placement testing
Testing Day Schedule Overview
2:00 p.m. Check-in for Mathematics Diagnostic Exam
2:30 p.m. Mathematics Diagnostics Exam
3:30 p.m. Check-in for Writing Placement Exam
4:00 p.m. Writing Placement Exam
5:30 p.m. Dinner with Orientation Leaders
Some new students need to take placement and/or diagnostic exams in a foreign language, writing and/or mathematics to identify appropriate courses. While transfer students do not need to take placement exams, all freshmen should review the personalized Registration Confirmation to determine whether or not you need to take one or more of these exams. The Foreign Language Placement Exam should be taken online prior to attending your Orientation session. Students who need to take the Mathematics Diagnostic Exam and/or the Writing Placement Exam need to participate in Testing Day the day prior to your Orientation session.
Foreign Language Placement Exam
Students who did not successfully complete three years of the same language during high school with a grade point average of 3.0 or higher are required to take the Foreign Language Placement Exam. For Spanish, French and German languages, the placement exam should be taken online prior to attending Orientation. For other languages offered at SMC, including Italian, Japanese, Latin and Greek, an exam will be conducted with a professor during the first week of classes in order to determine the appropriate course in which to enroll. For any questions regarding language placement or proficiency, please contact Modern Languages Faculty member Lori Spicher (lspicher@stmarys-ca.edu).
Take the Foreign Language Placement Exam
Mathematics Diagnostic Exam
The Mathematics Diagnostic Exam is designed to assess your readiness for Calculus; therefore any student planning to enroll in a Calculus course, including students who are considering a major in biology, biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, economics (B.S.), engineering, environmental science, health science, mathematics, or physics, or are interested in the health professions such as pre-med, physical therapy, pre-veterinary or pre-dentistry is required to take the Mathematics Diagnostic Exam.
Writing Placement Exam
All freshmen take an English class during their first semester. Students who received a score of less than 500 on the Critical Reading section of the SAT Reasoning Test or a score of less than 22 on the English section of the ACT must take the writing placement exam. Results from this exam will determine if you will be placed in English 3 (Practice in Writing) or English 4 (Composition). Students with Advanced Placement scores of 4 or higher on the English Language and Composition or English Literature exam or Higher Level IB scores of 5 or higher on the English A1 exam are exempt from English 4 and should take English 5 (Argument and Research) during their first year.
