College-bound students looking to enroll in a college or university in Florida or Texas may need to take a readiness assessment or placement test prior to starting their first year of college. Taking these exams assesses your skills in math, reading, and writing to establish your college readiness level. Refreshing your academic skills before these exams can also save you time and money by avoiding remedial classes.
We’ve compiled details about the exam you may need to take in order to be compliant with state laws. Check with your state for any potential exemptions for the exams.
About the PERT
The Postsecondary Education Readiness Test (PERT) is Florida’s college readiness test that measures college-level course placement based on students’ skills and abilities. The PERT includes three sections: math, reading, and writing.
Each exam section features 30 questions for a total of 90 questions, with only 25 questions of each section to be scored. The PERT exam is computer-adaptive, which means the difficulty of questions depends on how a test-taker answers previous questions. You cannot leave a question blank or go back and change your answer after you’ve moved onto the next question.
The scaled scores on the PERT exam range from 50-150. Achieving a score of 103 on the writing section, 106 on the reading section, and 114 on the match section is needed in order to skip lower level, remedial classes.
To take the PERT exam, you will need to register as a student at the school you’re planning to attend and obtain a student ID number. Contact your institution’s test administrator at least 10 days before your test date.
About the THEA
The Texas Higher Education Assessment (THEA) exam assesses the English, mathematics, and writing skills of freshman-level students, evaluating the college readiness of Texas students for college-level coursework.
There are 130 questions on the THEA exam, with 40 questions covering reading, 50 math questions, and 40 writing with a writing sample subsection. Test-takers will have four hours to complete the THEA exam, although you do not have to take all three sections of the THEA exam during the test session.
Each section of the THEA exam is reported on a scaled score of 100 to 300. The passing scores for the reading section is 230, with 220 for the writing section, and 230 for the math section.
To register for the THEA exam, students will need to create an account on the THEA website.
Preparing for the Exams
The best way to prepare for the PERT and THEA exams is to take practice tests. Practice tests help you identify the types of questions you can expect on the exam and assess areas within reading, writing and math where you are strong as well as struggling.
RELATED: Peterson’s Releases New College Readiness Test Prep Courses
Peterson’s offers two full-length PERT and THEA practice tests to prepare you for test day and take the exam with confidence. Start studying today!
