Mathematics Placement Exam Information

Contents:

Basic Information

The Mathematics Placement Exam is not a pass-fail exam!

All incoming freshman are required to take the Mathematics Placement Exam (MPE); there are no exceptions. Incoming transfer students are highly recommended to take the Mathematics Placement Exam.

The Math Placement Exam is currently closed. The next session of the exam will open on March 16.

**All information on this page applies to the Spring 2026 session of the Mathematics Placement Exam and following sessions. Some information may not be an accurate reflection of the MPE prior to Spring 2026.**

The placement exam is online.  You may use the provided on-screen calculator during the exam. The exam has three separately timed parts.  

The placement exam gives a measure of a student's mathematical skills at the time it is taken, and the results are used to advise students on the appropriate mathematics course in which to enroll in order to complete the mathematics requirement for a particular program of study.

It is very important to take the Placement Exam seriously, honestly, and in good faith. Be just to yourself. If you are dishonest in taking the exam (for example, by using AI tools), you are likely to receive a placement for a course which is not ideal for you. The intention of the Placement Exam is to determine in which courses you are most likely to succeed and minimize estimated time to fulfillment of math requirements. The goal of the math placement team is to ensure that you will succeed in your first math course at UMD. Taking a course for which you are unprepared can be a frustrating experience, and enrollment in a course for which you are unprepared is more likely to result in needing to repeat the course.

The entry-level mathematics courses at UMCP require the permission of the department before students may register.  This is achieved primarily by the results on the Placement exam.  Statistics indicate that the majority of students who enroll in a math course beyond that indicated by the placement exam either withdraw from the course or earn D's or F's.

The entry-level mathematics courses: Math 003, 007, 013, 015, 107, 113, 115, 120, 135, 140, and Stat 100 are placed on a vertical scale as shown below, with higher courses requiring higher placement scores. Students may register for the course that they place into or any course that is below of their placement. This reflects placement protocol as of Spring 2026 and may not be an accurate reflection of eligibility levels prior to Spring 2026.

MATH135 / MATH140

MATH115 / MATH120

MATH113 / STAT100

MATH015 / MATH107

MATH013

MATH003 / MATH007

Except for Math 003, 007, 013, and 015, any of the courses on the list will serve to satisfy the University's Fundamental Studies Mathematics requirement. Math 003 is a non-credit course which serves as preparation for credit courses, and has a special fee.  Math 007 is a composite course consisting of prerequisite material for Math 107 and Math 107 content itself; successful completion of both components of this course awards credit for Math 107. Math 003 is intended as preparation for Math 113 and Math 115; students who are required to take Math 107 should enroll in Math 007. Students who are required to take Stat 100 but are eligible only for lower courses should enroll in Math 007 or Math 107.

Math 013 prepares you for Math 113 and becomes Math 113 after 5 weeks. The same is true for Math 015 becoming Math 115.  These too have a special fee. Math 107 is an applications course requiring a strong arithmetic background and experience with algebra. Math 113 requires a strong Algebra II background and is a preparation for Math 120. Stat 100 is a noncalculus introduction to probability and statistics. Math 115 is a precalculus course that requires a very strong background in Algebra II and is a preparation for Math 140. Math 120 is a calculus course for non-science majors. Math 135 is a calculus course for life science majors. It too requires a very strong precalculus background like Math 140 obtained by completing Math 115. Math 140 is a first course in calculus for science and engineering students and requires proficiency with algebraic manipulations.

What happens if a student doesn't place into the course that they need for their course of study? A student may retake the placement exam to improve a placement. However, a student may take the placement exam only once during each Math Placement Exam session. One MPE session is held over the summer (March through August) in preparation for the fall; another MPE session is held over the winter (October through January) in preparation for the spring. Any retake should be preceded by careful review and preparation (see below).

There are also course sequences which will take a student from their current mathematical level to the target program of study. There are advisors at orientation to help students plan an appropriate sequence of courses once the placement exam results are available. For instance, suppose a student needs Math 140 for a major but places into Math 107. Since Math 107 is not a preparation for Math 140, the student has several options, including the following: study independently over the summer and retake the placement exam; take Math 003, followed by Math 115 and then Math 140; or take Math 015 and then Math 140. The last type of option, involving the courses Math 007, 013 and 015, is discussed on the Developmental Math Program web page.

Students with accommodations: In order to apply accommodations, the student must be enrolled in the current MPE session on Canvas (see the bottom of this page). After enrolling in the course, contact the math placement team at  so that the accommodations can be applied. Do not begin the exam until you receive a response confirming that your accommodations are in place.

