My S took (and passed) the competency test. There was a written part followed later by an oral part. I didn’t get the impression he thought it was terribly difficult, but he did spend some time reviewing.
^^@motherbear332 - interesting that he reviewed. Perhaps that’a another reason the competency exam is during the winter quarter. Placement tests are supposed to be taken right after graduation and the students were not supposed to study for them - the idea was that you wanted a true placement so as not to end up in somethnig over your head accidentally. Compentency or accreditation tests that satisfy fulfillment of the subject requirement might be a different matter and, to the extent that these substitute for a course (where you obviously DO study), then study might be appropriate.
So maybe it’s the following: if you opt for the competency exam, make sure you are as well prepared for it as you would be for a final exam or equivalent. This is probably a pass/no-pass grade (not sure) but preparating as if you are receiving a quality grade might be prudent. In that case, students might well just opt to take the darn course instead.
Some actually do take F/L as their “fourth course” in fall and/or winter quarter of first year but others put off fulfilling the language requirement till 2nd year. A lot depends on the individual’s plan of study.
Placement tests determine what course level a student is ready for. Competence determines whether a student meets the Core standard for skipping language instruction altogether.
Placement tests can be short and easy. There’s no reason to guard against cheating, because students would only harm themselves by cheating. That’s why you can do them online. As a practical matter, students are permitted to “cheat” to give themselves an advantage by going into a lower-level course and getting an easy A, if they are willing to submit to that kind of boredom.
Competence tests need to be safeguarded against cheating, because there’s a huge incentive to cheat to get out of a requirement many students resent.
The biggest issue we found is that for most of the languages offered they only offer each section once per year for the intro series. So Latin 101 is only in Fall, 102 in Winter, etc. If you miscalculate and end up in a level that is too difficult all you can do is drop the class and wait until the lower class is offered almost a year later. Or if you choose to take a new language and don’t care for it again you have to wait a year to take another. Spanish and French may be offered more often but even popular classes that people take for fun as a second language like Latin, ASL, and Yiddish are only offered once per year.
For French, spring 2018 offers the full sequence 101 - 103. For Spanish, its 102-03. For German, Italian Chinese, Greek and Latin, only 103. So yeah, some planning is required, just like some of the other required sequences that the students aren’t crazy about (Civ comes to mind). One strategy might be to sit in on the next easiest course to see what it’s like, then try to add it if it appears a better fit. Or, play it safe and just register for that easier course.
Those experimenting with new languages should probably fall back on French or Spanish if they need to switch, since those seem to have the most sections offered.