 |
|
Freshman Placement Exam Overview
First of all…don't panic! These placement tests are simply tools that you and your advisor use to
determine your enrollment for fall 2008. Your success in college is important to you. Your success in
college is important to us. You and your advisor need as much information as possible to evaluate your
current academic skill set.
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, 2008.
Business Placement Exam Guidelines
Required Exams Offered Online
(please refer to the information below for exemption requirements)
|
| English |
90 minutes |
| Algebra |
90 minutes |
| Trigonometry |
25 minutes |
|
|
Optional Exams Offered Online
(please refer to the information below for optional exam guidelines)
|
| 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 |
|
|
| Exam |
Special Notes |
English Writing
(Required, if verbal SAT is less than 599) |
If you received a score of 599 or less on the verbal/critical reading SAT, you will
be required to take the English writing placement exam. You are exempt from the
English writing placement exam if you scored 600 or greater on the verbal/critical
reading SAT. In this case, with a verbal/critical reading SAT of greater than 600,
you will be enrolled in English Composition 0200, Seminar in Composition. The only
students who are not required to complete Seminar in Composition are those who
receive a score of 600 or greater on the verbal/critical reading SAT, plus a score of
5 on the Advanced Placement (AP) English test.
|
Algebra
(Required, if math SAT is less than 599 and you have never taken calculus or trigonometry) |
If you received a score of 599 or less on the math SAT and have never taken calculus
or trigonometry, you are required to take the algebra placement exam. A student
earning 600 or greater on the math SAT will discuss with their academic advisor which
math course is appropriate for his/her background. |
Trigonometry
(Required, if math SAT is less than 599 and you have taken calculus or trigonometry) |
If you received a score of 599 or less on the math SAT and have taken calculus or
trigonometry while in high school, you are required to take the trigonometry placement
exam, unless: 1.) you have passed the University of Pittsburgh's College in High
School calculus class, or 2.) you scored a 3, 4 or 5 on the math AB or BC Advanced
Placement (AP) calculus test, or 3.) you can provide CBA with an official transcript
from another college/university showing that you have completed calculus with a grade
of C or better.
A student earning 600 or greater on the math SAT will discuss with their academic
advisor which math course is appropriate for his/her background.
|
Foreign Language
(Optional - Recommended) |
CBA Students are strongly encouraged to consider adding a foreign language to their
portfolio of skills. Students who wish to continue studying the same foreign language
they took in high school should take this exam, but if you wish to learn a new
language, you do not need to take this exam. Students who have completed more than
three years of study in a single foreign language in high school with a grade point
average of C or higher are not required to complete a foreign language requirement.
Students who have completed fewer than three years of foreign language study in high
school with less than a C average must complete two semesters of a foreign language. |
|
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 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 unless 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
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.
Your performance on the algebra placement exam will not affect how Advanced Placement credit may later
be awarded. Go
here for details about how the College of Business Administration awards AP credit.
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.
Your performance on the trigonometry placement exam will not affect how Advanced Placement credit may
later be awarded. Go
here
for details about how the College of Business Administration awards AP credit.
Foreign Language
If you have completed three years of study in a single foreign language in high school with a grade
point average of a C or higher, you are not required to complete a foreign language. You may also exempt
the foreign language requirement with a sufficiently high score on the language placement exam. Exams are
offered in French, German, Italian, Latin, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. All exams, except the French,
Spanish and German tests, 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.
Music Theory
Business students do not need to take this placement exam. Students considering a major or minor in
music take this test to place out of a required preparation course for music theory.
CBA Placement Exam Questions Contact:
|
|
