C A L C U L U S
R E A D I N E S S P L A C E M E N T
CALCULUS PLACEMENT
Many majors require Calculus (either MAT 127:
Calculus A or MAT 125: Calculus for Business and the
Social Sciences). The College of New Jersey is deeply
interested in student success in mathematics, and
college level Calculus is a more rigorous course than
the Calculus courses taught at most high schools. The
Mathematics and Statistics department has determined
that the SAT and ACT mathematics score are important
indicators for success in college level Calculus. You
must meet specified entrance requirements, based on
these scores and the high school math courses you have
taken, before enrolling in a Calculus course. If you
do not meet these requirements, you may be required
to take a lower level course. Even if you have already
taken calculus in high school, you may be placed into
precalculus due to your math scores in order to ensure
success when you take our calculus courses.
Transfer students who receive transfer credit
equivalency for Calculus will have met the
requirements for Calculus (MAT 125 or 127). Students
should check their academic requirements report to
ensure they have received proper credit.
Complete placement information can be found at http://
mathstat.pages.tcnj.edu/courses-2/calculus-requirement/.
1. Students with at least a 630 math SAT score or a
28 ACT math score. Students will be enrolled
directly into Calculus, if their program requires it.
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2. Students with a math SAT score in the 550 – 620
range or a math ACT score in the 24 – 27 range.
Students will be placed into MAT 096: Precalculus.
In order to enroll in Calculus, students must:
A. Pass a Precalculus course (either at TCNJ or another
higher education institution) or earn Precalculus credit
through credit by examination (see
https://mathstat.tcnj.edu/faqs/).
OR
B. Demonstrate mastery of Precalculus by earning a
score of 50 on the CLEP Precalculus exam from the
Collegeboard. Locations of testing centers can be found at
https://clep.collegeboard.org/search/test-centers
3. Students with a math SAT score lower than 550 or a
math ACT score lower than 24.
Students will be placed into MAT 095: Intermediate
Algebra. In order to enroll in precalculus, students must:
A. Pass an Intermediate Algebra course (either at TCNJ
or another higher education institution).
OR
B. Demonstrate mastery of Intermediate Algebra by
earning a score of 50 on the CLEP College Algebra exam
from the Collegeboard. Locations of testing centers can
be found at https://clep.collegeboard.org/search/test-
centers.
Students who would like to enroll in Calculus A should
complete both Intermediate Algebra and Precalculus prior
to the start of the semester by following the steps above
and in Section 2.
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Please Note: TCNJ does not have a mathematics placement test. It also does not have a mandatory calculus
requirement. If you do not need to take a calculus or precalculus course, please ignore this information.
