I need to take the Spanish placement exam soon, and I was wondering about the format. For those of you who have taken it, what is the format of the exam? Is there a listening portion? Are there a lot of grammar questions, or is it more of a reading comprehension exam?

Also, if you took the exam, what level did you place into and how many years of the language had your previously taken? I need to take through level 3 of Spanish, so I am hoping to place at least through level 2, so that I only have to take one course. I had two years of spanish in high school, but that was a couple of years ago.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

10/20/2006 6:02:47 PM

I seem to remember one question at a time that was asked in text format on the screen. I had a few spanish classes in highschool, and placed into some spanish class, but I started back at fls 101 b/c it had been a couple of years.

I did 101 over summer 1, 102, over summer 2, and 201 over the fall. It was all right in a row, and very fresh in my mind when I got to 201.

Basically I was in your situation, but didn't feel strong enough (correctly so) to going with the place the placement test said I should go with. Also starting over was best for actually learning the language to some degree. FLS 101 is taught as if everyone in the class has already had some spanish background, so it was right for me... but you might be more gifted with languages than me. I know enough spanish to get through college, to read a little, and roughly manage working with our clients who only speak spanish... but I could never hold a real conversation even after all those classes.

10/21/2006 11:41:09 PM

when i took the spanish placement exam, i scored a 0, and actually didnt even have to complete the whole test because i had missed so many questions in a row. but i think since i am hispanic, they approved me for fls 110 anyways?

110 combines 101 and 102 into one class, so you move real fast through the material. i had taken 2 semesters in high school fresh/soph year, so i remembered very little, but still passed the class (took pass/fail). it seemed like a good refresher course for people w/ a better background that planned to take more spanish the following semester.

10/22/2006 11:56:26 AM

i took two bullshit years in highschool (6 years ago) and i placed into 102

the placement test had a lot of sentence structure and paragraphs

10/25/2006 11:11:07 PM

It seemed to be more reading comprehension based. There was no speaking or listening portion. I took spanish in middle school and through my junior year of high school and placed into 202 after not using any of it for like 2 years.

10/26/2006 2:59:28 PM