Advanced Placement & Credit

Southwestern administers placement examinations in French, German, Latin and Spanish. Students with a high school background in language should place high enough to receive exemption from a beginning level course. However, Southwestern credit hours are not awarded. Students are not required to have studied a language in high school before starting language study at Southwestern. In fact, many students find that studying a language not studied in high school can be both challenging and rewarding.

With few exceptions, placement in the language sequence is determined by a combination of placement exam scores and semesters of high school language study.  Therefore most students entering Southwestern take a placement examination in a  foreign language. Students who score high enough on the placement exam can place out of some or all of the language requirement, and they will be advised as to which course they should take in that same language, based on the results of the exam and semesters of high school study. Because language study is sequential, students begin language study at the level of placement, and take next courses in the sequence in order (i.e. 014, 024, 113, 123) and must earn a grade of C- or better prior to enrolling in the next course in the sequence. The courses may not be taken concurrently. Placement tests may be taken in more than one foreign language. International students whose native tongue is not English may satisfy the foreign language requirement by scoring at least 570 (paper) or 230 (computer) on the TOEFL exam.

Under no circumstances may an individual earn credit for more than two courses in a language by AP or placement examinations.