<p>Still had to take them 3 years ago, your link says they are needed. You/student can email UW and check for the official line. No placement test in foreign language needed if that language is not planned in college.</p>
<p>D2 called and asked. They said all students must take them. But then they tell students who arrive early for placement testing that they’re exempt, as described in my first post. Why the discrepancy?</p>
<p>Even Yale accepts AP Exam scores in lieu of placement testing.
[Freshman</a> Placement and Acceleration | Yale College Programs of Study](<a href=“Yale College”>Yale College)</p>
<p>UW could save money by eliminating redundant placement testing for students who already have high AP Exam scores.</p>
<p>When I went last year, you did not have to take the math placement test score if you received a 4 or 5 on the AB exam or above a 3 on the BC exam I believe. To see if they have received your scores yet, log into myuw, go to student center, and click placement test scores under my academics. They should be down at the bottom. Looking at mine now, my AP scores weren’t loaded until June 30th so you will still have to take the tests without them. I’m not sure about the english test and AP scores, but you are not required to take the foreign language test but it would be a good idea to try if you are planning on taking a foreign language anytime during your college career.</p>
<p>That seems to be what people are saying about the Math placement Exam, Michael, but UW’s SOAR web site and personal contact with SOAR program representatives indicate otherwise - they say the students have to take the tests regardless of prior AP Exam scores.</p>
<p>The answers were not all that straight forward but here’s what I learned. If they have the APs they do not HAVE to take the math placement test at SOAR. They can take it later either during Welcome Week or even first semester. They (UW System Testing people who give the tests) REALLY REALLY want everyone to take it because they use the data to check how students do in subsequent math or related classes like stats for Psych that they might not be planning to take when they first enroll. Basically they want to have everyone in the entrie UW System with a record on the placement exam so they can track how they do later at UW in any math related classes. Would they hunt you down if you don’t take it–probably not but if you need to enroll in some class later where they want the placement score they might want you to take it later.</p>
<p>So there you have it. I’d say just take it and not worry about it.</p>
<p>Thanks, barrons. A reason like that makes more sense. Why don’t they just say want to be able to correlate Math placement test scores to successes in subsequent classes? </p>
<p>Are the placement test scores really predictive or valid for students who already have credit for two semesters of Calculus and one of Stats, though? Presumably there could be two different students with the same score - one with the AP credits as stated, and another who only took math up to pre-Calc (the placement test only tests up to a certain level of knowledge). Does information that imprecise really help anyone?</p>
<p>I think it comes down to the exam people being part of an entirely different group that tests all freshman at all UW schools. So things get a little lost in translation. The testing site which is linked from the SOAR site has lots of stuff about what they do and why.</p>
<p>“Thanks for your feedback. We have not heard of any cases where students would be turned away from placement testing like that. Advisers aren’t able to review each student’s individual records of AP tests/incoming credits/etc. until at the SOAR session. Therefore all incoming freshmen are required to take the tests so that a score his on hand to use if for some reason AP classes don’t transfer to university requirements, or if the scores haven’t been submitted to the university yet by the College Board (often a problem for AP tests just taken this spring). We don’t know the circumstances under which the student you know of was told they didn’t need to take the test, but this is not a common occurrence and we will look into making sure that testing services is relaying the same message to students”</p>
<p>Thanks again, barrons - you are excellent at researching and following through on issues, to everyone’s benefit! While it’s true that UW won’t have THIS year’s AP scores in time for many of this year’s SOAR sessions, there are quite a few kids who have AP scores from 10th and 11th (and some even from 9th!) grades that either bring their AP Score Reports with them (UW tells students to bring them to SOAR) or have already sent prior scores to UW. Perhaps those are the kids who are told they don’t need to take the tests.</p>
<p>It will be interesting to see what they say regarding prior AP scores at this year’s testing…</p>
<p>“…the student committee Friday voted in favor of imposing an annual fee of $274 per student.
…students would pay an extra $1,100 or so over the course of a four-year degree.”</p>
<p>That’s far short of the $7,500 surcharge we’re going to have to pay over the course of 4 years, barrons. And many fee-paying students WILL directly benefit from the improvement. The HUB fee increase won’t be implemented until 2011 or 2012, with the renovated HUB reopening in 2013.</p>
<p>Yes, but that’s just for a student union which is nice but has zero to do with getting needed classes or hiring more people. It’s a tuition hike, and an overdue one at that; get over it. They will spend it on current students as fast as they can. Until they can hire tenure track ones they will hire adjuncts to add sections of needed classes. It’s still cheaper than where many OOS schools will end up this year when the budgets are finalized.</p>
<p>I’d get over it if 1) my D2 isn’t shut out of any classes she needs to take this year, or any subsequent year. What are the odds of that happening? …and 2) UW would have notified this year’s applicants that they were contemplating charging a HUGE unexpected ‘surcharge.’ These kids (applicants) were blindsided with this surcharge and had NO say in the matter whatsoever, even though they are the ones who will have to pay an extra $1,000 or $3,000 (in-state and OOS, respectively, for the 4th year of the surcharge) more than any of the current students who DID have a chance to voice their opinion.</p>
<p>It’s the attitude you express, barrons, the blatant disregard for the financial difficulties this surcharge will impose unexpectedly on incoming UW freshmen that you, and apparently UW, have… that is giving us serious doubts about whether D2 made the right decision. Does UW frequently impose HUGE cost increases on those who have NO say in the matter? Maybe $7,500 isn’t very much money to you, or Biddy who earns $437,000 a year AND gets free housing in the Chancellor’s residence, but it is to us and other families like us. Tuition increases are understandable. The HUGE surcharge IN ADDITION TO yearly tuition increases is over the top. :(</p>