Should You Take the Placement Test?

The online French Placement Test (also called the F-CAPE exam) is used to determine a student's appropriate placement in a French course at U.Va. A student may earn exemption from the College's foreign language competency requirement by placing beyond the French 2020 level on the exam. For those students who do not place beyond 2020 (the fourth-semester intermediate course), the exam indicates the appropriate level at which to continue studying French at UVA in order to satisfy the language requirement or to prepare for more advanced study of the language. 

 

  • Entering first-year students who have studied French in high school, but who have not taken the SAT II French exam, should take the online French Placement Test (also called the F-CAPE exam) before summer orientation.  See the link to instructions below. (If you have taken the SAT II in French, you will not need to take the Placement Test.  You may take the Placement Test, however, if you came very close to testing out of the requirement with the SAT II and want a second chance at doing so.)

 

  • Entering students who have taken the AP exam in French, but who will not receive their AP scores until after summer registration, should go ahead and take the online Placement Test to get a general idea of the appropriate placement before registering for fall classes.  We will always use the higher of two exam scores if the results indicate different levels of placement in French. If you have questions about your course selection after you receive your AP score, please contact the Language Program Director, Karen James (ksj7c@virginia.edu). 

 

  • In addition, the Placement Test (F-CAPE) is most useful for current students who:
    • have not had French for many years.
    • already have a placement score, but from a test taken several years ago.

 

  • Transfer students:  If you receive transfer credit for elementary or intermediate-level French courses taken at another institution before you matriculate to the university, you should continue with the next level of French here.  If you received transfer credit for the equivalent of French 2020, then you have satisfied the College’s foreign language requirement. (The next course in sequence is either French 2320 or 3031.)  If you did not receive transfer credit for your previous French study, you should take the online Placement Test (F-CAPE exam).  You may also wish to refer to the Arts and Sciences website for information about transfer credits.  

 

Please note:

If you tend to get low scores on standardized tests, read the descriptions of the French 1010-2320 courses to see if it seems appropriate to take a more advanced course than the one your SATII or F-CAPE score indicates.  If you fall betwen two levels, it is usually best to try the higher-level course, and we encourage you to do so.  If you have any questions, please contact the French Department's Language Program Director, Karen James (ksj7c@virginia.edu).

 TAKE THE PLACEMENT TEST ONLINE

For more information on your score(s) and placement in French classes, see:


 

Return to the top of the page