Placement Exam Schedule: The Math Placement Exam is offered in two sessions each academic year. The Summer session, which is intended for students who wish to enroll in math courses in the Fall or Winter, typically goes live in late March and is open through the end of schedule adjustment period on the Fall. The Winter session, which is intended for students who wish to enroll in math courses in the Spring or Summer, goes live in late October and is open through the end of schedule adjustment period in the Spring.

How to Prepare for the Exam

Topics include on the Mathematics Placement Exam include: simplification of expressions, exponents, linear equations in one and two variables, slope, systems of equations, inequalities, absolute value, quadratic, cubic, exponential, and logarithmic functions, roots of polynomials, composition of functions, and trigonometric functions.

To prepare for the placement exam, any review of Algebra I and II is helpful.  Other resources are described in the section below on retaking the placement exam.

It is recommended that students take a sample placement exam and review topics when necessary. Only students planning to take Math 140 need to demonstrate knowledge of trigonometry.

Go on to the sample placement exam.

The sample exam is not timed.  The actual exam is.

Preparing to Retake the Math Placement Exam

Students must wait at least two weeks after their initial attempt before retaking the Math Placement Exam.

Just retaking the Placement Exam is VERY unlikely to result in a different placement. Experience has shown that students who do not have a substantial review before retaking the exam seldom change their original placement. When preparing for the MPE, you should review material from your most recent math course. However, it is generally not recommended to learn material that is completely new to you for the purpose of scoring higher on the MPE. The Math Placement Exam is intended to understand the breadth and depth of your mathematical expreience and proficiency by assessing which concepts you have studied and mastered.

You receive three scores from your Placement Exam.

The topics associated with PART I - Arithmetic - are the following:

  • Basic artithmetic operations including order of operations
  • Fractions, decimals, percents and ratios
  • Area

The topics associated with PART II - Algebra - are the following:

  • Operations on polynomials, including factoring
  • Linear and quadratic equations in one variable
  • Linear inequalities
  • Systems of first degree equations
  • Functions
  • Graphing of first degree equations, inequalities and functions
  • Absolute value
  • Rational equations
  • Laws of exponents/fractional exponents
  • Formulas - solving for one variable in terms of other variables
  • Radical expressions/equations

(Mastery of all of the above topics would likely place you into a credited math course.)

Topics from PART III - Geometry and Precalculus - include the following:

  • All skills listed under PART II
  • Basic Trigonometry
  • Volume
  • Literal Equations
  • Trigonometric Equations
  • Periodic Functions
  • Logarithms and Exponential Functions

(Knowledge of these topics is needed for placement in a calculus sequence.)

BOOKS, SOFTWARE, VIDEOS TO USE FOR REVIEW

You have a sense of the topics that you know and the ones that you have forgetten. As you use the following resources, pick the topics you need to review. For example, if you obtain an Elementary or Intermediate Algebra text, go directly to the chapters with the topics you need to review. Similarly, if you use software, videos and web pages you may want to go directly to the portion covering topics you need to review.

You don't need to (and should not try to) use all the resources below. They provide different presentations of the same mathematics, and no matter how many resources you assemble, in the end there is no escaping the work of studying the mathematics. Use what works best for you.

Books:

  • For Elementary Algebra: Schaums Outline Series, College Algebra, Murray, Spiegel and Wagner.
  • For Intermediate Algebra: Schaums Outline Series, College Mathematics, second edition, Ayres and Schmidt.
  • OpenStax Algebra and Trigonometry

Check your local library for other elementary and intermediate algebra resources.

Review Courses:

Algebra Brush-up courses may be available at your local high school or community college.

Tutorial web pages:

Search the WEB for Intermediate Algebra Review Material.  Much is free and self-help.  Below are listed just a few. 

The references above are suggestions. A change in your placement will depend primarily on the amount and quality of the review you do.

You may also want to take the sample placement exam. 

The sample exam is not timed.  The actual exam is.

Taking the Math Placement Exam

The Math Placement Exam is currently closed. The next session of the exam will open the week of March 16, 2026 and will remain open through the end of the Fall 2026 schedule adjustment period.

Students needing a retake or with other inquiries: email name and UID to , indicating the nature of your query or request. Please allow for one full business day before sending a follow up email.

Follow the link below to take the Mathematics Placement Exam
go.umd.edu/math-place