
Academic Advising
Assignment of the individual academic and advising registration appointment will ONLY occur during
the Day Two 9:45 am - 10:30 am Arts and Sciences Group Session. Please click
here for a checklist of "to-do" items to complete prior to your PittStart session.
Freshman Placement Exam Overview
First of all…don't panic! These tests are simply a tool your advisor uses to determine how to place
you in appropriate classes. Your success is important to us, and that means registering you for classes
in which you will have every opportunity to earn an "A."
Each school has different requirements, so please make sure you are reviewing placement exam
guidelines only for the school to which you were admitted. It is also important that you know which
required and/or optional placement exams apply to you. Please carefully read the guidelines below so
that you can determine which exams you need to complete. After reviewing the guidelines, you will find
a link to begin the online placement exam process at the bottom of this page. If you have remaining
questions about placement exams, you may find contact information for your academic advising center at
the bottom of this page.
Completion of Online Placement exams begins May 1, 2009.
Arts and Sciences Placement Exam Guidelines
Required Exams Offered Online
(please refer to the information below for exemption requirements)
|
| English |
90 minutes |
| Algebra |
90 minutes |
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|
Optional Exams Offered Online
(please refer to the information below for optional exam guidelines)
|
| Trigonometry |
25 minutes |
| French |
60 minutes |
| German |
60 minutes |
| Spanish |
60 minutes |
|
|
Optional Exams Offered On Campus During the PittStart Session
(please refer to the information below for optional exam guidelines)
|
| Music Theory |
60 minutes |
| Russian |
60 minutes |
| Portuguese |
60 minutes |
| Latin |
60 minutes |
| Italian |
60 minutes |
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| Exam |
Special Notes |
English Writing
(Required) |
You are only exempt from the English writing exam if you scored 600 or higher on the
verbal/critical reading SAT. The 600 verbal/critical reading SAT score will not exempt
any student from the English Composition course requirement. If your verbal/critical
reading SAT score is 600 or higher, you will be placed into Seminar in Composition (0200).
In order to be exempt from the English Composition course requirement and be awarded AP
credit for English Composition 0200, you must score a 5 on the AP English test AND score 600
or higher on the verbal/critical reading portion of the SAT test. No credits will be awarded
until we receive official notification from the testing service.
|
Algebra
(Required) |
You are only exempt from the algebra placement exam if you scored 600 or higher on the math SAT,
or if you earned a grade of C- or better in Math 0220 or 0120 in our College in High School
program, or if you were awarded AP calculus credit. Meeting this requirement also exempts you
from the algebra course requirement.
|
Trigonometry
(Optional) |
If you took trigonometry in high school and plan to take calculus in college, you should take this exam,
even if the math portion of your SAT score is 600 or higher. (Note: calculus is required for majors in
math, computer science, pre-pharmacy, pre-med and any of the natural sciences.)
You may NOT USE a calculator for this exam.
|
Foreign Language
(Optional) |
Students who wish to continue studying the same foreign language they took in high school should
take these exams. (Note: students who have completed 3 years of study in a single foreign language
in high school with an average grade of C or higher are not required to complete the foreign
language course requirement in college)
|
Music Theory
(Optional) |
If you are considering a major or minor in music, you should take this test. A sufficient
score will exempt you from the required Preparation for Music Theory course.
|
|
English Writing
The online English writing placement test is designed to measure your ability to read and understand
college-level material and to write a thoughtfully coherent response. You will be given 90 minutes to
read a short passage and write an essay in which you will be asked to explain what the writer of the
passage is saying about a particular issue, and respond to that writer's view and issue in terms of
your own knowledge and experience.
In order to be exempt from the English Composition course requirement and be awarded AP credit for
English Composition 0200, you must achieve a score of 5 on the AP English test AND score 600 or higher
on the verbal portion of the SAT test. No credits will be awarded until we receive official
notification from the testing service.
During the first week of classes every student in an English Composition class will be given a
diagnostic exam. Based on your performance on this exam, you may be required to add a one-credit
tutorial (Composition Tutorial 0201) designed to help you resolve specific issues in your writing at
the basic level.
Algebra
This exam consists of five sections, which may be taken at your convenience. However, each individual
section is timed, and must be taken in a single sitting. The system does not allow you to pause or start
over once you have begun a section, but you may take a break between sections.
The online algebra exam is designed to determine whether you have acquired the algebraic skills
sufficient for college-level quantitative courses. The five-part, 90-minute exam covers problems
ranging from elementary to advanced algebra. The 45 problems cover the following material: algebra of
rational numbers; operations with algebraic expressions; linear equations and inequalities; factoring
and algebraic functions; exponents and radicals; graphing and distance; fractional and quadratic
equations and inequalities; functions and their graphs; complex numbers; absolute values; and systems
of equations and exponential and logarithmic functions. Calculators are permitted, but books and notes
are not. We
strongly recommend that you review for this exam.
To view sample algebra and English placement exams, click
here.
Trigonometry
The online trigonometry placement test is a 25-minute, 15 question exam that tests definitions of
trigonometric functions, right angles, evaluation of special angles, related angles, radian measure,
graphing, identities, laws of sines and cosines, trigonometric equations and arc functions.
No calculators,
books or notes are permitted.
Foreign Language
Students who wish to continue studying the same foreign language they took in high school should
take these exams. Students who have completed 3 years of study in a single foreign language in high
school with an average grade of C or higher are not required to complete the foreign language course
requirement in college.
Exams are offered in French, German, Italian, Latin, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. The French,
German and Spanish tests are online. All students taking the online Spanish exam must also sign up for
an oral interview with the Spanish department that will be conducted when you are on campus for your
PittStart session. Students can learn more about the Spanish placement test at
www.hispanic.pitt.edu/undergraduate/ap.html.
To schedule the oral interview, please go to rich75.com/pitt2/.
It is imperative that students sign up for the oral interview prior to the PittStart session. Interview times are:
Oral Interview Location: Cathedral of Learning, Room 1301B
Oral Interview Times: Day one and Day Two
10:30 am - 12:30 pm or 2:00 pm - 4:00pm
The Italian, Latin, Portuguese and Russian exams are
one-hour reading exams that include multiple-choice questions, completion of sentences with words or
phrases, questions about the content or meaning of a passage and recognition of grammatically correct
forms of words or phrases. You are encouraged to review first and second-year language texts before
taking the exam. These written exams are offered on campus during the PittStart session.
Music Theory
If you are considering a major or minor in music, you should take this test. A sufficient score will
exempt you from the required Preparation for Music Theory course.
Arts and Sciences Placement Exam Questions Contact:
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