About the Career Academy Admission Exam

As part of the Career Academy admissions process, applicants complete the MCVSD Career Academy Admission Exam. The exam assesses academic skills in two areas:

Mathematics
English Language Arts

The Admission Exam is a multiple-choice assessment. All questions provide a set of answer choices, and students record their responses on a bubble answer sheet. There are no essay or open-ended response questions.

The purpose of this guide is to help applicants and families understand the academic skills assessed, the format of the assessment, and the types of questions students may encounter. The sample questions included below are drawn from previously administered MCVSD admission exams and are provided to illustrate representative content and question formats.

Alignment to the New Jersey Student Learning Standards

The Career Academy Admission Exam includes skills reflected in identified Grade 7 and Grade 8 New Jersey Student Learning Standards for Mathematics and English Language Arts. The standards listed below are provided as a general reference for applicants and families and represent standards and skill areas that may be reflected on the assessment. The list is not intended to serve as a complete test blueprint. Individual standards listed may not appear on every administration of the exam, and the assessment may include related grade-appropriate skills or standards not specifically identified below.

Mathematics: 7.RP.A.2.c, 8.F.B.4, 7.EE.A.1, 7.EE.B.3, 7.EE.B.4.b, 7.G.A.1, 7.G.B.4, 7.G.B.5, 7.G.B.6, 7.NS.A.2.b, 7.NS.A.3, 7.RP.A.1, 7.RP.A.3, 7.SP.A.1, 7.SP.A.2, 7.SP.C.7.a, 7.SP.C.8.a, 8.EE.A.4, 8.EE.C.7.b, 8.EE.C.8.b, 8.F.B.5, 8.G.A.3, 8.G.A.5, 8.G.B.7

English Language Arts: L.7.1.C, L.7.2.A, L.7.2.B, L.7.4.B, L.7.5.A, L.8.1.B, L.8.2.A, L.8.2.C, L.8.4.C, L.8.5.A, L.8.5.B, RI.7.1, RI.7.2, RI.7.4, RI.7.5, RI.7.6, RI.7.7, RI.7.8, RI.8, RL.7.1, RL.7.2, RL.7.3, RL.7.4, RL.8.1, RL.8.2, RL.8.3, RL.8.4, RL.8.5, W.8.2.A, W.8.2.B, W.8.2.C, W.8.2.D

Mathematics

The Mathematics portion assesses students' ability to apply mathematical concepts and reasoning to mathematical and real-world problems.

Ratios and Proportional Relationships
Students may work with ratios, unit rates, proportional relationships, percentages, and multistep real-world problems.

The Number System and Expressions & Equations
Students may perform operations with rational numbers, generate equivalent expressions, and solve equations and inequalities arising from mathematical and real-world situations.

Functions and Relationships
Students may analyze relationships between variables, work with linear relationships, determine rates of change, and interpret functions in mathematical and real-world contexts.

Geometry
Students may solve problems involving scale, angles, circles, area, volume, transformations, and relationships among geometric figures.

Statistics and Probability
Students may work with samples and populations, interpret data, make statistical inferences, and apply concepts of probability.

Throughout the Mathematics portion, students may be expected to make sense of problems, reason quantitatively, select appropriate strategies, and apply their mathematical understanding in different contexts.

English Language Arts

The English Language Arts portion assesses students' ability to comprehend and analyze texts and apply their understanding of language and writing conventions.

Reading Literature
Students may determine themes, make inferences, identify supporting textual evidence, analyze characters and events, interpret words and phrases in context, and examine how elements of a literary text contribute to its meaning.

Reading Informational Text
Students may determine central ideas, identify supporting evidence, make inferences, analyze an author's purpose or point of view, and interpret information presented through text, charts, graphs, or other formats.

Vocabulary and Language
Students may determine the meaning of words and phrases in context, recognize relationships among words, interpret figurative language, and demonstrate command of grade-appropriate English usage and conventions.

Writing and Revision
Students may analyze written material for organization, clarity, development, word choice, sentence structure, grammar, and conventions and determine how writing could be improved. These skills are assessed through multiple-choice questions; students are not required to write an essay or other extended response.

Sample Questions

The following questions are examples from previously administered MCVSD Career Academy Admission Exams. They are included to demonstrate the general content, format, and level of questions students may encounter.

These examples represent only a selection of the skills that may be assessed and should not be considered a complete practice test.

Mathematics

1. Michael is helping to plan a carnival for the students of Happy Middle School. He will survey people to get the best possible information about what games to have at the carnival.

Who should Michael survey?

A. All of his cousins
B. People who attended other carnivals
C. Students in his school who plan on attending the carnival
D. Parents of students in his school

2. If a quarter is flipped twice, what is the probability that the quarter will land on tails both times?

A. 1/4
B. 1/2
C. 3/4
D. 1

3. Find the slope of the line that passes through (5, −7) and (4, 3).

A. 1/10
B. −1/10
C. 10
D. −10

4. Rachael is solving the equation:

4x − 11 = 2x + 391

Here are the first steps of her solution:

4x − 11 = 2x + 391
4x = 2x + 402
2x = 402

What did Rachael do to get 2x = 402?

