculus). No course credit is given for the score of 2.


• Receiving a score of 3, 4 or 5 on either the AB or BC Advanced Placement Calculus Exam. If a student takes the AB version and scored a 3 or higher, course credit for either Math 9A or 7A is given. If a student takes the BC version and scored a 3 or higher, then credit for Math 9A & 9B or Math 7A & 7B is given. Credit for Math 9 or Math 7 is determined by the students major.


• Have transferable college credit at the Pre-Calculus (Math 5 at UCR) level or higher from an accredited institution of higher education


• Passing score of 5 or higher on the International Baccalaureate Higher Level Math Exam.

Important Notes:
Just taking an AP Calculus class or IB Math in high school does not earn an exemption. In order to be exempt from the MPA, a students needs to take the exam and earn a sufficiently high score.

If an alternative isn't posted to the system prior to attending orientation, the student will not be able to register for a math class. In this case, the student should consider taking the MPA to have a placement. If the student's alternative ends up posting to the system, those will override the result of the MPA.

Please arrive on time! ProctorU gives you 15 minutes after your scheduled time to start check in.

* Photo Identification. Students need to present photo identification at check-in, or they will not be allowed to take the exam.

* Students will need to know their student ID numbers (86xxxxxxx).

* No calculating devices of any kind are permitted for the Math Placement Assessment (MPA).

A photocopy or picture of the ID will NOT be accepted.

Acceptable IDs include:

* UCR ID Card
* Driver's Licenses or other state photo identity cards issued by Department of Motor Vehicles
(or equivalent)
* High School issued ID card
* U.S. passport
* U.S. passport card
* DHS "Trusted Traveler" cards (Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, FAST)
* U.S. Military ID (active duty or retired military and their dependents, and DOD civilians)
* Permanent Resident Card
* Border Crossing Card
* DHS-designated enhanced driver's license
* Native American Tribal Photo ID
* HSPD-12 PIV Card
* An airline or airport-issued ID (if issued under a TSA-approved security plan)
* A foreign government-issued passport
* Canadian provincial driver's license or Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) card
* Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC)

In order to use ProctorU, you will need a high-speed internet connection, a webcam (internal or external), a Windows or Apple operating system, and a government issued photo ID.

If you don't have equipment to take the proctored exam, please contact us at math.testing@ucr.edu and we'll assist you to come up with a solution.

CONTACT THE MAE STAFF WITH ANY QUESTIONS
math.testing@ucr.edu

You can utilize places like your high school computer lab/library, local library, a family or friend's home, etc.

CONTACT THE ARC STAFF WITH ANY QUESTIONS: math.testing@ucr.edu

Please contact the MPA team at math.testing@ucr.edu. Someone will contact you to resolve any problems that you have. We are here to help!!

Here are all placements possible on the MPA (formerly the MAE). Placing into a higher course than listed requires AP credit or transfer credit. Placements are based on score and major.

If a student places into Math 3 on their first proctored attempt, we strongly encourage the student to take a second proctored attempt in order to improve their placement. Statistically, of the students that place at the Math 3 level on the first proctored attempt, about half place higher when taking a 2nd attempt.

The Math Placement Assessment (MPA) is used to place first year students into an appropriate entry-level Mathematics course. The MPA is a skills assessment. So it is not necessary to study for the MPA. Students will have a chance to take a practice attempt and do some prep work in ALEKS PPL prior to taking a proctored attempt. The MPA is designed to place students into a math course in which they can be successful in their first quarter at UCR.

All majors in the Bourns College of Engineering (BCOE) and the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (CNAS), and many programs in the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS) require at least one course in Mathematics.

The MPA uses ALEKS PPL as the tool to measure students math skills. ALEKS PPL is an adaptive exam that covers topics up to Calculus. No calculus topics are on the exam. Since the exam is adaptive, ALEKS PPL does not publish a list of specific topics since students will only see topics within their skill range. 

Also, the MPA is a skills assessment, so the expectation is that students will not be studying for the exam. Studying could artificially inflate scores and place students into a course that they are not ready to take. 

With that said, the MPA is set up to allow students one mandatory practice attempt followed by a minimum of 3 hours of prep time before the next attempt is unlocked. So students will have a chance to see the topics within their skill range and get some assistance in improving their score.

Making an appointment is important in order to ensure that a proctor will be available to proctor the exam for you.

If you do not notify ProctorU that you will not be taking the exam, then you might be charged for the proctoring of exam.

Please do not miss your scheduled appointment. At minimum, cancel your appointment in advance.