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Brigid in NC
07-13-2008, 09:32 AM
Have your college kids taken foreign language placement tests given by the college that they will be entering? I'm wondering how challenging these are, and whether the rigor of our Spanish (at home) will be enough for my son to place out of taking a foreign language in college.

If your students have taken college placement tests, I would love to hear your experiences with them. Is there any way to get a glimpse of what such a test would look like or expect? Is there any way to prepare for such a test (similar to SAT prep)? Would the SATII practice test books be a good idea?

I had thought about having my ds take the Spanish SATII test, but I understand that it is very hard to score well in foreign language subject tests, because so many native speakers take them.

My ds will be a senior in this third year of Spanish at home. We use Rosetta Stone (will start year three in the fall), and supplement with Practice Makes Perfect workbooks for grammar. My ds also spends one to two hours a week with a native speaker (my ds helps that individual with his English, and gets help with Spanish -- so I wouldn't really call this individual a tutor or teacher).

Thanks for any insights and advice. :001_smile:
~Brigid

Ailaena
07-13-2008, 12:18 PM
The University of Colorado has an online placement test. Only the name in required, no other info needs to be filled out and, of course, it can be a pseudonym. Most colleges will want an oral exam in addition to a written exam to test out of classes.

http://webcape.byuhtrsc.org/?acct=colorado
The code is: ralphie1



HTH!

Chris in VA
07-13-2008, 01:58 PM
If they use CLEP, there are CLEP prep books available. I was able to CLEP into French 3 myself--no prep, just 4 years of French (didn't have it my senior year, so I lost a lot of it!).

danielle
07-14-2008, 08:51 AM
Why not take a look at one of the AP books if the language is Spanish, French, German,or Italian (if they're still on the market--I understand AP is eliminating Italian)? Or even SAT II? My guess is a placement test would be similar.
Danielle