<p>I'm really not sure on how foreign lang requirement works, not just for UIUC, but for most schools in general. UIUC says that Engineering majors need 3 years of a foreign language. I am in AP Spanish right now (5th year Spanish), so does that mean I don't even need to take the AP Exam and be exempt for language in college, since I'm trying to convince my parents not let me take the AP Exam for Spanish (My teacher apparently doesn't prep her students too well for the exam).</p>
<p>From UIUC’s website:
Foreign Language
The foreign language placement exams are used to determine which course is the most appropriate starting point for your language studies at Illinois.</p>
<pre><code>If you have studied French, German, Latin, or Spanish AND if you plan on studying a foreign language at Illinois, you MUST take the placement exam for that language.
If you have fulfilled your foreign language requirement AND you will not study a foreign language at Illinois, you do not need to take a foreign language placement exam. You have fulfilled the foreign language requirement if you have successfully completed:
The fourth level of one foreign language in high school, or
The third level of one foreign language in high school AND you will be entering the Colleges of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences; Applied Health Sciences; Education; Engineering; Fine and Applied Arts; or Media.
</code></pre>
<p>It is strongly recommended that you take a foreign language placement exam even though now you think you will not study a foreign language at Illinois. You might have a circumstance that requires you to take a foreign language in the future.</p>
<p>Note: If you have taken the Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate test, you still need to take a placement test even if you are expecting to fulfill the foreign language requirement with AP or IB credit. The University might not receive your AP or IB score prior to your need to register.</p>
<p>If you stay in Engineering then you are good since you are in AP Spanish.
However, you will be screwed if you change into a major that requires you to take multiple years of a foreign language.
IMHO
Studying for the Spanish AP test means you will do well on the placement test when you go to college orientation.
Be honest, you just want to take it easy, do enough work to get a B, blow off self studying to make up for the bad teacher in AP Spanish and cruise to graduation.
Your parents are smart to keep your senioritis under check and force you to study for the Spanish AP test.</p>
<p>The most language required at UIUC by any of its colleges is 4 college semesters in one language; some of the colleges, such as engineering, require only three semesters. UIUC considers one high school year of language to be equivalent to one college semester of language. Thus, you meet the four semester college requirement by completing the fourth year high school level of a language, such as Spanish 4 (with a C or better grade). If engineering, you meet the three semester college requirement by completing the third year in high school, e.g., Spanish 3. Note, you do not actually have to complete four (or three) high school years of language; you only need to complete the fourth (or third) year high school level of the language, e.g., you can meet the four semester college requirement by taking Spanish 4 for a year and getting a C even if you never even took Spanish 1 through 3. Assuming you took Spanish 4 last year, you are already done meeting any UIUC college requirement. Obviously, you will meet the requirement by completing AP Spanish even if you did not take Spanish 4. The AP test is not needed to satisfy the college language requirement. You will need that test if you actually want college credit for the course. You need to take a placement exam only if you intend to take more Spanish courses in college.</p>
<p>Are placement and proficiency tests different tests? Is it true that you can receive college credit if you do well enough on the proficiency exam?</p>
<p>Placement tests and proficiency tests are two different things. Placement tests are things entering freshman need to take in some subjects to detemine placement in the courses for that subject, and they provide no college credit. Proficiency tests are given by the colleges for a number of courses and you take them to get college credit. You have to sign up for the times to take those well in advance and most are given shortly before the beginning of the school year.Those are exams that are comparable to what a UIUC student would take when taking the course at UIUC.</p>
<p>I actually already took a Russian proficiency test and passed 3 college-level courses so I believe I only have one semester left to fulfill my LAS foreign language requirement for communication majors but I need to double check</p>