Placement and Proficiency

Depending on exam scores, past coursework, and educational experiences, you may be able to receive college credit or placement into higher-level KU language courses. Please see the Credit for Prior Learning section of the Registrar's website for more information.

Placement Exams

Placement exams help to determine the course in which you should enroll if you are continuing your study of a language with which you have had previous experience.  These exams focus on your abilities and knowledge of the language rather than the amount of prior coursework that you have had.  

Incoming students should complete placement exams one week prior to their arrival on campus for orientation.  Students failing to do so may be unable to sign up for a language course until the add/drop period at the beginning of the semester.

Continuing students (those already enrolled at KU) may take placement exams at their convenience.  The results of these exams should be discussed with the department offering the language to determine proper course placement.

Please note that placement exams cannot be used to grant exemption from coursework or to claim fulfillment of any degree or program requirements.

Kansas Seal of Biliteracy

The Kansas Department of Education has established a Kansas Seal of Biliteracy (SOBL) that local school districts can award to students who have attained proficiency in English and one or more other languages by the time of graduation.

• Students with a silver Kansas SOBL that includes a modern non-English language taught at KU will be able to enroll in the fourth-semester course without the need to take a placement exam; students with a silver Kansas SOBL in Latin or Ancient Greek will be able to enroll in the third-semester course.
• Students with a gold Kansas SOBL that includes a modern non-English language taught at KU will be able to enroll in the fifth-semester course without the need to take a placement exam; students with a gold Kansas SOBL in Latin or Ancient Greek will be able to enroll in the fourth-semester course.

Students that complete the course in which they have been placed with a grade of C or above will be eligible for 6-9 retroactive credits from the department offering the language.

Students with a Kansas SOBL that includes a non-English language that is not taught at KU, or that is taught at KU but is not available at the third-semester level or above, will be granted exemption from coursework toward the non-English language proficiency requirement in the College’s Bachelor of Arts.

• Students with a silver Kansas SOBL will be exempted from three semesters of language study; the language requirement may be completed by demonstrating first-semester proficiency in a second non-English language.
• Students with a gold Kansas SOBL will be exempted from the language requirement.

Students seeking exemption for a language not taught at KU should consult with College Undergraduate Academic Services.

Students with a Seal of Biliteracy from a state other than Kansas should take a placement exam (see above) to determine appropriate course placement.

Proficiency Exams

Proficiency exams allow undergraduate students to gain exemption from the Non-English Language Proficiency requirement in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences by establishing that their ability in a second language is equivalent to that of someone who has studied that language for four semesters at the college level.

Proficiency exams are intended for students with knowledge of a second language that cannot be documented through academic transcripts. That knowledge may have been gained through time abroad, attending high school where the primary language of instruction was not English, or through regular contact with speakers of a second language at home or in the community at large. Proficiency exams require testing in reading, writing, speaking and listening in a second language.

If you are a native speaker of English and wish to prove proficiency in a second language, there are two paths:

• If you wish to claim proficiency in a language taught at KU, you should consult the department offering that language.  If there is an online placement exam available for that language, you should take that exam first to get a sense of how your knowledge corresponds to the levels of instruction at KU.  Completion of a course at the fourth semester of language study (or above) is also sufficient to fulfill the four-semester language requirement.
• If you wish to claim proficiency in a language not taught at KU, you should contact College Undergraduate Academic Services.

If you are a native speaker of a language other than English, it is most likely that your proficiency in a second language can be proved through academic transcripts.  This might be as simple as establishing that the language of instruction in your high school was a language other than English, that you have appropriate scores on standardized English tests, or that you have completed required coursework in the Applied English Center.  For more information about requesting exemption from the College language requirement, you should contact College Undergraduate Academic Services.