Language Placement and Proficiency Exams FAQs

The Language Placement Exam is an online, adaptive test to measure class placement in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Russian or Spanish.

The Language Proficiency Exam is a proctored, adaptive test offered on campus or through Examity to measure proficiency in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Russian or Spanish.

The Language Placement and Proficiency Exams are available for students with prior experience in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Russian and Spanish. For more information on proficiency for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean please see the EAS Department site. For more information on proficiency for Italian, please see the Italian Department Site.

If your course placement based on the result of the proctored Proficiency Examis higher than required for your degree program, you are not required to enroll in additional second language courses. If you completed the online version of the exam as an incoming freshman, you still need to complete the proctored version of the exam to satisfy this requirement (see #2 in the next section). In all cases, you must meet with your primary academic advisor to confirm whether your proficiency meets the second language requirement for your degree program.

If you have experience with a second language but have not earned college credit for this experience, the Language Placement Exam is required before you can enroll in a course. If wish to verify your proficiency to satisfy the second language requirement for your degree program, you need to take the proctored Language Proficiency Exam.

The online version of the exam is designed for placement purposes only. If you wish to enroll in a course following completion of the online version of the exam, you are not required to complete the proctored version. If you place highly on the online version of the exam and wish to verify your proficiency to meet the second language requirement associated with your degree, then you should complete the proctored proficiency version of the exam.

If you have earned college credit in a second language, the exam is not required. Please contact the department that oversees the language you studied (these are listed below).

If you have no prior experience with a second language and wish to enroll in a course, the exam is not required (Spanish DOES require a placement score, even to enroll in SPAN 101). Please contact the department that oversees the language and courses (these are listed below). 

If you are an incoming student, you must complete the online placement exam in Next Steps regardless of any earned credits in a second language.
If you are not an incoming freshman and you have earned college credit in a second language, you do not need to complete the proctored Language Proficiency Exam.

The exam will begin being held the week before the Fall semester starts for Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Italian. French, German, Latin, Russian and Spanish are available online and anytime. For more information on proficiency for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean please see the EAS Department site. For more information on proficiency for Italian, please see the Italian Department Site.

Schedule your procotored Language Proficiency Exam within five days of your requested exam date.
For more information on proficiency for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean please see the EAS Department site. For more information on proficiency for Italian, please see the Italian Department Site.

The proctored online proficiency exam is available for French, German, Latin, Russian and Spanish.  Proficiency for  Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Italian are arranged directly though the department.

Because the exam is adaptive and not timed, the time it takes to complete will be unique for each student. On average, students complete the exam within 20 to 30 minutes.

Incoming Freshmen:

Your first attempt at the proctored proficiency exam is included in your Orientation fee if you completed the online placement exam through NextSteps.

Incoming Transfer Students:

Do not take the exam if you are transfering credit, AP, or IB scores.  Instead speak to an advisor and determine which courses you have left to complete.  Otherwise you will be charged $40 if you choose to take the LPE through NextSteps.  This fee includes your online placement exam and one proctored proficiency exam.

Second Attempts:

A $40 fee will be assessed to your Bursar's Account upon completion of the proctored Language Proficiency Exam with each successive attempt.

Although you will receive your result instantly upon completion of the exam, it will take up to one week for the result to appear in your UAccess account. 

Because the exam is designed to measure your current level of proficiency, we do not offer study guides.

Please refer to this page for a full list of the course equivalencies: https://advising.humanities.arizona.edu/second-language-proficiency/lppe-information-academic-advisors

The Language Proficiency Exam measures proficiency, but does not offer college credit. If you wish to earn units for completion of a proficiency exam, you may complete the CLEP exam that is offered by the UA Testing Office. For more information, please visit http://www.testing.arizona.edu/test/clep. Please note that the CLEP exam may be used to verify your proficiency in a second language, but must be taken prior to enrollment in a second language course at the college level.

If you studied a different language than those available for testing via the Language Proficiency Exam, please contact the corresponding departments below for information about proficiency testing:

Contact Information for Language Placement
 
Please contact the following departments for information on proficiency and placement for the following languages.
 
College of Humanities:
Greek = Classics (520) 621-1689
Portuguese = Spanish & Portuguese (520) 621-3123
 
College of Social and Behavioral Sciences:
Arabic = Middle Eastern and North African Studies (520) 621-8013
Hebrew = Judaic Studies (520) 626-5758
Navajo = Linguistics (520) 621-6897
Persian = Middle Eastern and North African Studies (520) 621-8013
Tohono O’odham = Linguistics (520) 621-6897

College of Education:
American Sign Language

Placement: ASL placement is necessary for these students:

• Students who have taken high school ASL and do not have dual credit transferring to UA
• Students who grew up with ASL, such as CODA but have no ASL college credit
• Students whose credit has been evaluated and is not transferring directly

If you need ASL placement based on the above, complete the form at https://forms.gle/9ya91ptiYS8gs4hq5

For any questions about ASL placement, proficiency and courses, please contact Alex Lynch at xander@arizona.edu.

Is your language not listed? Contact the Department of Linguistics at (520) 621-6897

The result of Language Placement Exams for incoming freshmen will appear shortly before your New Student Orientation session. At that time, the indicator on the Next Steps page will reflect completion of this step.

If you have studied more than one language, you should complete one Language Placement Exam for each language. As long as you complete the exams during one scheduled appointment time, you will only be assessed one exam fee.

As long as you have not earned college credit for the language since the last time you completed the exam, you may take it again. Please note you will be assessed the exam fee for each attempt.

If you have any additional questions about the Language Placement or Proficiency Exams, please contact the College of Humanities Academic Advising Center at cohadv@arizona.edu.