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ACT WorkKeys Workplace Documents Assessment
ACT WorkKeys Workplace Documents is one of the ACT WorkKeys workplace assessments: a 35-item multiple-choice assessment measuring the skills individuals use when they read real workplace documents — messages, emails, letters, directions, signs, bulletins, policies, websites, contracts, and regulations — to make job-related decisions and solve problems, delivered online or on paper in 55 minutes (70 minutes for the Spanish version). Questions have four or five answer choices. Performance is reported as a Level Score across five levels of difficulty (Level 3 least complex to Level 7 most complex) and a Scale Score; there is no universal passing score — levels are matched to job profiles, and Workplace Documents is one of the three core assessments (with Applied Math and Graphic Literacy) that earn the ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate at Bronze (level 3+), Silver (4+), Gold (5+), or Platinum (6+).
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Questions35 multiple-choice items
Testing time55 minutes (English); 70 minutes (Spanish version)
ScoringNo universal passing score — Workplace Documents reports a Level Score (3 up to 7) used with job profiles for hiring and advancement decisions ('Level Scores are often used in hiring and advancements decisions'); for the NCRC, minimum level scores on all three core assessments earn Bronze (3), Silver (4), Gold (5), or Platinum (6)
Exam feeSet by the testing provider — The governing source leaves this value to the approved testing or training provider.
Prep options
Study resources for WorkKeys Workplace Documents
Independent prep
Courses and study resources
Exam overview
What to know before choosing your prep
- Who runs it
- ACT
- Category
- Workforce Readiness
- Current version
- Current specification; no public version label — the ACT WorkKeys Workplace Documents assessment as currently published on act.org
- Where it applies
- United States — national
- Exam languages
- English, Spanish
- Score scale
- Level Score 3–7 (five levels of difficulty, Level 3 least complex to Level 7 most complex); a Scale Score is also reported — ACT: NCRC assessments (Applied Math, Workplace Documents, Graphic Literacy) 'have both Level and Scale Scores', with Level Scores used for hiring/advancement and Scale Scores used to track growth over time. (The per-assessment Level-to-Scale-Score conversion table, including Workplace Documents, is published only in ACT's PDF Scale Score Interpretation Guide, which could not be opened under this wave's no-PDF rule.)
- Format
- Delivered online (computer-based) or on paper, at ACT-authorized test sites; each WorkKeys test is administered individually
- Availability
- Year-round by appointment at ACT WorkKeys test sites; examinees arrange testing through an authorized test site or an enrolled organization (ACT does not register individual examinees directly)
Exam structure
A single 35-item multiple-choice assessment of workplace reading comprehension, with four or five answer choices per question ('questions with either four or five answers from which you are to choose the correct or best answer'), across five levels of difficulty (Level 3 least complex — straightforward workplace documents such as messages and notes — through Level 7 most complex — dense, complex documents such as regulations and contracts; each level builds on the skills of previous levels); Workplace Documents is one of the three core WorkKeys assessments (with Applied Math and Graphic Literacy) that earn the National Career Readiness Certificate
Where rules vary
A uniform nationwide U.S. workplace-skills assessment: the National Career Readiness Certificate built on Workplace Documents (with Applied Math and Graphic Literacy) is described by ACT as 'a nationally recognized, portable, evidence-based credential'; no country restriction is stated for delivery.