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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, 2008.
Nursing Placement Exam Guidelines
Required Exams Offered Online
(please refer to the information below for exemption requirements)
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| English |
90 minutes |
| Algebra |
90 minutes |
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Optional Exams Offered Online
(please refer to the information below for optional exam guidelines)
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| Trigonometry |
25 minutes |
| French |
60 minutes |
| German |
60 minutes |
| Spanish |
60 minutes |
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Optional Exams Offered On Campus During the PittStart Session
(please refer to the information below for optional exam guidelines)
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| 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 can only exempt 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 requirement. If your verbal/critical
reading SAT score is 600 or higher, you will be placed into ENGCMP 0200, Seminar in
Composition.
In order to exempt the Seminar in Composition requirement and be awarded AP credit
for Seminar in 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.
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Algebra
(Required) |
You can only exempt 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.
All Nursing students are REQUIRED to take statistics during their program. If a
Nursing student does not exempt from a college algebra class, they need to take one
prior to enrolling in statistics.
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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.
You may NOT use a calculator for this exam. |
Foreign Language
(Optional) |
There is no foreign language requirement in the School of Nursing. If you wish to
continue studying the same foreign language you took in high school, you should take
this exam. |
Music Theory
(Optional) |
Nursing students who are considering a minor in music should take this test. A
sufficient score will exempt you from the required Preparation for Music Theory class.
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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 exempt from the Seminar in Composition requirement and be awarded AP credit for Seminar in
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 and until we receive official
notification from the testing service.
During the first week of classes every student in a Seminar in 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
Nursing students must take statistics during their program. In order to succeed in statistics, the
student must demonstrate that they are exempt from college algebra. If they test out of algebra, they may
then take statistics sometime during their enrollment in the School of Nursing. If they do not test out of
algebra, they must complete a college algebra class prior to enrolling in statistics. 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. Calculators,
books and notes are not permitted.
Foreign Language
Currently there is no foreign language requirement for the School of Nursing. Students wishing to
continue studying the same foreign language they took in high school should take these exams. 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
If a nursing student would like to minor in music, they should take this exam.
Nursing Placement Exam Questions Contact:
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