Placement Exams

First and second year French placement tests for lower-division French courses (FR 601C, FR 611C ,FR 317C) are administered through the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) on campus.

Placement Testing for FR 320E and FR 322E is administered through the department approximately a week before start of the Fall and Spring semesters. Students must register for the tests by contacting Dr. Ellenor M. Shoemaker.

These tests are administered only to registered students of the University of Texas at Austin. The tests may be taken only once. To be eligible to take these tests, students must already have credit for the complete UT Austin lower-division French sequence (FR 601C, FR 611C, & FR 317C), or equivalent. Successful completion of the tests may enable a student to receive credit for the courses, but no letter grades are assigned for credit by examination. Credit earned via credit by exam does not count as credit earned in residence.

Students who take these placement tests are expected to have discussed the appropriateness of the tests with their academic advisor and to have understood how the results of the test will affect their UT transcript, the fulfillment of degree requirements and the date of their graduation. The administrator of the test does not advise students in any of these matters.

Students are required to purchase the appropriate forms for credit by departmentally administered examination from Student Testing Services. It is the responsibility of the student to deliver documentation from Instructional Assessment Resources to various offices, which include the administrator of the test, the Chair of the Department of French and Italian, and the Dean of the School or College in which the student is enrolled. The form must be obtained and the fees must be paid in order to get credit for the placement exams.

Students with prior knowledge of Italian, however acquired, who enroll for the first time in an Italian language course at the University must take a departmentally-administered Italian Placement Test, which will be used to determine in which Italian language course at the University they should enroll. This test is administered only to registered students of the University of Texas at Austin or to students who have been admitted to the University. For more information, please contact Dr. Amanda Bush.

Please note that students who have already initiated the lower-division Italian sequence are not eligible to take the Placement Test.  It is not the purpose of the Placement Test to enable students to skip courses in the sequence or to hasten the date of their graduation.  The Placement Test in Italian may be taken only once.  Students may not receive credit by examination for any course for which they already have a grade recorded on their transcript.

Successful completion of the Placement Test in Italian may enable a student to receive credit for an Italian course, but no letter grades are assigned for credit by examination.  Credit earned via credit by exam does not count as credit earned in residence.   Students should consult with their major academic advisor prior to taking this or any other placement exam.

The Placement Test is NOT administered for any of the following reasons:
    •    to enable a student to skip a course in the lower-division Italian language sequence
    •    to obtain a higher letter grade in an Italian course that the student has already taken at the University
    •    to resolve grades of "X" (incomplete) received by the student in an Italian course at the University
    •    to determine placement in Italian courses at other institutions

The test is usually offered during the week prior to the first day of classes of the fall and spring semesters. It consists of a written examination for which two hours are allotted and an oral interview of 10 to 15 minutes.

Students who take the Placement Test in Italian are expected to have discussed the appropriateness of the test with their academic advisor and to have understood how the results of the test will or will not affect their transcript, the fulfillment of degree requirements, and the date of their graduation. The administrator of the test does not advise students in any of these matters.

Students are required to purchase the appropriate forms for credit by departmentally administered examination from Student Testing Services. It is the responsibility of the student to deliver the documentation from Student Testing Services to various offices, which include the administrator of the test, the Chair of the Department of French and Italian, and the Dean of the School or College in which the student is enrolled. The form must be obtained and the fees must be paid before the student takes the Test. Students are reminded that they will need to have their University ID in hand at the time of the test.

Students planning on taking the Placement Test should refer to the syllabi, course descriptions, and textbooks of the appropriate lower-division Italian courses at the University and to the texts used in those courses.