Western Governors University (WGU) Readiness Assessment
The Western Governors University (WGU) Readiness Assessment is a pre-entrance exam that assesses a prospective student's preparedness for university-level coursework. This piece is intended to serve as a guide on what an individual can reasonably expect to encounter while taking this assessment.
Western Governors University (WGU) is an increasingly popular online school because it offers various features that appeal to adult learners. Some of these appealing features include very affordable tuition, nonprofit status, multiple choices of majors and concentrations, legitimate accreditation, and an innovative competency-based model that facilitates swift degree completion.
Since WGU is designed for the adult learner who already possesses some experience with coursework at the college level, prospective students are not required to take the traditional collegiate entrance exams such as the SAT or ACT. Instead, the school requires all applicants to take and pass the WGU Readiness Assessment, which is an unproctored online exam that assesses a potential student's academic preparedness for university-level coursework. This assessment should not be taken lightly because applicants who do not pass it will not be admitted. The WGU Readiness Assessment is broken up into four separate sections. Prospective students may start with any section they choose.
Language Test
The language portion is a multiple choice exam that determines the applicant's skill level in essential topics such as reading comprehension, grammatical usage and writing. The test taker will need to answer questions after reading paragraph-long passages, select the one grammatically correct sentence out of four or five selections, and know the difference between passive and active voice. This portion contained about 30 questions and had a two hour time limit.
Math Test
The math portion is a multiple choice exam that assesses the applicant's skill level in basic topics such as arithmetic, estimation, and graphs. The test contains several word problems and perhaps one or two elementary algebraic questions. The test taker will need to be familiar with topics such as fractions, decimals, percentages, probability, absolute value, integers, plotting lines on graphs, answering word problems, symbols, the order of operations, and prealgebra. This portion contained about 20 questions and had a two hour time limit.
Admissions Inventory
This portion has an assortment of questions to help assess whether online learning is a suitable option for the prospective student. Some people learn independently with ease while others desperately need the structure of a brick-and-mortar classroom with a professor directly in front of them for guidance. This section of the WGU Readiness Assessment assists in determining if the prospective student has the self-motivation, tools and prior experiences to perform satisfactorily in online learning.
Essay Exam
Prospective students must write an essay on a randomly selected topic. Since WGU's academic programs involve numerous essay submissions, this portion of the readiness assessment examines the applicant's writing skills. Essays with less than 200 words or more than 800 words are disallowed, so the test taker must carefully monitor this aspect while writing. It is permissible to type the paper elsewhere before pasting it onto the exam. The benefit of copying/pasting is that it allows the test taker to run a spell check and word count before submitting. WGU's website advises applicants to set aside up to one hour to type and submit their essays.
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Congrats, 34 credits is not a lot! Do you have a goal for how long you want to take? I would think you should easily be able to do it in two terms without any difficulty.
I work full-time (three 12-hour night shifts per week), but I still plan to devote 20 to 30 hours per week toward my studies and be done with the program before the end of the second term.
Specializes in Med-Surge, Tele, PCU, CVICU, NSICU.
Thanks SO much for the information on the Readiness Assessment! I have a BSN (and a bachelors in chemistry) already, but have been looking into WGU for MSN and MBA. I am starting a new job in a week though, Assistant Director of Nursing for a Childrens home health agency, so I think I will wait until after summer is over to give me time to get used to the new job before I add school to the mix too.
Commuter you have to go to FASA website and do the counseling and sign the promissory letter. They do not send you any financial papers. Hope this helps.
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Commuter you have to go to FASA website and do the counseling and sign the promissory letter. They do not send you any financial papers. Hope this helps.
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Commuter you have to go to FASA website and do the counseling and sign the promissory letter. They do not send you any financial papers. Hope this helps.
Just visited the FAFSA site. It says that my application was processed successfully on 3/10/14, but there's no promissory letter or counseling form for me to electronically sign. There's.....nothing.
Thank you all Sooo much for all of the questions and comments posted. I will be applying this weekend and will see if I can start by June 1. I am a recent RN grad who is currently working as a charge nurse for a local blood bank. I am nervous about getting the practicum completed but I guess that will be one hurdle we will all have to jump when the time comes.
I would call them Monday. I completed mine in October of last year. I did not pass the readiness assessment in Nov and had to wait 3 months. The stupid math did me in! I had to wait 3 months and passed Feb 26.FASA has to send you a email telling you how much financial aid you qualify for, they told me 20k in loans. I hope you here soon, Payment has to be recieved by the 22th of the previous start month, Fingers crossed!
Well, looks like they received one of my transcripts. My other school handles transcript requests through National Student Clearinghouse. It was mailed out on 3/18/14 and it does not look like they have received it. Anyone familiar with how National Student Clearinghouse works? I may just end up putting another request in. *sigh*. Still crossing my fingers and trying to remain positive! =)
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
UPDATE: I did the intake interview with my enrollment counselor over the phone about 10 minutes ago. Everything is good to go (with the exception of my student loan amount), so it looks as if I will be starting the program on May 1st!
Specializes in Med-Surge, Tele, PCU, CVICU, NSICU.
UPDATE: I did the intake interview with my enrollment counselor over the phone about 10 minutes ago. Everything is good to go (with the exception of my student loan amount), so it looks as if I will be starting the program on May 1st!
UPDATE: I did the intake interview with my enrollment counselor over the phone about 10 minutes ago. Everything is good to go (with the exception of my student loan amount), so it looks as if I will be starting the program on May 1st!
TheCommuter, BSN, RN
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