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United States · Placement test

The ACCUPLACER Reading test

The ACCUPLACER Reading test has 20 multiple-choice questions on short and longer passages, some of them in pairs. It checks four things: information and ideas, rhetoric, putting two texts together, and vocabulary. The passages come from literature, careers, history and social studies, the humanities and science. Scores run from 200 to 300.

Free practice test

Updated October 2026 · Written from official sources, listed at the bottom of this page

What reading comprehension skills does the ACCUPLACER Reading test check?

CategoryWhat you’ll do
Information and ideasRead closely, find central ideas and themes, summarize, spot cause and effect or comparisons
RhetoricWork out how word choice, structure, point of view and purpose shape a text, and judge an argument
SynthesisConnect information and ideas across two passages
VocabularyFind what a word or phrase means in context

What the passages are like

Some passages are taken from published writing, sometimes lightly adapted, and others are written for the test. They range from fairly easy to very challenging, and they can be informative, argument or narrative.

Some questions stand alone, and others come in sets about one passage or a pair. Every skill in the table can be tested with one passage or two.

What Reading score bands show

ScoreTypical skills
200 to 220Beginning to show the basic skills for college and career
221 to 240Find clearly stated information and simple inferences in grade 9-10 texts, work out common words from context
241 to 260Handle harder texts, infer a main purpose or central idea, connect two passages
261 to 300Work out complex purposes, subtle conclusions and less common academic words

College Board publishes one statement for each of the seven bands; after the first, this table groups them in pairs. Your college decides which score places you where.

Reading and Writing: the two English tests

ACCUPLACER’s English placement uses two multiple-choice tests, Reading and Writing, and some colleges add the WritePlacer essay. If English isn’t your first language, your college may give you the ESL tests instead.

Writing test →WritePlacer essay →ESL tests →

Reading practice

Try College Board’s Reading sample questions, then a Reading practice test in the Study App. Our practice test has Reading questions with passages written into them.

Official sample questions →Our free practice test →ACCUPLACER scores →
Sources: College Board and 2 more. Checked October 2026.

Rules and fees can change, so check the official site before your test.

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