MDTP Calculus Readiness — got a 62%, do I have any chance of placing into calc?
Took the MDTP Calculus Readiness test last week and got a 62%. My advisor at Chico State said I needed to "score well" to place directly into Math 151 but never gave me an actual cutoff number, which is driving me crazy. Has anyone dealt with this at a CSU campus and know what the threshold actually is?
I've been out of high school for 4 years and took precalc in 12th grade but never took formal calculus. I felt okay during the test — the trig identities and function composition questions were fine, but I definitely struggled with the limits-style questions at the end. There were probably 8-10 questions that felt like they were testing intuition about rates of change that I just didn't have solid knowledge on.
The test is 50 questions and I finished in about 45 minutes. Didn't feel rushed, just wasn't confident on that final cluster. I'm trying to figure out if 62% means I'm close to the cutoff and should push my advisor to let me enroll anyway, or if I'm genuinely not ready and should take a bridge course first.
I'm also wondering whether retaking is an option — or whether my score just stands and informs placement without a formal pass/fail cutoff. The whole thing felt pretty low-stakes in how it was administered but now I'm not sure where I actually land.
You can request a retake in most cases, usually after a waiting period of 4-6 weeks. Check with the math department directly rather than your general academic advisor — they usually have more detailed info on the assessment policy and sometimes have more flexibility than the official line suggests.
62% is probably borderline depending on the campus. I scored a 58% at SFSU and they put me in a pre-calc refresher for half a semester — honestly it helped, I was way more prepared going into calc than I would've been if I'd skipped it.
At Cal Poly SLO the cutoff for direct calc placement was around 70% when I tested 3 years ago, but each campus sets its own thresholds so you really do need to get the specific number from your math department, not just your general advisor.
The limits questions at the end of the Calculus Readiness test are designed as preview items, not strict review. If those felt hard that's somewhat expected — they're partly measuring readiness rather than just testing prior knowledge you were supposed to have.
I went through this exact situation at Fresno State a few years back, and honestly the score anxiety is worse than the actual placement outcome. Every CSU campus sets its own cutoff — I've seen 60% land someone directly in calc at one school and get them routed to a precalc review at another. A 62% on the Calculus Readiness is genuinely in that gray zone, so it probably comes down to how your advisor reads the score alongside your high school transcript and any other math courses you've completed.
What I wish someone had told me: the cutoff isn't the whole story. Some advisors will let you attempt Math 151 with a score in the low 60s if you can demonstrate you understand the weak spots — trig identities, function composition, limits conceptually. When I finally sat down with my advisor and actually talked through what I missed on the test, it changed the conversation. If you want to prep for a possible retest or just feel more confident walking into that meeting, the mdtp practice test is legitimately useful for identifying exactly which sub-topics dragged your score down.
Hindsight version: I stressed about the number for weeks and ended up fine. The MDTP is a placement tool, not a verdict. Even if they put you in a bridge course, at a CSU that's usually just one extra semester — not the catastrophe it feels like right now.