<p>I'm an incoming freshman to Thurgood Marshall interested in taking Chinese this fall. I contacted the Chinese department and apparently you have to take a short placement test to determine which class you are ready for. I wanted to go into CHIN 20CM (3rd year native mandarin) but they dont offer it this fall, so the next leve up that I could take would be CHIN 100AM, an upper division class. My question is this: How hard is the placement test? I heard they may give a reading/writing portion if you are good enough....what is the format of that and how hard is it? Should I study? I have taken many years of Chinese, am a native speaker, and finished the AP class/test with a 5. </p>
<p>Thanks!
YP</p>
<p>Oops, just realized I wrote UCDS instead of UCSD. Oh well, I'm sure you guys can all understand it.</p>
<p>the placement test (from what my roommate told me) is reading/writing first, and if you do well enough on that they’ll consent to meet with you in person and test your speaking skills. </p>
<p>i don’t think you should fret about the placement test – it’s designed to PLACE you into an appropriate class, and has no impact on your actual grade. it’s going to be terrific if you study really hard and ace the practice test, but you might be in over your head when you actually show up to class. just do the best you can and look forward to taking a new class!</p>
<p>I took the “placement test” maybe a month ago and got placed into 100AN (I’m white, also a freshman). It’s not a test. You go in and talk to the Chinese teacher, he asks you to read a passage and you talk briefly and then he assigns you to a class. It’s not bad at all.</p>