Placement Tips

1. Continue now; reconsider later. If you discontinue your foreign language study now after only several years of high school study, your loss in abilities will be great. After a couple of additional courses, you will probably have abilities that you can keep for life.

2. You haven't seen anything yet. College level foreign language study will often be very different from your past experiences in high school. At Radford University, you will study the language both to learn about the culture and to really become fluent.

3. Ask what foreign language study can do for you or your major. The overwhelming majority of Radford University students studying foreign languages, including majors and minors, have other majors that are supported through the study of another language at Radford University and through the university's study abroad programs.

4. One size does not fit all. If you have studied the language in high school, then you’ll place beyond the first semester (101 in Mandarin, 100 in Spanish, French and German). The placement recommendation must match the specific details of your abilities. There is no safe placement extreme, either too high or too low.

5. The chart’s good; the test’s better. You don’t have to take the placement test in order to get into a foreign language course. Good placement recommendations can be made using the charts provided. The test just gives additional information for an even better placement.

6. Take 12 or two. There are two ways to fulfill the B.A. foreign language requirement: if you’re a beginner, take the first 12 hours, or if you’re a more advanced student, you only need to take two courses beyond the first nine hours in Spanish, beyond the first eight in all others.

7. Get six freebies. If you have never taken a college foreign language class before and if you take two courses on the advanced level as indicated in #6 and receive a B and a C (or better) on these first two courses, then you will be awarded six additional gratis placement credits on the beginning level.