Students who were first-time college students in summer 2004 and after, must fulfill the foreign language general education requirement of "proficiency at the second semester level." They can do this by successfully taking a 102 (second-semester of first year) course, by taking a department exam for 102, by gaining appropiate CLEP or AP credit or by placing into and successfully passing a course at the intermediate (201 or 202) level or higher. The Modern Languages program strongly recommends that students with good language skills in French, German, or Spanish and those who plan to major or minor in one of these languages after having studied it previously take the placement exam to insure correct placement. Other students who want to begin the study of a new language in order to fulfill the general education requirements should enroll in the first semester course of that language. If you began your college studies in the summer of 2004 or after and wish to continue a language that you studied for 2 or more years in high school, you must begin that language at the 102 level or higher.

Visit the Modern languages website for more information: http://www.wku.edu/modernlanguages/placement/index.html
 

General guidelines for students who have not yet taken the placement exam but want to enroll in a continuation of their foreign language study during O-A-R: Two years of high school language study: Enroll in 102. Three (or four) years of high school language study: Enroll in 201. Four (or more) years of high school language study: Enroll in 202. MLIS faculty will make enrollment adjustments as necessary after the placement exam is administered.

Verified credit for advanced placement: Students who place into a course above the first semester level and successfully complete each course with a “C” or better can earn three to six additional hours of credit upon payment of a fee.

Credit for AP (Advanced Placement) achievement: You can earn credit for AP scores and additional hours of verified credit as well. Beginning in January 2001, the following policy is in effect:

1.The student presenting an AP score of 3 will be given credit for the third semester of college-level language study (201, 3 credit hours).

2.The student presenting an AP score of 4 will be given credit for the fourth semester of college-level language study (202, 3 credit hours).

3.The student presenting an AP score of 5 will be given credit for the one upper-division course in the language (300-level, 3 credit hours).

In all the above cases, the student may earn six hours of additional credit in the foreign language by earning a “C” in a course at a level higher than that earned through the AP score and then paying a fee.

CLEP Examination and credit: Students may take the CLEP examination in French, German, and Spanish at any point before completing a course in the language at Western and receive up to 12 hours of credit (the equivalent of the first two years of language study). We strongly urge students to take this examination before entering Western, so that their foreign language placement will be certain. Contact the Testing Services at WKU (270-745-3159) for information on testing dates. A fee is charged.