<p>So I just took the Spanish Placement exam and I think I placed into Spanish 3 since my score is 270 (I saw on an old post that 260-360 was Spanish 3). If anybody has taken Spanish 3 at UCLA, I would like to know the difficulty of the class since I wasn't prepared very well in high school. Also, would it be possible to take a quarter of a different language, like Chinese, to pass out of the foreign language requirement if I already pass out of two quarters of Spanish? Thanks!</p>
<p>I took 1 year of Spanish at UCLA this past year.</p>
<p>The difficulty of Spanish 3 depends on your TA. If you have an anal TA that deducts 2 points per spelling error, then it will be tough. My TA would only mark off half a point or 1 point if I didn’t place the punctuation on a word.</p>
<p>You have class everyday and starting on day 1, you speak nothing but Spanish. Instruction is also in Spanish. You will mainly learn subjunctive tense, but you will also need to utilize present and past as they are absolutely vital. Class will consist of going over a few pages in a chapter by practicing conversations with your classmates. You’ll learn a net set of words, phrases, and grammar everyday under a theme. </p>
<p>For instance, one chapter will be focused on vacation, so you will be talking about holidays, clothing, shopping, etc.</p>
<p>Once a week you will have a pop quiz that counts toward your Quiz Grade, which is 20% of your overall grade. Pop quizzes basically have Spanish sentences with “fill in the blanks,” except you will not have a word bank. You will simply have to memorize every single vocab word in the chapter and figure what the word is from context.</p>
<p>Twice in the quarter you will have an oral exam. You will be paired in a small group and have to engage in a 5 minute conversation. Unfortunately, you don’t get the exact prompt until 10 minutes before your exam. However, you will get a theme of 3 choices, meaning the TA will tell you should talk about “Parties, or Traveling, or Eating Healthy.” You just have to memorize all the grammar and vocab from that chapter and utilize it. You can’t really have a script since you won’t know the exact prompt until 10 min before the exam, so you just have to “improvise.”</p>
<p>Lastly, the midterm and final exam is just like a huge giant quiz put together. You will have a listening portion, answer some questions based off readings (although you can answer in English), writing 1 page in response to a prompt in Spanish, and writing in English half a page about Spanish culture.</p>
<p>It’s not hard, but it’s a lot of freaking work. I hated Spanish so much and the difficulty will really depend on your TA. I got an A- in Spanish 1 and 3, but took Spanish 2 with a P/NP because I would’ve gotten a B- (my TA was a bi*ch).</p>
<p>What raw score places you out of spanish?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>@notaznguy: Wow, thanks, that was really helpful. Since I should only have one quarter of Spanish left, I guess I could try and better hope I get a good TA.</p>
<p>@Futureholds: I believe anything above 360 means you place into Spanish 4, so you fulfill the Foreign Language Requirement.</p>
<p>Also, nvm about the question on taking another quarter of language; I found out that I had to pass in a foreign language class level 3 or above…
I’m just mostly worried about the oral part of the class, since I rarely spoke Spanish in all my high school classes -.-</p>
<p>Notaznguy, you did all that in Level 1 or 3? The reason I am asking is my son has done upto level 3 in HS. He signed up for AP Spanish senior year and then dropped it. Would he have to do a FL if he decides to do south campus major?</p>
<p>Foreign Language is a College of Letters and Science Requirement, but it doesn’t seem to be an HSEAS requirement (maybe someone in Engineering could confirm), so it depends on the South Campus major.</p>
<p>Yes I did all that for all levels of Spanish. While it’s pretty difficulty for Spanish 2 and 3, Spanish 1 is significantly easy because most people have never taken Spanish.</p>
<p>However, even in Spanish 1, instruction is purely in Spanish and you must speak and understand Spanish in class. The only exception is at the end of the class if you want to ask the TA, “Um, I have no idea what you just said, what’s the hw again?”</p>
<p>But that’s not often the case. Spanish 1, even though instructed in Spanish, is relatively easy. Students will learn the most basic things like present tense, common verbs, numbers, dates, holidays, etc.</p>
<p>By the time one gets into Spanish 2 and 3, the pace is much faster and they expect more.</p>
<p>Of course, none of it is really easy because you literally have to study some of it everyday. Foreign language is not a subject you can really cram for, especially when it comes to those Oral Exams.</p>
<p>If your son is in college of letters and sciences, then he will have to either pass out of Spanish 3 via the placement exam or get a C or higher in Spanish 3. I took up to Spanish 2 in high school, but I had poor fundamentals so I opted to just start at the beginning. I’m glad I did because there is no way I would have survived Spanish 2 or 3 without going through Spanish 1 (I barely learned anything in high school).</p>