<p>I have a hypothetical situation about the UVA language placement test.</p>
<p>A. I am really good at French and I place in a really high-leveled class, but it is hard for me to get an A.
B. I am really good at French, but I purposely did bad to go into a lower-leveled class to get an easier A.</p>
<p>I am not sure what to think of the language placement test at UVA.
1. Will I get course credit for the lower classes that I skipped in situation A and will be worth it to place high in high-leveled French class?
2. Is situation B simply a good way to get a good GPA?</p>
<p>isaac1112 – if you are really good at French and test well, you will likely place out of all your French requirement. If you have taken French in high school, the lowest level you can place into is Accelerated Beginner – 1050. That is a 4 hour class, most sections of which meet five days a week. Those sorts of classes can be hard to schedule around, and since you can only sign up for 15 hours when you first register, it is hard to schedule 5 classes, unless you get into one of the USEM’s or COLA classes discussed elsewhere on this forum.</p>
<p>Bottom line advice – bone up for the test and get out of the way as much of your mandatory foreign language requirement as possible. I am confident my third-year son taking his final Spanish exam tonight would agree with this advice . . . .</p>
<p>You do not get course credit for classes you place out of through the language placement test. Only SAT II, AP, or IB scores accomplish that. But you do get burdensome requirements out of the way freeing up your schedule to take classes you are more interested in.</p>
<p>I know kids who have done both routes. My brother did the easy route, actually minored in his foreign language, and is going to grad school this fall. My roommate did the easy route for Spanish, and still really struggled in her fourth semester. It won’t get any easier by repeating things you already know. You need to just place as high as you can and get it over with. You can always get a tutor if it’s becoming a problem later in the semester. They don’t place you higher than they think you can succeed.</p>
<p>But if you need to complete 15 hours of language courses and don’t get credit for the classes your skip, won’t you need to do 15 hours from the level you are placed in anyway and go from there? for example if there are 6 level classes and they are 3 hours worth of classes. you are placed in level 3 you still need to do 3,4,5,6 or if you are placed in level 1 you need to do 1,2,3,4. What’s the point in doing the harder ones if you are not going to get credit for 1,2 when you test out of them? You still need to serve the hours. 1,2,3,4 is the easy route isnt it? You can’t just get it over with. (if this makes sense)…</p>
<p>No you need to do through 202 in any language, regardless of where you are placed. So if you place out of 1, 2, 3 you only need to do 4. You never need to do past 4.</p>
<p>You misunderstood the “you don’t get credit for classes you skip” comment. While you don’t get literal credit towards your degree, the 12 hours is only for people who start at the very beginning. So if you placed into 202, you’d only need to complete that class.</p>
<p>Okay, so but I would still need 9 literal credits with other courses after I finish the 202, correct? Also, how many hours does UVA actually want students to take as foreign language. 16 with 4 credits per year? which is 4 language courses a year?</p>
<p>Isaac, as hazelorb has already said, once you get to the 2020 level, you do not need to take any more foreign language unless you want to. You “don’t get credit for the classes you skip,” but that just means you can take courses in other departments. </p>
<p>You really, really do not want to be wasting your tuition money and the limited time you have in college taking courses that are merely review for you. Nor do you want to overshoot and get into a course that’s way too advanced. The purpose of the placement exam is just that–to put you in the correct place. Trying to game it is self-defeating.</p>
<p>Just so you know, credits in college work a bit differently than in high school. You generally take 15-18 credits/semester.</p>
<p>Not sure if this applies to you, but you can place out of the French requirement if you got 660+ on the French SAT II, 3+ on the AP French Language test, or 4+ on the AP French Literature test.</p>