<p>so i understand the whole placement test, but should I take spanish my first two semesters to just get it out of the way. I don't plan on doing anything with and just plan to take it because I have too. I know the sample schedule in the business department shows students taking it their sophomore year. So do you recommend taking it freshman year?</p>
<p>There are a couple of “pluses” about taking it your first year, first, if you decided to do a semester of “study abroad” your sophomore year it would be nice to have better foreign language skills. </p>
<p>And if you are not that sure (solid) about your major, since foreign languages are now required for all majors, if you took it your freshman year and then decided to change majors, you would be less far behind in your new major once you changed majors.</p>
<p>Also, especially as a business student, you may ultimately decide (if your grades are good enough) to go into the IB programs where it is very important that you have good foreign language skills (maybe even two or more languages), so if that is a possibility for you, it would be better to get started early with those classes.</p>
<p>Another possibility, particularly if you are an instate student is that you could take your foreign language at home at the nearest tech or community or jr. college. Thats what my son is doing this summer. Spanish 121/122 will transfer from any SC state college to USC (it’s mandated by law).</p>
<p>If your foreign language skills are good enough (if your USC placement test score is high enough), you can very likely exempt the first one or two classes. I think it is most typical to exempt out of just Span 121.</p>
<p>Are you IB? Or just Business?</p>
<p>I work in the Foreign language department and am a French major. Anyone who teaches foreign language will tell you to go ahead and get it out of the way. The longer you wait, the more likely you are to lose what you know and it will just make it harder on yourself. The department doesn’t let you take below what you place into, so go ahead and take it.</p>
<p>However, since you’re taking Spanish, it might be difficult to get into a Spanish class. 121 and 122 classes fill up very quickly and the department will only make overrides for Spanish majors. If you call and ask for an override into a full class, they’ll pretty much tell you to pick up another language.</p>
<p>Don’t miss your placement test! So many people call in August and September asking to take a test. The department won’t give another test until November if you miss summer testing.</p>
<p>And imagep points out a few things. You can place out of Spanish.</p>
<p>If you bomb the placement test and get placed in Spanish 109 (the lowest level), and you don’t plan on doing anything with language, I would highly recommend that you switch to a language that isn’t 109 or 110. Some languages (such as Chinese, Japanese, Russian, etc.) only have 121 and 122. Languages such as French, German, and Spanish have 109, 110, 121, and 122.</p>
<p>If you get placed into 109, you would have to do three semesters of that language. (109, 110, 122: 109 and 110 are the equivalent to 121)
If you get placed into 121, you would have to do two semesters of that language.</p>
<p>Also note that USC doesn’t do 101 and 102 for foreign languages for whatever reason. The basic language course will either be 121 or 109.</p>
<p>okay thank you! im just a business major- accounting and im out of state. I already have my placement test scheduled for may 29th and im going to orientation may 30th so im hoping to beat the rush and find a lot of opportunity it picking classes. Thank you both so much!
AU Girl so basically i need to place into 121 to just have to take the 2 semesters of the language</p>
<p>You can also place into 122 and only have to take that one semester. That’s what I did.</p>
<p>And if you’re really good, you can place higher.</p>
<p>If I wasn’t a French major, I would have skipped the foreign language requirements all together.</p>
<p>Honestly, it might be a good idea to do some review of vocabulary and grammar before taking your placement test. If you don’t want to take foreign language here or only want to have to take a semester of it, by studying and reviewing some you should be able to place into 122 or 200 level.</p>
<p>Each year of high school language typically equals about a semester of college, so you probably know the material needed for 121 and 122.</p>
<p>thanks for the great info too. I plan on doing IB at USC. I’ve taken 4 years of German, lived with a host family for 3 weeks in Germany, and i am currently hosting a german girl in my house for the next 2+ weeks. I hope i place well! I failed the Ap exam last year :/</p>
<p>im pretty weak at spanish not a language fan, as i took spanish 2 & 3 in high school got by with the minimum. hopefully with some review it’ll work out</p>
<p>I failed the AP French exam and placed into 300 level. The AP exam is no indicator with how you will do on the actual placement test.</p>
<p>If you place at a level and you think you’re higher, you can actually ask to be moved into a higher level class.</p>