The School of International Letters and Cultures Policy for Language Proficiency Exams
Purpose: Satisfy a student’s college foreign language graduation requirement by passing a 4th semester (intermediate level) language exam with a grade of “C” or better.
Information about Language Proficiency Exams:
- Exam format varies by language. All have writing and reading sections and some also have listening and verbal portions.
- Only ONE opportunity is provided to test out of the language requirement and only current ASU students may take an exam.
- If a grade of “C” or better is not earned on the Proficiency Exam, you must register for the appropriate lower level language course to meet the foreign language graduation requirement.
- There is no fee for exams that ASU can provide and grade, but some exams must be ordered through BYU which charges a $40 fee for this service. Exams for less common languages are usually only available through BYU. If your language cannot be tested through ASU or BYU, an authority in the language must be located to provide/grade the exam.
- Exams are arranged after the first week of classes in a semester, up until 2 weeks before the last day of classes. No language testing is done during the summer. Exams are scheduled a week or more in advance and will not be scheduled after the deadlines. PLAN AHEAD.
- Students who wish to test in Portuguese and Romanian must pass the 4th semester language exams in these languages, which at ASU are POR 314 and ROM 314.
- Native speakers (a person with their secondary education in the language to be tested) may not need to take an exam. Please contact International Admissions with questions. Their office is located on the 1st floor of the Student Services Building, or call: 480-965-2688.
How to take a Spanish, French or German Proficiency Exam:
- Before taking the proficiency exam, you may take a free, online placement test. This is NOT the proficiency exam, but a 20 minute test to help you gauge your ability level before you take the proficiency exam. You can find the test here: https://www.asu.edu/silc/placement/undergraduate/languageplacement/
- When you have completed the placement test, please email silctesting@asu.edu.
How to take a Proficiency Exam for a Language that is NOT Spanish, French or German:
- Please contact the Testing Coordinator at silctesting@asu.edu.
- Application: Word | PDF
For further information, email the Testing Coordinator at silctesting@asu.edu.