Foreign Language Placement Examination Information

One of the General Education requirements at Lewis & Clark College is three semesters of a single foreign language. To help determine the right course for you to take, placement exams are given once at the beginning of each academic year during New Student Orientation (NSO). We strongly recommend that you start taking courses in a language during your first semester. This will provide you with maximum flexibility in scheduling your courses and overseas study during your four years at Lewis & Clark College.

If you have studied Chinese, Classical Greek, French, German, Japanese, Latin, Russian, or Spanish in high school or abroad, you are required to take the placement exam, given in August during New Student Orientation unless you have received an AP score of 4 or 5 or an IB score of 5, 6, or 7 on higher-level examinations. These scores meet the General Education requirement in foreign languages, and, therefore, you are not required to take a language. However, if you wish to continue study of this language, the Foreign Language faculty strongly encourages you to take the exam.

Placement into the second semester of the second year of a language (202) or higher satisfies the Lewis & Clark Foreign Language requirement for the Bachelor of Arts degree.

All students are required to take the Foreign Language Placement exam unless:

• You have fulfilled the Foreign Language requirement because of AP or IB examination scores,

• You have never studied a foreign language before,

• You have studied a language not offered at Lewis & Clark (e.g., Italian),

• You have studied a language at the college level and your credits have transferred to LC, in which case you may continue with the next course in the sequence you began elsewhere. Students who wish to transfer credit in a foreign language from another college or university should NOT take the placement test.

To Register for the Spanish Placement Examination

• Spanish:

1) During the summer you must register online for the date and time you will take the exam at http://149.175.1. 56/Placement. Since the registration fills up fast, you should register as soon as possible on or after June 18, 2007.

2) Make sure you print and save your registration confirmation message with your exam date, time, and place, as you cannot change your selections.

3) If you have any disability that may affect your performance on a computerized placement test, please do not register on the Web, but rather send an e-mail to: holloway@lclark.edu, with copy to: spt@lclark.edu requesting special accommodations. You may be asked to submit documentation supporting your request.

4) The Spanish placement exam result is valid for registration purposes for one year only. If you have questions, send an e-mail to: spt@lclark.edu.

To fill in the questionnaire for Chinese, German, Greek, French, Japanese, Latin or Russian (no registration needed)

• Chinese, Classical Greek, French, German, Japanese, Latin and Russian:

Please fill out the Placement Examination Questionnaire in this packet or online at http://www.lclark. edu/dept/forlang/ placement_form.html. If you are unable to submit the form electronically, fax it to 503/768-7434. All submissions must be returned between June 14 and August 14, 2007. Placement exams will be given at 1:30 pm on Thursday, August 30 in the Miller Building. When you arrive on campus, you will be informed of the exact locations.

Special Circumstances

• If you have studied two of the languages taught at Lewis & Clark College and would like to continue to study both of them, take the placement exam in one of the languages. Then, talk to a professor in the Foreign Languages Department for individualized placement into the second language.

• If Spanish is one of your two languages, make sure that the time you choose for the Spanish placement test does not conflict with another placement test (music, math or another foreign language).