A. She subtracted 2x from both sides of the equation.
B. She added 2x to both sides of the equation.
C. She divided by 2 on both sides of the equation.
D. She subtracted 4x from both sides of the equation.

5. An apartment that rented for $750 per month in 2018 was rented for $825 in 2019. What was the percent increase in rent?

A. 1.1%
B. 10%
C. 75%
D. 100.1%

6. A plumbing company charges $70 for a service call plus $65 per hour for labor. Which equation can be used to calculate the total cost (c) based on the number of hours (h) of labor?

A. h = 70c + 65
B. c = 70 + 65h
C. h = 70 + 65c
D. c = 70h + 65

English Language Arts

The English Language Arts portion includes questions based on literary and informational texts, as well as questions addressing vocabulary, language conventions, writing and revision, and literary devices. Students may be asked to read a passage and answer several multiple-choice questions based on that passage.

Read the following excerpt and answer Questions 7–9.

The following excerpt is from "Solo Solar Sailing," a passage used on a previously administered MCVSD admission exam.

Today—this moment—I'm facing my greatest challenge since setting sail from Earth for the Moon six days ago. During most of my journey, the Sun has been cooperative and calm. I got to the Moon and am on my way home to Earth. But only minutes ago, I was jolted awake by relentless clanging from the radiation alarm. Awake—two whole hours before my sleep cycle was supposed to end. Solar flares! Not good news. Really not good news. It's like a test that only has two grades: pass and fail. And I better not fail.

Quickly I slip into my protective high-pressure suit and head for the airlock. If I don't adjust the solar sail immediately, I'll be blown off course and could end up sailing to Mars.

This expedition was supposed to be routine: just an ordinary trip to the Moon and back. Still, I'm the youngest girl ever to attempt the journey alone. Despite the doomsayers, my parents have been only mildly worried; I've been sailing solar yachts with them since I was eight. And there is the Space Guard Base on the Moon. The Space Guards could send out a rescue ship if I got into serious trouble. Besides, my parents understand that I want to complete the journey on my own.

7. Which BEST describes the MAIN conflict in "Solo Solar Sailing"?

A. human vs. nature
B. youth vs. maturity
C. enjoyment vs. duty
D. human vs. technology

8. What is the meaning of the word doomsayers, used in the passage?

A. people who never worry
B. people who are pessimists
C. people who say "doom" often
D. people who are optimists

9. What is one way the narrator inspires herself when she is at risk?

A. She admires the beauty of the unusual weather.
B. She repeats the steps of how she learned to steer.
C. She remembers words her father told her about how to sail.
D. She looks forward to the party her parents will hold in her honor.

10. Pick the sentence with the CORRECT grammatical usage.

A. John and Sarah gave his presentation on climate change.
B. John and Sarah gave her presentation on climate change.
C. John and Sarah gave its presentation on climate change.
D. John and Sarah gave their presentation on climate change.

11. Which is an example of a simile?

A. The soothing music lulled the small child to sleep.
B. The crash of thunder woke the child from her nap.
C. The stars lit up the night sky, leading the hikers to the river.
D. During exam time, the students were as busy as bees.

12. Read the sentence below:

The grand finale is often a parade or a fireworks display, especially on holidays like memorial day, the fourth of July, and thanksgiving.

What is the correct way to capitalize the clause at the end of the sentence?

A. holidays like memorial Day, the fourth of july, and Thanksgiving
B. holidays like Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving
C. holidays like Memorial day, the fourth of July, and thanksgiving
D. holidays like memorial day, the Fourth of july, and thanksgiving

Answer Key

1. C; 2. A; 3. D; 4. A; 5. B; 6. B; 7. A; 8. B; 9. C; 10. D; 11. D; 12. B.

Preparing for the Admission Exam

The Career Academy Admission Exam is designed to assess academic skills reflected in the published New Jersey Student Learning Standards.

Students can prepare by continuing to engage fully in their regular mathematics and English language arts coursework, practicing careful reading and mathematical problem solving, and becoming familiar with the types of questions illustrated in this guide.

Students should read all directions and questions carefully, consider each available answer choice, and use their time thoughtfully throughout the assessment. Because all items are multiple choice, students should make sure that the response selected for each question is recorded clearly in the corresponding location on the bubble answer sheet.

The sample questions provided on this page are intended to familiarize applicants with the assessment. They should not be interpreted as a complete practice test or as an indication that only the skills represented by these questions will appear on the Admission Exam.

Important Notice Regarding Test Preparation Services

The Monmouth County Vocational School District does not endorse, recommend, or have an affiliation with any company or organization that solicits students to participate in review classes, tutoring programs, or practice tests in preparation for the MCVSD Career Academy Admission Exam.