Placement Testing

Please contact admissions at admissions@lakemichigancollege.edu if you have any doubt about whether you should test, or what testing you should take, if needed.

You do not have to take a placement test if one of the following applies to you:

• Have a high school GPA of 2.5 or higher (this meets English and Reading minimum scores; you may still need to take math placement)
• You submit ACT or SAT scores at or above current qualifying levels for E, M, and R prerequisites (see table). Documentation of current qualifying levels will be maintained in the Testing Center.
• You have an associate degree or higher, based on documentation.
• You have a minimum grade of “C” in the equivalent of a college-level freshman composition course and a college-level algebra course, based on documentation.
• You have documented transfer credit in a college-level composition class will be exempt from the reading and writing portions of the test. Those students with documented transfer credit in intermediate algebra will be exempt from the math portion of placement testing.
• You are enrolling ONLY in courses with no prerequisites as printed in the current LMC College Catalog.
• You are taking non-credit courses and courses for continuing education units (CEUs).

If you don't have test scores or transcripts, please connect with an advisor or admissions specialist to verify whether you need to take a placement test.

Submit Your Transcripts

Send us your high school and/or college transcripts. Contact your high school, college or university you have previously attended to order your official transcripts. Your transcripts should be sent directly from your high school or college to LMC, not to you.

Submit Your ACT or SAT scores

• if you have ACT or SAT test scores from a test completed in the past 5 years, you may not need to take placement testing. See below to learn about placement testing exemptions. 
  • Send us your ACT or SAT scores - order your scores from ACT or SAT and have them sent to Lake Michigan College using the school codes below.
    • SAT school code
      1137
    • ACT school code
      1976

If you have taken Accuplacer at another school, contact that school to have your scores sent to testingservices@lakemichigancollege.edu.

On-campus testing appointments

Benton Harbor Campus

(269) 927-6173
Main Building Room L-193/194

Testing is offered at the Benton Harbor Campus by appointment only.

• Current students should log in with your LMC single sign-on credentials (use your LMC email)
• Future students can schedule without LMC credentials

Students may start placement tests by appointment on the Benton Harbor Campus during the following times:

Accuplacer testing is available without an appointment at the Niles and South Haven campuses during regular business hours (allow yourself 2-4 hours to complete testing). Call in advance to confirm that a certified Accuplacer proctor is available.

Berrien Innovation Center (formerly Niles Campus)

Call or text (269) 695-1391 
Room 108

South Haven Campus

Call or text (269) 637-7500 
Room 123

Remote testing appointments

Remote placement testing is very limited and must be scheduled by emailing testingservices@lakemichigancollege.edu or call (269) 927-6173.  

• Each placement testing session that includes WritePlacer for E (English) and R (Reading) and Quantitative (for M) requires approximately 2 to 3 hours.
• A photo ID must be presented to take a placement test. There is no charge for the placement test. 
• Upon request, students with disabilities, with documentation on file in the Disability Support Services, will be provided special testing accommodations; DSS can be contacted at (269) 927-8866.
• Before testing, students are strongly encouraged to use prepare using review and practice handouts found at ACCUPLACER.

Additional Accuplacer review resources:

• Get the FREE, web-based Accuplacer study app.
  • Create an account to sign up, or login if you are returning.
  • Follow the prompts to access the app. You can use it as many times as you wish.
• Accuplacer sample questions
• Watch videos at Khan Academy
• An in-depth review of quantitative reasoning (pdf download)
• PCAT Quantitative Reasoning Practice Test. This is a full quantitative reasoning review that goes all the way up to higher math, but lower level questions are still helpful.
• WritePlacer essay examples (pdf download) show you what essays of all levels look like; look at all of them, but work on producing the ones that score 5, 6, 7, or 8.

Contact Admissions at admissions@lakemichigancollege.edu after your testing is complete.

English, mathematics, and reading basic skills prerequisites for college classes are listed in the course description section of the college catalog as E-English, M-Mathematics or R-Reading.

The initial placement test is completed as a unit; however, students may retake each portion once.

If you need to send your LMC placement scores to another school, submit a Placement Score Request Form.