<p>I am a bit confused about placement tests. I don't understand why freshmen need to take placement tests during orientation week if we already have AP credit from high school for particular subjects. For what subjects are these tests? How long are they typically, and should we study this summer? </p>
<p>Thanks for your help in advance!</p>
<p>I didn't need to take any tests. The only one you may have to take is English if you got below a 700 on your Writing SAT. I would recommend taking it though; 77 people were exempt from the English requirement after taking the test... man, I could have saved myself a huge horror story in my fall English 105 class. Oh well.</p>
<p>Wait...so if we had >700 on Writing, we are exempt from taking an English placement test. But if we do well enough on the placement test we don't have to take English 105? If that's the case...can we take the placement test even if we had >700?</p>
<p>Or is AP credit transferable for 105? I probably got a 4 on English, just to spite me, and not give me credit.</p>
<p>Yep, you got it. You CAN take the test if you had greater than 700, and become exempt from 105. There are lots of really neat 105 courses though... I just happened to get the worst one possible. And yeah, if you got a 4 on the AP you won't get credit (unless you do well enough on the placement test).</p>
<p>I just want to add to what Morgan said that you will probably also have to take a language placement test unless you have AP credit for languages.</p>
<p>Oh yeah. My bad. I took both Latin and Spanish... placed into the same level, chose Spanish.</p>
<p>Well, if taking a relatively short writing placement test will exempt me from a Gen Ed requirement, I'm all for it! What could we study to maybe perform a little better on this? Is it pretty much like the SAT II Writing test?</p>
<p>And are languages and writing the ONLY placement tests offered? What about math and science?</p>
<p>No, not at all, which is why I didn't take it. I got a perfect score on the SATII writing, but got half credit on my essay because they couldn't read my handwriting... and the test you take at W&L is ONLY an essay! So yeah, if you don't have handwriting issues, I'd say take it. They did tell my class that it is extremely rare for one to be exempt from the English requirement, but we apparently had a record year with 77 people becoming exempt. Really though, most of the 105 courses are pretty cool (except for the one I took which turned out to be a disaster), so don't worry if you don't place out.</p>
<p>^ I regret not taking the placement test even though i doubt i wouldve been able to get an exemption, its so tempting to just skip yet another thing you have to write during the orientation though. </p>
<p>There is a placement test for math if you have taken a calculus course but do not have an AP score to have you exempted. I wouldn't recommend taking it if you just did bad on the AP, you probably won't be able to do well enough to make a difference, but if you took an AP-level course but not the AP Calc test its for you.</p>
<p>No science placement tests. Everyone starts out in intro science courses.</p>
<p>Haha, that cracks me up...77 people? Out of a class of 400 or so people, it seems significant to me!!</p>