Foreign Language Proficiency Exams

Read the following information carefully.
Foreign language requirements for an undergraduate degree are based on the requirements for your college AND in some cases for your major. Most Bachelor of Science degrees do not have a foreign language requirement, but a specific major may have one. For example, the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences does not have a foreign language requirement, but their major in International Agricultural Development does. To confirm, it is best to speak with both your college and your major advisor as soon as possible since some majors require as many as two years of foreign language proficiency.

College of Letters & Science - A.B and B.A.S. degrees require proficiency at the 15 unit level. Some majors require more than a 15 unit proficiency – check with advisor
https://lettersandscience.ucdavis.edu/degree-requirements
College of Biological Science - Bachelor of Arts Degree
https://biology.ucdavis.edu/undergrad/degree-requirements
College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences – only a B.S. in International Agricultural Development has a foreign language requirement
https://caes.ucdavis.edu/students/academics
College of Engineering - no foreign language requirement
https://engineering.ucdavis.edu/undergraduate/majors-and-minors

Adding a double major?
It is important to consider any additional language requirements early, if you are considering adding a major with a foreign language requirement in the future. In an effort to avoid retention issues from your high school foreign language study as well as course scheduling challenges in the junior or senior year, it is strongly suggested that students take a language placement exam as a freshman even if a student does not have a foreign language requirement within his or her current academic plan. It is likely that students will place higher on a foreign language proficiency exam as they have just completed studying the language prior to admission.

Yes, I have a foreign language requirement – what do I do to fulfill the requirement?

You can fulfill the requirement in one of these 6 ways:

Foreign Language Proficiency Exam (Proctored) - demonstrate your foreign language proficiency with an assessment exam. Please see the Proficiency Exams page.
College Board Subject Test – scoring at least a 550 on a College Board Foreign Language Subject Test**
College Board Advanced Placement Examination – scoring a 5, 4 or 3 on any foreign language College Board AP Exam.**
International Baccalaureate Higher Level Examination – score 7, 6 or 5 on French A1, A2 or B Exam, Italian A1 Exam, Latin A1 Exam, or the Spanish A1 Exam taken in high school.**
Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) – students may satisfy the requirement by attaining certification of the IGETC completion.**
Course completion in college – completing the equivalent of 15 unit level of proficiency in one language. Example – completion of SPA 3 or JPN 3.

IMPORTANT NOTE

If you have already successfully completed the second or third year of a language in the tenth grade or higher in high school, and you decide to start over and take a level 1 class in the same language at UC Davis, the grade on your UCD transcript for the first level class will automatically be Pass/No Pass. This will not affect your GPA (the units will still count toward graduation though).
DO NOT take a Foreign Language Placement/Proficiency Exam if you have completed any of the above requirements. INSTEAD contact a Foreign Language Advisor in Sproul Hall: https://langlit.ucdavis.edu/staff

Are you ready to Take a Proctored Foreign Language Proficiency Exam (Also Good for Placement)?

The Davis Language Center, Located in Olson 53, administers proficiency exams to UCD students only. You may take each language exam once during your academic career. This includes any exam taken during Aggie Orientation.

For Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, or Spanish Proficiency Exams, you do not need an appointment, but p lease check our current hours before you come to the Language Center to take a proficiency exam: https://ucdlc.ucdavis.edu/hours
You must have your UCD Student ID to take a placement or proficiency exam.
The DLC staff are not able to interpret your results. If you have any questions regarding your proficiency or placement level, please contact Mary Ryan (mcmryan@ucdavis.edu).
For Hindi, Urdu, or Punjabi we can usually accommodate walk-in test-takers, but these exams are on paper and have to be printed. If you email Mary at mcmryan@ucdavis.edu a day or two before you come in, she'll make sure to have a copy ready for you when you come in.
We have access to many other proficiency exams, but some must be ordered. Contact Mary for more information (mcmryan@ucdavis.edu)

FRENCH* **
GERMAN
SPANISH
RUSSIAN
(Proctored &
In Person)

These exams are web-based, computerized, and adaptive (that is, the exam selects each test item as you proceed based on the answer given to the previous question). The exam takes one hour or less to complete and all questions are multiple-choice. Your results will be issued immediately. You do not need to study for this exam - it is a test to determine your current language proficiency. After you have completed the exam the Davis Language Center will issue a print out with your score and suggested course level, with the score being final.

* Please go to https://frenchanditalian.ucdavis.edu/placement-guidelines-french-language for complete information on French placement guidelines.
** If you are a Heritage French Speaker, (anyone who attended French schools or have French-speaking parents) should contact Professor Julia Simon: jsimon@ucdavis.edu

Anyone who has had significant exposure to the Japanese language through formal classroom study or living with heritage speakers should take the placement exam. If you have never been exposed to the Japanese language, no placement exam is required. Just enroll in a Japanese 1 course.

The new Japanese Language Assessment Examination is a multiple choice test with three primary parts which include grammar, reading and listening comprehension. The exam will take about one hour to complete based on your Japanese competence. You will get your results and placement level immediately upon completion of the test. You can register for a Japanese language class prior to taking the placement exam; but after testing it may be determined that you are in an inappropriate class level based on your language proficiency. The test is offered throughout the academic year at the DLC.

ATTENTION: the online Japanese exam can ONLY be taken once each calendar year.

INFORMATION FOR JAPANESE PLACEMENT TEST TAKERS:
Students who plan to take Japanese courses at UCD: After you have completed the computerized test, you must contact the Japanese Program Coordinator Nobuko Koyama nkoyama@ucdavis.edu, office 311 Sproul Hall) ASAP to arrange for the second half of the placement test/oral interview. (NOTE: If you are taking the placement test to fulfill the foreign language requirement and you do not plan to take a Japanese language class, you are not required to complete an oral interview.)

To take the Japanese Proficiency Examination, come to the UC Davis Language Center (DLC) in Olson 53 (or email them at ucdlc@ucdavis.edu). The assessment will be given at the DLC and will take approximately 1 hour to complete.

The main purpose of the computerized Chinese Proficiency evaluation is to determine whether you have fulfilled the foreign language requirement. However, a proctored exam can also serve the purpose of the placement exam for enrolling in an appropriate course. If you are also interested in taking a Chinese course, please read the information on the Foreign Language Placement Exams page by clicking on this link: https://ucdlc.ucdavis.edu/foreign-language-placement-exams.

The Chinese Evaluation consists of a background survey and a multiple-choice exam including listening, grammar and reading. It may take up to 60 minutes, depending on your Chinese competence, to complete both the survey and the exam. You will receive your result immediately upon completing the exam.

Important: Please keep in mind that if you are taking the Chinese exam in order to fulfill the UC Davis foreign language requirement, the exam MUST be proctored at the Davis Language Center in Olson Hall, Room 53 Hours

(If you only want to know what class to take, and are not trying to fulfill your language requirement by taking a test, then you do not need to take the test in person. You can just do our online placement at home: https://ucdlc.ucdavis.edu/foreign-language-placement-exams

ATTENTION: Chinese exam can ONLY be taken once every two years unless you are returning from a Chinese program outside of UC Davis or an internship from a Chinese-speaking country.

All Other Language Exams or questions about foreign language requirements

Contact:

We offer in-person proficiency exams in many other languages through a program set up by BYU. Their program charges $50 for those exams, paid for by the student. We then administer the exam at no further charge. Contact us to see if your language is offered and for instructions on how to register for the BYU exam. We can also make arrangements for additional languages, beyond the BYU offerings. Just ask.