Exams
Students seeking to take Chinese, French, German, Italian, Russian or Spanish, including 100 or 101 courses, must take the placement exam online. Those with previous knowledge of Arabic or Japanese wishing to continue studying these languages must contact the appropriate language coordinator for course placement.
Transfer students with previous language credits should contact an advisor in the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Linguistics in Hodges Hall, Room 430.
Students may enroll at a higher level than the placement test indicates with coordinator approval. However, a student may not enroll at a lower level than that indicated by the placement test without written coordinator permission. Placement exams are designed to place you in a class where you have an excellent chance at success. Taking a course lower than your placement will have affect your eligibility for back credit.
Students with extensive language experience as a result of prior study, informal contact with the language or for other reasons that took place more than five years prior to admission may take the placement exam or may start with the beginning course in that language without taking the placement exam.
Students who already speak a language other than English, and are literate in their home language, should discuss the foreign language requirement with their academic advisors.
Students who transfer credit for language courses taken at another institution are not required to take the placement exam, provided there is evidence that their work is comparable to that required at WVU. Transfer students must take the placement test if course equivalency cannot be established.
Credit by placement
To be eligible for the free back credit, you must complete a placement exam before enrolling in a language class. You must have completed the course in which you were placed (or higher) with a grade of A or B to receive the back credit. Only first-time freshmen, upon enrolling at WVU, are eligible for free back credit. Please complete this form to request back credit.
How to take a placement exam
-
Online from any location
-
The
test takes approximately 25 minutes
-
Use
this link to access the exam
- You will need to create an account and password. Please ensure that the information that you enter matches your official WVU registration information.
-
After
completing the exam, please save a copy of your results for your own files.
-
Upon completing the exam, you will receive instant
notification of your score and the class in which you must enroll. This score
can take four to six weeks to be recognized by the system responsible for registration
holds. If you need immediate assistance registering for a class, then please
fill out the following form: WLLL Registration Assistance.
- The Foreign Language Placement Exam may only be taken once.
To
view your placement results at a later time:
-
Return to
the WebCAPE exam website.
- Sign in using the credentials you created previously.
-
To make a copy of these results, use your browser’s File menu
to save them to a file, print them, or send them via email.
Language Course Number Cutoff
Chinese Chinese 101 0-269
Chinese
102 270-299
Chinese 203 300-369
Chinese
204 370-399
Chinese
300-level* 400-and higher
French French 101 0-278
French 102 279-339
French 203 340-393
French 204 394-492
French 301 or 302* 493-and higher
German German 101 0-288
German
102 289-378
German
203 379-476
German
204 477-556
German
301 or 302* 557-and higher
Italian Italian 101 0-263
Italian 102 264-324
Italian 203 325-403
Italian 204 404-493
Italian 3oo-level* 494-and higher
Russian 102 253-363
Russian 203 364-385
Russian 204 386-500
Russian 300-level* 501-and higher
Spanish 102 264-324
Spanish 203 325-403
Spanish 204 404-493
Spanish 311 or 312* 494-and higher
*You may be eligible to take classes beyond those listed here. Please call the department for more information or if you have additional questions.