Intended to help institutions place their entering students in regular freshman English composition courses, the Test of Standard Written English (TSWF) is most useful to colleges that also offer alternate courses designed to improve students' understanding of the material explored by the test. The Test of Standard Written English assesses students' levels of achievement in standard written English. By "standard written English" is meant the conventionalized, edited language of most college textbooks and the language in which students will probably be asked to write most papers in college. The test does not attempt to assess the ability of students to write "creatively" or to communicate informally as they would with friends. The Test of Standard Written English does not ask students to do any writing. Rather, it presents a total of 50 multiple-choice questions of 2 basic types. Research comparing the scores of students on essays and multiple-choice questions shows that performance on questions of each type correlates highly with the ability to write standard written English. Sample questions as well as some preliminary findings are included in the document. (Author/DEP)