<p>I'm going to be entering Miami next fall as a freshman business (and honors) student. I will need to apply to business honors the next year. One of the necessary requirements to graduate with business honors is to have Foreign Language Proficiency through the 202 Level. Does anybody know the difficulty of this level of foreign language or if I could fulfill this requirement by just taking the placement exam. I have taken 5 years of foreign language in high school, but to be honest I was unable to learn the language very well due to the low-level of teaching (I can write semi-okay, but hardly speak).</p>
<p>I can only speak for our experience with the Spanish Department but a good way to think about the course progression: 101, 102, 201 and 202 is that each semester long course of Miami language is roughly equivalent to a year of high school language.
The fact that you have five years of high school language may very well mean that you will test out of the 202 level.
If you do not score high enough on the test to meet the requirement, there will be some indication, from the testing, as to which level course you should enroll.
One of my daughters had four years of high school Spanish and still started in Span 101. This made for easy As in Spanish her freshman year. Sophomore year was a bit more challenging but still the 202 level is meant only to create basic written and oral competencies in the language; not complete fluency.
Don’t be intimidated by the language requirement. By and large, I think it’s very reasonable and seems to make sense for a well rounded education… especially in today’s global economy.
FWIW, ALL College of Arts and Science students must meet this requirement so you will have lots of company if you don’t test out.</p>
<p>Well, I like languages, so this isn’t much of a problem for me.</p>
<p>My D. was Honors pre-med at Miami. She took only one semester in Spanish at Miami and she was able to speak Spanish even 2 years later, we have witnessed it in Mexico and it wa a jwa dropping expereince as we did not realize how fluent she got.
Anyway, Spanish class was one of D’s best classes at Miami.<br>
The level is determined by your placement score. You cannot take higher, not sure if you can take lower. You cannot regiter for first semester of freshman year before you take on-line placement test in Math and Foreign language. D. placed into 3rd year and never had only one semester. It has opened up a great opportunity for her at her Med. School. She was able to fully use her language skills in Spanish and even her other foreign language.<br>
The third year Spanish was not easy for somebody who only had Spanish in HS. But benefits were great and D. was able to take Medical Spanish outside of her current program starting at the intermediate level, not beginners.<br>
Start at as high level as your placement test puts you.</p>