Parents,
If your child is planning to enroll in a dual credit course (Heartland’s College NOW program) for the
2015-2016 school year, please continue reading.
To be eligible for a dual credit course, students must have applied to HCC and must demonstrate college
readiness by meeting pre-determined benchmark scores on the COMPASS assessment. Please read the
information below to determine which scenario applies to your child.
Students Currently Enrolled in a Dual Credit Course:
 If your child is enrolled in an English, Social Studies or Science dual credit course, they do not
have to take the Reading or English COMPASS assessment.
 If your child is enrolled in an English, Social Studies or Science dual credit course and is
interested in taking Finite Math next year, they will need to take the Math COMPASS
assessment.
Students not currently enrolled in a Dual Credit Course:
 Must take the Reading and the English assessment if interested in taking any English, Social
Studies or Science dual credit course(s).
 Must take the Math COMPASS assessment if interested in Exploring Math or dual credit Finite
Math.
*Students that are exempt from the English or Reading COMPASS assessment (due to PLAN
scores) have already received a note from their guidance counselor.
Students not currently enrolled in a Dual Credit Course but applied to Heartland last year or took a
COMPASS assessment last year:
 Do not need to re-apply to Heartland.
 Should only re-assess (take COMPASS again) if scores did not meet college readiness
benchmarks OR if student is interested in Finite Math or Exploring Math and they did not take
the Math assessment last year.
If your child demonstrated College Readiness through PLAN scores, they have already received a note
from their guidance counselor. If your child has taken the ACT and their scores meet the benchmarks
listed below, they need to take a copy of the ACT results to their guidance counselor to verify
exemption by Friday, October 24th. The following are the minimum scores required to be exempt
from taking the COMPASS assessment:
English 19
Reading 21
*All students interested in taking a math dual credit course are required to take the Math COMPASS
assessment.
To register for the college readiness assessment, COMPASS, students will need to click on the link
below. COMPASS testing will be on Saturday, November 8th at Heartland Community College.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1xH_0AJHaQ_FklDPgkK9liLJz8aJQeWkcZTssz9ezzwE/viewform
Please encourage your child to have a conversation with their guidance counselor if they are unsure as
to which COMPASS assessment they are required to take. Students must register for the COMPASS
assessment by Friday, October, 31st. Please encourage your child to sign up soon as there are a
limited number of seats in each of the testing sessions. Testing session details can be found by clicking
on the link above.
If your child cannot attend the November 8th testing session, they need to visit the guidance office to
sign up for the Thursday, November 13th 4:00 p.m. make-up testing session. The deadline for make-up
test registration is Thursday, November 6th.
Thank you.