Hello. I’m planning to attend USC in the spring and am majoring in business administration. I understand that I have to take the Math Placement Exam because my major requires it. When I check the Chemistry Placement Exam, my major is not listed as one of the majors that requires you to take the Chemistry Placement Exam. However in an email from USC about orientation, it says under things I need to bring that I need to bring the math and chemistry placement exam results. Does that mean I have to take the Chemistry Placement Exam as well? What are the consequences for doing poorly on the Math Placement Exam?
@zettasyntax @CADREAMIN Anyone?
Are you a transfer student or freshman? If you’ve already completed calc or have AP scores, you don’t really need to take the math placement exam. If you have no prior math experience and perform poorly, the worst thing that can happen is that you’d be placed into the lowest math level, which I believe is pre-calc. I don’t see why you’d have to take the chemistry exam if it’s not required of your major.
I’m a transfer student but it says that I have to complete the exam for my major which is business administration before my orientation. I already took Calculus so what are the consequences if I do poorly on it. Will I be unable to take classes like Calc 2 at USC?
If your calc course transfers over (your transfer credit report should eventually tell you this), there’s really no need to take the exam. You’d pretty much be cleared to take calc II.
@zettasyntax It says though in the email that confirms my registration appointment for orientation that I need to bring math and chemistry placement exams. Is this specific for me or just in general for anyone who registers for orientation? Will it say specifically on my transfer credit report that I don’t need to take the placement exams? How long after your acceptance letter does it usually take for the transfer credit report to show? If you took the placement exams, can you tell me what subjects they quiz you on and the difficulty of the exams?
Yes, it’s a pretty general thing. I was looking back at my orientation emails and mine state that I should take both the math and chemistry exam prior to orientation, but I did no such thing as I had already completed my math requirement. The transfer credit report would clearly state if your math course is equivalent to the one at USC. If it is not equivalent to their calc course, then yes, you would likely need to take the placement exam. My report took forever, but most reports are ready in a couple of weeks. I just had really bad luck and they didn’t get to mine until November shortly before my orientation.
I think I’ll wait until they finish up with my transfer credit report first. Thank you!
Update: I just took the math placement exam and got a score of 35 out of 40. It wasn’t so hard. If you took calculus already, then you should remember most of the content on the test. As for the courses it recommended me to take, they were Math 118 and Math 125.
Also, I asked this question in the USC transfer blog but no one answered so I thought I’d try again and ask it here. When you submit your intent to register, it asks you whether you want to apply for housing, commute, or find housing elsewhere. If you selected either the commute or find housing elsewhere option, are you still allowed to apply for the university housing if you changed your mind? I want to know so I could apply for spring housing when it opens on July 1st.
@zettasyntax ?
@MoonKnight I honestly don’t think that matters. I don’t think there’s anything that would prevent you from applying for housing. I may be wrong, but I highly doubt the housing website going to prevent you from submitting a housing application.
And I didn’t think you had to take it, but at least you got it out of the way. I don’t see why people are often so scared of the placement exams, haha. If you know the material, you’ll do well. The placement tests do what they’re meant to. 
Thanks. I’m having trouble however in finding where I can print the scores. It says to get it from your pre-orientation report but where can I find that?
Look on the Transfer Credit Report under OASIS. You probably don’t have to take the chem placement exam.
TCR’s are updated periodically, not regularly. It may take a while for placement exam scored to appear there. Your academic advisor can look up placement scores at your orientation.
If the exam isn’t mandatory for your major, then you don’t have to take it, it’s optional. If you check your STARS report, it will say if you have met the requirements for your major which will include scores you need to get. As a PHIL major I only had to take the language exam, and it showed on my STARS report(which you can find on OASIS through your MYUSC) that I had completed it after taking the test.