<p>I am a HS senior very excited to be going to UVa in the fall. I was wondering about language placement. I got a 630 on the SATII Spanish test about a year ago, and since then I have taken AP Spanish language and got 86 percentile on the National Spanish Exam level 5. The AP scores might not be reported before my orientation day.</p>
<p>Should I take UVa's Spanish placement exam?
What should I know/ is it difficult?
If I fulfill the requirements of one but not the other (eg 3 on AP and 540 on UVa's orientation test), How is that handled? </p>
<p>You are already qualified for SPAN 2010 by virtue of your SAT II score. You may well have placed out of 2010 with your Spring 2011 AP test score. Since those scores are available by phone July 1, before the first orientation session, why not call and know before you go? If you have a 4 or 5, you’re done. If not, take the placement exam. Highest score dictates placement.</p>
<p>Could I start from Spanish 101 and go to 202 even if I’ve taken 4 years of Spanish in high school? My teacher was pretty horrible and I’d like to relearn everything.</p>
<p>Plue and others, I believe the Spanish Dept. offers a faster-paced intro for people like you who have had previous exposure to the language but don’t feel confident; you could then, depending on where you place, fulfill your language requirement in a year or a year-and-a-half rather than two.</p>
<p>I didn’t think the Spanish Dept. exam was hard at all, though I took it a while ago and it may have changed since then. It was quick–only about 20-30 mins or so–and didn’t include an oral/aural component. Review grammar (tenses, conjugation, gender, subjunctive, irregular verbs, etc.).</p>
<p>If you had instruction in Spanish in HS, and have not placed out of some or all of your UVa foreign language requirement through SAT II or AP testing, you must take the UVa Spanish Placement test. For further info see: [UVA</a> Department of Spanish, Italian & Portuguese Spanish 1010-2020](<a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/span-ital-port/spanish/spanish-101-202]UVA”>http://www.virginia.edu/span-ital-port/spanish/spanish-101-202). If you really had poor Spanish instruction in HS, you might only place into 1060, but you may NOT take 1010 and 1020.</p>
<p>I can’t say this often enough, SPAN 1010 and 1020 have extremely limited availability. Accordingly, they are only open to those with NO prior HS Spanish instruction. If you truly want to begin Spanish at UVa, you will have to wait until your second year to do so, and you will be taking Spanish through third year unless you take classes in the summer. Given that the two beginning classes are 4 credits, taking them will also affect your ability to register for a full compliment of classes at your initial registration time, since you are limited to signing up for 15 hours until after everyone has had a chance to register. There are very few CLAS courses that are 2 credits, so you will not be able to sign up for 5 courses first time through if you have a 4 credit course.</p>
<p>Yes, most people who have had some Spanish but who don’t feel they have a strong background end up in 1060. </p>
<p>My son’s high school didn’t separate language classes by ability, so he ended up with many students in his classes who had no interest in learning. Three years of high school Spanish for him was probably only equal to one semester of college Spanish.</p>
<p>Even if you do badly in the placement test, you can still take 1060. If you look at Lou’s list, you will see SPAN 1060 has the largest numbers by far of sections and seats available for first years in their first semester.</p>
<p>I just decided to take it right now. I got a 953. Honestly, it was not that bad. I was able to do many of the questions by process of elimination (The only one i did not understand was the answer, because the others were wrong). Many of the questions were merely reading and restating. if you are nervous, don’t be. You’ll either get it or not. </p>
<p>Now my question does the exam score give me credit for 2010 and 2020, or just place me out?</p>
<p>536 or higher fulfills the language requirement. I did not realize the exam score went as high as 953. Make sure you print off a copy of the results just in case you need it. </p>