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.
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