Placement Examination
[If you are a Barnard student please go to: http://www.barnard.edu/spanish/placement.html]
Catalan
There is no placement examination for Catalan. Students with prior knowledge of Catalan (secondary school, living abroad, near-native or native speakers) should register in what they believe to be the level appropriate to them and speak to the professor of the class about placement.
Portuguese
The Placement Examination in Portuguese consists of two parts: one written and one oral. The written part tests knowledge of grammar, reading comprehension, and writing composition. The written exam is followed by an interview that tests oral comprehension. It is offered in the Fall and Spring semesters during the first week of classes. You need to make an appointment (email José Antonio Castellanos-Pazos jc846@columbia.edu) in order to take this exam.
Should you have any questions about your placement, please contact the Coordinator of the Portuguese Language program: José Antonio Castellanos-Pazos (jc846@columbia.edu).
Spanish
Entering Columbia students are placed in Spanish courses or exempted from the language requirement on the basis of their College Board Achievement or Advanced Placement scores. All other students with prior knowledge of Spanish (secondary school, living abroad, near-native or native speakers) who want to continue studying Spanish are required to take the department's Placement Examination before registering for a course.
The Placement Examination in Spanish is an online, multiple-choice format exam that you may take at your convenience, even before your arrival on campus (see link below). It consists of questions on vocabulary, grammar and reading comprehension. There is no oral or listening part to the exam. Since it is an adaptive test, the length varies from one individual to another, with an average time of 20 minutes.
You may take this online exam ONLY ONCE at home and if necessary, once again at Columbia. Also, once you begin the exam you should not pause until the test has finished. Should you have any questions about your placement, please contact the corresponding Coordinator of the Language program for each level:
Elementary I and II (Diana Romero)
Intermediate I and II (Reyes Llopis-Garcia)
Spanish 3300 (Francisco Rosales-Varo)
The exam must represent your own work. When taking it you will be bound by Columbia University's Code of Academic Integrity, and must refrain from any activity constitutive of academic dishonesty as defined therein. (If you are a Barnard student do not proceed any further and go to: http://www.barnard.edu/spanish/placement.html)
At the exam welcome screen (see link below) you must provide all the information requested. Your score and placement recommendation will be notified to you and to the Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures immediately upon completion of the exam. Please print a copy of the results for your advisor.
After receipt of the score report, you may register in the designated course during Orientation or during the Add/Drop period. The online placement test is for diagnostic purposes only and will be supplemented by your instructor's evaluation during the first week of classes, at which time he or she may recommend a change in registration. Under no circumstances may you register for a level lower or higher than the one to which you are assigned without the explicit permission of the corresponding Coordinator of the Language program for each level.
If your score in the online test qualifies you for exemption from the language requirement at Columbia:
Fall registration - you will be required to take another version that will be offered every year on the Thursday before the beginning of classes in the fall semester from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. in Room 352 of the International Affairs Building (the Language Resource Center Computer Lab). This year it will be on Thursday, August 30, 2012. You do not need to make an appointment to sit for this exam.
Spring registration - you will be required to take another version at the Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures. You do not need to make an appointment to sit for this exam.
To take the Columbia placement exam please go to:
Address: http://webcape.byuhtrsc.org/?acct=columbia
password: roaree1 [ends with the number one]
Placement Exam Scores |
Below 280 - Spanish W 1101 (Elementary Spanish I) || |
280 - 379 - Spanish W 1102 (Elementary Spanish II) || |
300 - 379 - Spanish W 1102 or Spanish W 1120 (Comprehensive Spanish I) || |
380 - 449 - Spanish W 1201 (Intermediate Spanish I) || |
450 - 625 - Spanish W 1202 (Intermediate Spanish II) or Spanish W 1208 (Spanish for Native Speakers)|| |
470 - 625 - Spanish W 1202 or Spanish W 1220 (Comprehensive Spanish II) or Spanish W 1208 (Spanish for Native Speakers) || |
Above 625 - You may be exempt; but you will be required to take another version of the Placement examination. Fall registration - it will be offered every semester on the Thursday before the beginning of the classes from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in room 352 of the International Affairs Building (the language Resource Center Computer Lab). You do not need to make an appointment to sit for this exam. Spring registration - you can take the exam at the Department of Spanish and Portuguese; any time from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. You do not need to make an appointment to sit for this exam. |