Placement Exams

Winter 2024 Placement Exams have concluded. Please check back for information on Fall 2024 exams in September.

The Department of Asian Languages & Cultures hosts regularly scheduled placement exams during the Fall and Winter quarters only. 

It is *strongly suggested* that all students with a language background take a placement exam if they would like to take a language course in the 2023-2024 academic year. Students who enroll in level 1 of a language and already have prior experience in the language will be asked to take a placement exam. Students who need the exam to test out of a Foreign Language Requirement for their College and/or Major should take the exam during their first quarter at UCLA and should not delay the exam until their graduation. There are no make-up exams scheduled. The next available exam after Winter 2024 will be at the start of Fall 2024. We DO NOT offer exams in Spring 2024. If you are graduating in Spring 2024 and have not satisfied your foreign language requirement, please email alc@humnet.ucla.edu with your information.

Please click the link below for more information concerning specific placement exams:

Chinese – CLOSED
Japanese – CLOSED
Korean – CLOSED
Filipino – CLOSED
Hindi-Urdu – CLOSED
Indonesian – CLOSED
Thai – CLOSED
Vietnamese – CLOSED

At this time we are not able to offer make-up or individual exams.  Placement exams are offered during Fall quarter and Winter quarter only.  Placement exams are NOT offered during First-Year and Transfer orientations. For placement exam schedule please select from the languages above at least two weeks before the start of the respective quarter, examination scheduling is not available until this time at the earliest.

Please click here to submit an enrollment request if your placement exam has concluded, and you need to enroll in a language class. You must access the form through your UCLA email address. Please *DO NOT* email enrollment requests or submit requests before an exam has concluded and your results have been reported to the department.

Make-up exams or Individual placement exams are not offered, please plan accordingly. Students who miss the exam will have to wait until the next quarter or academic year it is offered.

Placement Exam Guidelines

(1)  All students are required to take a placement exam to enroll in language courses with the exception of first-level language courses (ie. Chinese 1, Japanese 1, etc.) or if the course prerequisite is satisfied by transfer credit . First-level courses are limited to students with no background in the language. 

(2) Students who wish to test out of the foreign language requirement may take the placement exam. (For a 1-year requirement, students must score a 4 or higher. For a 2-year requirement, students must score a 100A or higher.)

College of Letters and Science and Foreign Language Requirement– If a student passes out of an elementary-level language (1 year) and has not met the college language requirement, a language waiver is automatically sent to the college.  Students should NOT request an individual language waiver letter from ALC.

School of Education and Information Studies; Music; Public Affairs; and Theater, Film, and Television  – If a student passes out of three quarters or more of an elementary-level language and wishes to be waived out of the language requirement, the student must email the ALC office or meet with an ALC counselor for a language waiver letter.  Language waivers are NOT automatically sent.

School of the Arts and Architecture – If a student passes out of two quarters or more of an elementary-level language and wishes to be waived out of the language requirement, the student must email the ALC office or meet with an ALC counselor for a language waiver letter.  Language waivers are NOT automatically sent.

Major/minor language requirements– Students who need to show proof of passing out of a major/minor language requirement must email the ALC office or meet with an ALC counselor for a language waiver letter.  Language waivers are NOT automatically sent. (This includes Art History, IDS, English Departments)

College Foreign Language Requirement Exemption

Students can be exempted from this requirement in one of the following ways:

  1. College of Letters & Science (L&S) students with a F1, A1, A2 or J1 visa who are held by Admissions for ESL are exempt from the Foreign Language requirement.
  1. Any L&S UCLA student (regardless of visa status) who has attended a high school for a minimum of 2 years in which the primary language of instruction was a language other than English may petition to be exempted from the Foreign Language requirement at their UCLA College advising office (i.e. College Academic Counseling, AAP Counseling, Honors Counseling, or Athletics Counseling).  This request is made at the College advising office by turning in high school transcripts that indicate a minimum of 2 years attendance at a high school in which the primary language of instruction was in a language other than English.
  • New students who are attending a New Student Orientation session can direct these inquiries to New Student & Transition Programs, and advisors there will verify your work.
  • After orientation, students who wish to petition for this exemption can direct their petitions to your UCLA College advising office, and that advising office will verify the work.

Students who have attended a high school in which the language of instruction was both English and a language other than English do not qualify to petition to be exempted from the College of Letters & Science Foreign Language Requirement.  These students are advised to consider taking a Foreign Language Placement exam.  Placement into the 4th quarter or above of a Foreign Language will satisfy the UCLA College Foreign Language Requirement.

FAQ

I just took the placement exam, how do I know if I waived out of the language requirement?

If you placed into course 4 or higher you have fulfilled the 1 year Letters and Sciences language requirement. Additionally, the department automatically sends a note to the College to waive you out of the Foreign Language Requirement (as long as you passed into course 4 or higher of a language). It won’t be reflected on your DPR until the end of the quarter (this includes graduating seniors).

If you took a placement exam in a prior quarter and your DPR does not reflect your foreign language requirement as “satisfied”, please come to the office to verify your results to be sent to the College of Academic Counseling. You will need to provide your name, UID and the quarter you took the placement test.

I want to enroll into a language course but I’m not sure how to read my results.

Your placement score is the course you are eligible to enroll into, and you may not enroll into a higher or lower level course. Please note that language courses are sequential so you may have to wait a quarter or two before you can enroll into the course you were placed into.

I took the placement exam, but MyUCLA is not letting me enroll.

MyUCLA does not recognize your placement score, therefore the department will have to manually enroll you into the course.

Enrollment requests are processed in the order in which they are received.  Please allow 2 to 3 business days for us to process your request.  Please do not send multiple emails.  Please note that language courses are priority so if any of your other courses conflict with your language course, it’s recommended that you drop the other course or resolve your conflict before requesting to be enrolled.

How long will I be able to access my results for?

Results will be available for a limited time, so you may want to save/print the results for your records.

I need to verify my placement score with my major/minor department counselor (ie. Art History, English) what do I need to do?

If you need a language waiver for a departmental major requirement only (NOT a foreign language requirement or FLR), please email the ALC undergraduate advisor with the following information:

  1. NAME
  2. UID
  3. Year/Major (or ALC minor)
  4. Which YEAR and QUARTER did you take the placement exam, and what level were you placed into?
  5. Name and contact information of your department advisor
I missed the placement exam, when is the next placement exam?

There are no make-up exams or individual placement exams. Students who miss the exam will have to wait until the next quarter offered.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES will a make-up exam or individual placement exam be administered for any students. Please be sure to check ahead of time to note which placement tests will be held each quarter as times vary for each language.

Please plan accordingly.

Placement exams are offered during week 0 of Fall Quarter and week 1 of Winter Quarter. There are NO placement exams offered during Freshmen and Transfer orientations. Students need to check the ALC website about a month prior to the start of the quarter for exam dates and registration information: www.alc.ucla.edu.

I am a non-UCLA student interested in taking the placement exam, what should I do?

If you are a non-UCLA student interested in taking an individual placement exam, please fill out the google form and confirm your submission via email to the ALC Student Affairs Officer, Fatin Zubi.

I plan to take the Fall placement exam but I am interested in taking a language course in the Fall too. What should I do?

The department reserves a limited number of spaces in the intermediate and advanced language courses for students who plan to take the Fall placement exam. If your placement results place you into a course offered in the Fall (level 4, 100A, 100R, 101A) you will need to contact the Department for assistance with enrollment in the future.