During Orientation you will take placement exams in Chemistry and Language. You should have taken your Math placement exam 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 Writing Center Directed Self-Placement
Instead of taking a writing placement exam, you will answer a series of questions about your experience in writing and reading to help you determine whether you would like to begin your writing at UM with SWC 100 (Writing Practicum) or a First-Year Writing Course. 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, IB, and A-levels
You may earn college credit for AP exams, an International Baccalaureate, or A-levels. The AP chart explains which AP exams the University gives credit for, what score you will need, and what you will get credit for.

To find out what credit your International Baccalaureate will earn, see the IB chart on the Admissions website.

The Admissions Office will evaluate any A-level exams you have taken and award credit as appropriate. If you have questions about this, please ask your advisor when you come for Orientation.

 

AP scores and credit policies are subject to change with changes in university policies.