Placement Testing

Foreign Languages

Foreign Language Placement Exam

Students who have had at least two years of language instruction in high school within the past two years, or who have acquired language skills in some other manner, are required to take a language placement examination if they wish to continue their language study at SMU.

If the period of time which has elapsed since the language was studied is longer than two years students must still take a placement exam if they wish to take any course above the beginning level.

Students who have taken an AP exam (score of 4 or 5) in their language of study are exempted from this requirement. SMU does not accept any Foreign Language CLEP exams for credit or placement.

Native speakers educated in their native language may be exempted from the placement exam. Students should contact the area chair in their language of interest.

Language Exams Offered

Online placement exams are offered in all languages taught at SMU (Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Spanish & Russian) with the exception of Hindi which is a paper exam. Students wishing to take a Hindi exam should contact Elise Pflum at eapflum@smu.edu.

 

Retroactive Credit

By taking a placement exam students have the opportunity to receive retroactive credit for beginning and intermediate courses in their language of study. Once students have completed the course into which they were placed with a grade of C or higher, they may request the retroactive credit earned (maximum of 16 credits depending on the language of study).

 

Payment

The placement exam fee is not included in any AARO fees, nor can it be bundled with any AARO or SMU payments. The fee for the placement exam is $40, payable only before the exam and only from the FLL website. Please note that after credit card information for payment is entered, students must take the test immediately and cannot postpone it to a later time. To take the test at a later date, students would need to pay the $40 fee again.

 

Online exams must be paid with a debit or credit card and a local address must be entered when asked for a billing address. The Hindi exam may be paid with $40 cash or a check made out to SMU.

 

Students who do not have access to a debit/credit card or who would prefer to pay via check or cash should arrange to take their exam in the FLTTC by e-mailing eapflum@smu.edu at least a week in advance. 

 

Timing of Exam

Incoming students must take any online language exam(s) prior to attending AARO. Advisors cannot register students for ANY language classes if he/she needs to have taken a placement exam but has not.

 

The online placement exam may be taken online at any time and from any location. The exam results do not expire, although it is suggested that students register for language classes within a reasonable time after taking the placement exam so that the testing results reflect the student’s current knowledge of the language. 

 

There is no time limit on the exam. The exam generally takes less than one hour. Please contact Rebecca Marin at 214-768-4557 if you have questions regarding services for students with disabilities.

 

Exam Access

Students do not need a SMU ID to take the placement exam. Students will register for the exam by creating an account. This user name and password are not related to any SMU passwords students may have been provided or previously created.

 

Additional Information

Although some students review for the exam, it is to a student’s advantage to have the exam reflect their current knowledge of the language. Students should remember to PRINT their score report or save to .pdf before exiting the exam. They will need to provide this documentation to their advisor for registration.

 

Questions

Additional information can be found on both the Foreign Languages and Literatures website: http://fll.smu.edu/flttc/Default.aspx as well as the language websites.

Any non-technical questions about the placement exam should be directed to:

Chinese (yxia@smu.edu)      

French (bbeaucha@smu.edu)

German (gbirrell@smu.edu)

Hindi (mbansal@smu.edu)

Italian (mgaetten@smu.edu)

Japanese (kschneid@smu.edu)

Latin (prawlins@smu.edu)

Russian (tzimakov@smu.edu)

Spanish (olvalero@smu.edu)

Technical problems should be addressed to eapflum@smu.edu.

 

Math

Six tests are offered during AARO:

Math 1303 &1304 pre-calculus: for placement only, no credit  

Math 1307,1309, 1337 & 1338: for credit  

 

Fee: $20; exact cash or check only. The math exams are at 2:30 p.m. on the first day of your AARO session. Report with  $20 exam fee to Room 208 Clements  Hall.  
 

Review sample tests online:  www.smu.edu/math/placement/

 

Which test should I take? See below; also see www.smu.edu/math/placement.  The mathematics department encourages students that have taken a strong precalculus course to take the placement exam so they do not have to repeat precalculus.  Students that have taken calculus in high school can go directly into calculus without taking a placement exam or they can receive credit for calculus by passing the appropriate credit exam. All mathematics credit exams must be taken before the first day of classes.

 

No calculators are allowed except for Math 1307, for which a calculator is required. Students who will need extra time on the placement/credit exam may request that at the door upon entering the exam. Students who need other accommodations for a disability must first contact Ms.  Rebecca Marin, Director, Services for Students with Disabilities (214-768-4557)  to verify disability and establish eligibility for accommodation.  

 

Computer Science

One credit exam for CSE 1341: Introduction to Computer Concepts is available during AARO. This exam is for students with Java programming experience who did not earn credit through an AP exam. This is NOT the Information Technology Exam.   Fee: $20, exact cash only.  For more information, please contact Professor Mark Fontenot (mfonten@lyle.smu.edu).