Please note: The following policy and procedure statements pertain to students who begin college as degree-seeking students in Summer 2004 and after. The WKU general education foreign language requirement states: "Students who begin their college career as degree-seeking students during the 2004 summer term and thereafter will be required to take the second semester level or higher foreign language course."

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. See the Modern Language general education policy statement.

Information about the WKU Language Requirement (pdf)

Placement test

Instructions on how to complete the placement test

The placement tests in French, German, and Spanish are available on the Web and may be taken at any time convenient to the student. It only takes a few minutes to take the exam on-line. On the basis of the score earned, the student can be placed at the appropriate language level. It is important that the student enroll in the designated course as soon upon entering Western as possible in order to capitalize on language skills. Contact the Department of Modern Languages with questions (modern.languages@wku.edu or 270-745-2401).

Instructions on how to access the examination site:

How to interpret your placement score:
Your score will immediately be shown to you after completing the test and it will be sent to the Department of Modern Languages at Western KY University. The system does not use email to notify students of their results. Therefore it is important for you to make a record of your score and of the WKU course placement it indicates. If you need to see your results at a later time, you must log in to the exam site again, fill in the top part of the survey exactly as you did when you first took the exam, and then press the resume button. (This process also works if the exam is interrupted'as long as you have answered at least one question.) You can interpret your score by looking at the following score equivalences. For example, if your score on the French test was 278, you should enroll in FREN 102.

French
0-249 (French 101)
250-310 (French 102)
311-364 (French 201)
365-399 (French 202)
400 and up (French 300)

German
0-249 (German 101)
250-310 (German 102)
311-364 (German 201)
365-399 (German 202)
400 and up (German 300)

Spanish
0-249 (Spanish 101)
250-345 (Spanish 102)*
346-390 (Spanish 201)
391-429 (Spanish 202)
430 and above (Spanish 300)
*Note for Honor students: Students interested in taking the section of Spanish 102 should score at least 325