The Spanish Placement Exam
Students who have had 2 or more years of high school Spanish or an equivalent experience in the target language are required to take the placement test in order to be placed into the most appropriate Spanish course. Although students often mistakenly think it is easier to start over again with Spanish 121, most students with some background can finish up the requirement more quickly and less expensively by placing into Spanish 122 or higher.
Students may be eligible to receive credit for any course out of which they have placed. The placement test may not be used to earn credit if the student already has received college or university level credit elsewhere or has enrolled in a course in that language at this university.
Students with two years of more high school study of Spanish must take the Web-based Computer-Adaptive Placement Exam. There is no fee for this test and pre-registration is not required.
In order to take the exam, students should go to the North or South Centers or the Language Laboratory in HUM 104E and take the exam on a computer there.
Before students begin the exam, they are required to enter into the computer identifying information such as name, student ID number and e-mail address, as well as complete a short survey regarding their previous language study.
The results of the exam will be posted on the screen immediately after the exam is completed. Students may print their results off of the screen or access their scores from the exam database at a later date.
When a student is placed into a course, credit toward graduation will be awarded only if the student successfully completes the class into which she/he has placed. Any credit earned by placement testing will be posted on the student's record only after completion of a regular semester of full-time study (or 12 semester hours) at the University of Louisville. Please note that it may take up to 2 semesters for the credit to appear on a student's record.
Heritage speakers
Heritage (or native speakers) or students with a background in Spanish through other means should contact the chair of the Department of Classical and Modern Languages before taking the Spanish Placement Exam.
No credit will be given for 100- and 200-level language courses to any student for whom this is the native language. However, students may obtain credit for courses in linguistics, culture or literature numbered 300 or above in their native language by extramural examination or by taking the courses.Placement test cutoffs
The following are the cutoff scores for placement into Spanish 121/141, 122, 201 and 321/322/355. Please note that students may place into Spanish 121 or 122, but not into 123 of the beginning language sequence. Rather, students who place out of 122 are placed into 201, Continuing Spanish I, the most appropriate skills review course for them.
| below 281 |
Spanish 121 or Spanish141 |
| 281 - 337 |
Spanish 122 |
| 338 - 418 |
Spanish 201 |
| above 418 |
Spanish 321, 322 or 355 |
A student with a placement score at the extremes of an indicated range should consult a department advisor to consider other factors before shifting to a higher- or lower-level course.
Information on other language exams (eg. CLEP, AP).
This page last edited on
Monday, September 8th 2008
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