Placement
The University of Illinois offers both placement exams and proficiency exams. These exams will help you adjust your academic plans according to your knowledge and background.
PLACEMENT EXAMS
Placement exams allow you to demonstrate how much you have learned about a subject. Based on the results, we match you with a particular Illinois course for continued study in the subject.
- Chemistry and foreign language placement exams are available online.
- Placement into your rhetoric course is based on your highest ACT English (or SAT Critical Reading) score.
- Placement into a math course will be based on your ALEKS Math score unless you have already earned college-level course credit for Calculus I. If you have questions about the ALEKS Math exam, please contact the Math Department at 217.333.3350 or office@math.uiuc.edu.
PROFICIENCY EXAMS
Proficiency exams allow you to earn Illinois course credit if your score is sufficiently high. These are paper-and-pencil, proctored exams that are usually held at the beginning of each fall and spring semester. They allow you to show whether you have mastered the material so well that it’s as if you had taken the Illinois course itself. See www.cte.uiuc.edu/dme/placement/student/prof.htm for details.
About Placement Exams
To help first-year students start off with the right course at the appropriate level, certain colleges require placement testing in foreign language and chemistry.
Even if you have taken Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate tests in these subjects, you still must take our placement exams in math, chemistry, and foreign language because your AP and IB scores are not sent to us until after Summer Registration.
Online placement exams must be completed at least one week before you come to campus for Summer Registration, or your placement information might not be available when it’s time for you to register. In that case, you will forfeit your priority for scheduling fall courses in those subjects.
To log in and take your chemistry and language placement exams, you will need to know your University ID Number (UIN) which is located on the back of your Notice of Admission letter (included in the Admitted Student Guide packet). To log in and take your ALEKS Math exam, you will need to know your UIN, your individual access code, and the Course Code located in the instructions from the Math Department.
You may want to review the subject material before you take the exams. A low test score might place you in a class below your actual knowledge level, such that you could be repeating your high school work—in some cases, without earning academic credit. On the other hand, it is not to your advantage to have somebody else take your exams for you in order to get a higher score because a test score that is higher than your actual knowledge level could place you in a class that proves to be too difficult.
Online placement testing is done on the honor system. The scores are for placement purposes only and are not recorded on your official University academic record. Using your test results, you will work with your academic advisor during Summer Registration to choose the courses that are right for you.
Students who are authorized for extended time will have double the amount of time to complete their online placement exams. To request authorization, contact the Testing Center at Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES) at 217.333.4604 (V/TTY) or testing@disability.uiuc.edu. Students with other disabilities who will require test accommodations should also contact the Testing Center at DRES to make arrangements.
Transfer Students
The chemistry and foreign language placement exams are open to transfer students and are required only if you meet all of the following conditions:
- You have high school credit in the subject
- You have not earned college credit in the subject
- You expect to take the subject at Illinois
The ALEKS math placement exam is required only if you intend to enroll in a Calculus I course or in any course lower than the Calculus I level.
Transfer students who have questions about taking particular examinations should contact their department or college office.
For details about placement testing, visit www.cte.uiuc.edu/dme/placement.
Chemistry
The Chemistry Placement Exam is used to determine which course is the most appropriate starting point for your chemistry studies. Please note that this test is not a proficiency exam. The Chemistry Department does offer a proficiency exam immediately prior to the start of the semester. Learn more
- You MUST take the Chemistry Placement Exam if you have been admitted to one of the following academic units:
- College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences
- College of Applied Health Sciences
- College of Engineering
- Division of General Studies
- You MUST take the Chemistry Placement Exam if you have been admitted to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to pursue one of the majors or pre-professional programs listed below:
- Majors
- Astronomy
- Biochemistry
- Biological Sciences, including Biology Teaching Option
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Chemistry, including Chemistry Teaching Option
- Geography
- Geology
- Physics, including Physics Teaching Option
- Pre-Professional Programs
- Dentistry
- Medicine
- Nursing
- Optometry
- Pharmacy
- Physical Therapy
- Veterinary Medicine
- If you have been admitted to one of the following academic units, you must take the Chemistry Placement Exam ONLY IF you intend to take a chemistry course AND you have completed less than two years of chemistry in high school:
- Institute of Aviation
- College of Business
- College of Media
- College of Education
- College of Fine and Applied Arts
- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, to a program not listed above
Foreign Language
The foreign language placement exams are used to determine which course is the most appropriate starting point for your language studies at Illinois. Please note that these are not proficiency exams. Foreign language proficiency exams are offered at the beginning of each semester. Learn more
- If you plan on studying a foreign language at Illinois, you MUST take the placement exam for that language.
- If you have fulfilled your foreign language requirement AND you will not study a foreign language at Illinois, you do not need to take a foreign language placement exam. You have fulfilled the foreign language requirement if you have successfully completed:
- the fourth level of one foreign language in high school, or
- the third level of one foreign language in high school AND you will be entering the Institute of Aviation or the Colleges of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences; Applied Health Sciences; Communications; Education; Engineering; or Fine and Applied Arts.
- It is strongly recommended that you take a foreign language placement exam even though you may think you will not study a foreign language at Illinois.
- If you studied a language other than French, German, Latin, or Spanish, you cannot take an online placement exam. Instead, you need to arrange to take a placement exam with the department that teaches that language.
Non-native speakers of English:
- If you are entering Business, Communications, the Division of General Studies, or Liberal Arts and Sciences, and you have successfully completed four years of your native language and four years of English (or ESL) at the upper secondary level (senior high school), you have fulfilled the foreign language requirement. For all other colleges, you must successfully complete four years of English and three years of your native language or another foreign language.
- If your Notice of Admission states that you are required to take the English as a Second Language Placement Test (“the EPT”), then you MUST register for and take this exam. Learn more