CS150 Assessment

The total cost for the CS150 Assessment, which includes both the exam and the proctoring fee, is $59.99.  Payment will be collected in two stages during the registration process, half by the Center’s RegisterBlast site and half by ExPrep, the owner of the exam.  Failure to complete either step may result in an inability to take the test on the desired day.  There are no walk-ins for testing.  Directions for purchasing and scheduling:

1. Testers must complete the Center's RegisterBlast appointment form 6 days prior to the desired test date; the first part of payment will be collected at the end of the form.
2. Once Center staff have verified the appointment, the tester will receive an email with detailed instructions and an invite to the CS150 Assessment Canvas page.  Verification may take up to 48 hours to receive.
3. No less than 4 days before the test date, examinees must follow the instructions sent by the Center which include:
   • Setting up their test through Canvas.
   • Purchasing their alphanumeric code from ExPrep (the second part of payment).
   • Submitting their alphanumeric code to complete their test purchase.

Failure to complete any portion of these steps will result in an inability to test on the desired day.

The CS150 Assessment will test a student’s ability to use various Excel functions.  Each test is comprised of a workbook with 5 pages; each page will contain 1 to 6 questions that require the tester to complete a variety of objectives within the 90 minutes allotted for the test.  Though students may not go online during the exam, there is no penalty for using the “help” option built into Excel, nor is there a penalty for the number of clicks it takes to complete the objective.  However, the student will lose points if the correct function is not used as the question directs even if there are a variety of ways to reach the right answer.  Scrap paper, pencils, and a directions sheet will be provided to each tester.  Possible exam topics are below; please note that the test will not cover every topic listed and that questions may come from a variety of categories/objectives.

Study Topics

Upon completion, the test will be uploaded and then reviewed by the College of Business and ExPrep, the company who owns the examination.  Scores will be released to the Testing Center after review.  On exam day, examinees will be given the option to either have their scores sent to their SVSU email or to return to the Center to receive them verbally.  Students need a score of 75 or above to pass the assessment.

What if I don’t pass?

Students who do not receive a passing score may retake the CS150 Assessment one additional time.  However, they must wait until the following semester to retake the exam, meaning that if the assessment was taken in the summer semester, they must wait until the fall semester to try again.  After two attempts, the student must take the CS150 course.  The process to schedule a retake of the assessment is the same as the first attempt; students should register for an appointment and then follow the directions emailed by the Center staff.  It should be noted that Center staff cannot share the completed test or any test questions with students.

What if I do pass?

If a student receives a score of 75 or above, they do not have to take CS150 and may register for any class that requires that course as a prerequisite.  However, passing the assessment will not give the student the credit for CS150, meaning they must make up the 1 credit lost for this class in another way.  There are two options to do this:

• They may make the credit up by taking another course. Students should speak with their Academic Advisor about which class would be most beneficial to their degree.
• Students may take a CLEP exam to replace the credit; these exams give students college credit for various gen ed courses, including business.  For further information, please visit the Center’s CLEP website or contact the Center directly.

Because of the nature of this exam, students should contact the Testing Center immediately by either email (testing@svsu.edu) or telephone (989-964-2820) if they are unable to take their test at the day and time they have scheduled for.  A Center staff member will make every attempt to move the exam to another time slot.  If the student no longer wishes to take the exam, the Center’s cancellation policy will be adhered to.