During Orientation you will take placement exams in Chemistry
and Language. You should have taken your Math and Writing placement exams before
you come to campus. It’s important that you take the placement
exams and try and do as well as possible. In some cases, doing
well on the UM Placement Exam will exempt you from a course or
a requirement or give you the opportunity to earn additional credits.
Chemistry Placement
The Chemistry Placement Exam will either recommend that you start
with Chemistry 130 (General Chemistry) or Chemistry 210 (Organic
Chemistry). Your placement is determined not only by your Chemistry
Exam score but also your Math placement and your SAT or ACT Math
scores. The majority of students are recommended for Chem 130.
Lecture section 400 of Chem 130 is a smaller lecture section with
an extra hour of class designed for students who might be coming
with a little less preparation. LSA does not require Chemistry.
Credit is not granted for the Chemistry Placement Exam.
Note: Chemistry 125/126
is the lab class that goes with Chem 130. It is recommended
but not required that these general Chemistry classes be taken
together. Chemistry 211 is the lab class that goes with Chem
210. You should enroll in both the lecture and the lab for Organic
Chemistry.
Math Placement
The Math Placement Exam will either recommend that you start with
Math 105 (Data, Functions, and Graphs) or a Calculus class which
is most often Math 115 (Calculus 1). Your placement is determined
not only by your Math Exam score but also your SAT or ACT math
scores and your high school grade point average. Math 105 is a
preparatory class for UM Calculus. You may be strongly recommended
for Math 105 or tentatively recommended. If you are recommended
for Math 105, your chances of success in Calculus without taking
Math 105 are poor. You may also be strongly recommended for Math
115 or tentatively recommended. In all cases, a Math advisor will
be available during Orientation for consultation. If you have
AP credit for Calculus you may want to consider taking honors
math or a different course in the Calculus series. LSA does not
require a Math class. Credit is not granted for the Math Placement
Exam.
Language Placement
The following language placement exams are given during Orientation:
French, Spanish, Italian, German, Latin, Hebrew, and Russian.
If you have previously studied any of these languages, you should
take the placement exam at Orientation. If you know a language
other than these, ask your advisor about taking a placement exam
in the Fall. The language placement exams will advise you to take
a certain level of language. You must follow this placement unless
you and your advisor have determined otherwise. It is possible
to place past the fourth semester of language and thus place out
of the LSA foreign language requirement. Please take this test
seriously and make sure that you complete the entire test. Credit
is not granted for the Language Placement Exam.
Sweetland Center for Writing Directed Self-Placement
To assist students in choosing their first writing course at the University, the Sweetland Writing Center administers the Directed Self-Placement Essay and Questions. The Online program asks you to (1) Read an article of about 10 pages; (2) Write a 2-3 page essay in response to a prompt based on that article; and (3) Anwser a short 10-question survey about your writing experiences. You will do this on-line before you come to campus. Click here if you have not done this yet. If you are not feeling confident about your writing experience you might want to select SWC 100.
AP and IB Credit
It is important to discuss your AP exams
with your Academic Advisor during Summer Orientation. In some
cases, credits can be earned only upon completion of additional
course work or following a conversation with a Concentration Advisor.
AP scores and credit policies are subject to change
with changes in university policies. For the most up-to-date AP and IB information visit the Office of Admissions website or click here.
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