<p>Can a Tufts student who has multiple years of a language drop back in competence level or is the language placement exam the final word as far as what level the student has to be in and receive credit. My daughter who has studied Spanish and French - each for four years - will continue with Spanish, drop French, and wants to pick up Mandarin or Arabic. Her worry is that the high school classes and AP scores do not correlate to real fluency, and so she doesn't want to be in over her head. She has a mother who placed into a Spanish literature class, in college, for which she wasn't prepared, so she is happy to remediate a bit.</p>
<p>I should add that she's not a Tufts student yet but very eager to be.</p>
<p>Gracias!</p>
<p>“Back in the day” you could certainly drop back to a level lower than the one they place you in, and i can’t see why the policy should be any different now.</p>
<p>You can absolutely drop back a level, regardless of what you score on the placement test. As a student who was in the same situation last year (I was worried that my AP scores did not accurately represent my language skills and wanted to start at a lower level), I would recommend going with the higher level and then, if it is too difficult, dropping down. If you can place into a high language level it makes the hefty Tufts language requirement much easier to complete!</p>
<p>Everyone who is looking to gain credit for a foreign language must take a foreign language placement exam at Tufts during orientation week. It cannot harm you from what I’ve been told. If you do horribly and got a 5 on the AP (let’s say), you can still get the same credit. It’s more to know where’s “right” for you. With that being said, I’d assume that this would be a great way to assure that the student is definitely going into the right language class and can “drop back” if need be. Hope this helps!</p>