English
Placement Testing
Entering students (that is, new college students or transfer students who have not completed and transferred
introductory English classes) at Virginia Western Community College must take the COMPASS test for placement in
English. There are two exceptions to this requirement, both of which must be documented:
- Students who completed academic or college-bound high school English with a grade of B, or better, in both
junior and senior high school levels.
- Students with SAT verbal score of 510 or higher or ACT score of 19 or higher.
For more information about the COMPASS test, including sample questions for practice, click here.
When you apply for admission to VWCC, it is recommended that you make an appointment with a college
counselor. During that meeting, you will go over your high school courses and plan your college courses. At
that time, you can discuss the English Placement test and learn all of the details for taking it.
The test is available in the college Learning Technology Center (LTC), where you can take it without
appointment. Check the LTC schedule on their web site; their hours do vary from semester to semester.
Student Resources
The following are writing, grammar, punctuation, usage, and research resources recommended by VWCC English instructors:
- MLA Guide; Bedford/St. Martin's Research and Documentation Online is an excellent guide for
constructing in-text citations and works cited. The handy drop-down menu will help you find examples for most
citation needs. Be sure to read the material in and between the examples; there are many helpful instructions
there that will help when you are using and citing sources.
- Purdue University; Purdue University has an extensive site that includes grammar guides
(also style guides, MLA, and APA guides).
- Grammar Slammer; A solid grammar site with helpful explanations, examples, and exercises. Searchable by terms.
- Exploring English; This site goes over parts of speech and punctuation in an analytical and visual way.
- Bartleby.com; This site offers a wealth of online references: encyclopedias, dictionaries, Bartlett's
Quotations, Strunk and White's Elements of Style, Gray's Anatomy, essays, and hundreds of complete literary works.
- Brown Library; The VWCC library website includes hours, staff, maps, the searchable catalog and databases,
the library handbook, and instructions for asking questions, real-time and email, to the librarians.
- Online Library Class; The research and instructional librarian, Ms. Laura Milliman, designed modules that
illustrate how to search and use the library's catalog, periodicals, and databases (Thomson Gale, JSTOR, Literature
Resource Center, MLA International Bibliography, Project Muse. Each of the nine modules is a presentation with audio
that will guide you through the process of using the library online.
- LTC Writing Center
Contact Us
Ann Moser
Department Head
amoser@virginiawestern.edu
540-857-6164
