<p>I'm thinking about taking a placement exam at Cornell to try to place into 2000 level courses so I can fulfill my CAS requirement in 1 semester. I took 4 years of Latin, and I wanted to know if I would do alright on the exam and would float in the later class. If it helps you gauge it any better, I was the best in my class at Latin and almost got gold on the national latin exam every year (in case you've heard of it; senior year, I missed gold by 1 question.) I'm in no way trying to brag, I just want to know if I'd be fit for it or if I would do best taking the intro classes. Also, if I want to study for the placement exam, what concepts would you think they would cover?</p>
<p>I know this is a very department-specific question, so any answers (no matter how shaky or anecdotal) would probably help much more than none.</p>
<p>I can tell you that Cornell’s language classes are fairly advanced, so unless you have a good grasp you might want to just retake it (especially if you actually want to speak the language fluently). For Japanese, for example, we covered about a year’s worth of HS japanese in about 5-6 weeks.</p>
<p>Since you’ve taken that many years of Latin and seem to know so much I would go ahead and take the placement test. And it’s not so much that language courses at Cornell are advanced, than the typicality of a rapid intensive beginner course. In the case of the Classics department’s Latin program, the courses above the 1000 levels are literature-based and aimed more toward people interested in Latin linguistics. That may or may not be your interest judging by your post.</p>
<p>If anything, you could always start a new language if you feel the purely Latin language courses wouldn’t really do much more for you.</p>
<p>My son took three years of high school Latin. He didn’t really want to continue at Cornell, but couldn’t work German into his schedule. So he registered for Latin I. He received an email from his advisor saying he couldn’t just register for Latin I but must take the placement exam. He isn’t interested in Classics, ancient history, or Latin lit and just wants to get the language requirement out of the way. He is trying to review for the placement test, without much enthusiasm. (He also always did well on the national Latin exam, but has had a whole year off.) I wonder if he’d be better off waiting until next year to start German, although I know it’s a good idea to get those requirements out of the way.</p>
<p>Is he just interested in German? There are plenty of other widely spoken languages taught at Cornell (some more frequently than others). Also, was it the elementary Latin course that he tried to register for? I would find it odd if one needed a placement test for that.</p>
<p>P.S.: This is why language courses take some form of priority in schedule making. Most courses meet at least four or five days a week at the same time; and introductory courses may have additional lectures at other times.</p>
<p>He registered for Latin I, but his advisor saw from his transcript (I guess) that he’d already taken Latin. So she said he had to take a placement test to see if he should be placed in a different level. He’s always wanted to take German and only took Latin in high school because his school had eliminated German and replaced it with Chinese. He’s had some French and Spanish, but doesn’t really want to do either of those. The intro German sections seem to conflict with more important classes in his intended major, including a math class that only meets once. His schedule is already a mess, and if he ends up in a different Latin class, it will probably be even worse! He isn’t worried about it, although I am! I hope he can sort it all out once he gets on campus and meets with his advisor. I guess it’s time to stop hovering anyway and let him work it out!</p>