Language Placement Exams

Students who have not previously studied an East Asian Language at Harvard, but who wish to study that language in a course higher than Ba (the first semester of an "Elementary" or introductory-level course) must first have their level of proficiency assessed by taking a placement exam. This includes heritage speakers; students who have previously studied the language in a non-Harvard setting; and those who have taken non-Harvard summer and/or Study Abroad courses during their time at Harvard in order to advance their language level more quickly. Students who have completed language courses in the Harvard Summer School taught by EALP faculty are not required to take the placement exam. Students placing into the third-year level or higher on the exam may also use their results to demonstrate that they have satisfied Harvard College’s undergraduate language requirement.

For students returning from study abroad: please note that in order to earn language citation credit, you must place out of courses at the second-year level or higher. First-year language study (including Bx courses) is not citation-eligible. 

Below is information about current placement exams, which are offered prior to the start of classes each semester.

Japanese Placement Exam

Test Dates:

Thursday, March 28th 9:00 AM - Friday, April 5th 11:59 PM (Eastern Time)

Exam Link (Canvas site): https://canvas.harvard.edu/courses/139936

 

● The exam will go online from 9:00 am, Tuesday, March 28th (ET), and will be open for students to take up through 11:59 pm on Friday, April 5th. Please see 5. Exam Format for details.

 

● Those who miss taking the Japanese Placement Exam on the dates above, please contact the instructor of the level you wish to place into.

 

● The oral interview for the exam will be conducted from Thursday, March 28th, through Friday, April 5th. Students will be asked to sign up for a time slot to complete the oral interview on one of these days using a sign-up form that will be posted on the exam site.

 

● If you are unsure of your language level, please contact eal@fas.harvard.edu. One of our instructors will contact you for consultation.

 

1. By four days before the exam:

 

Registration: ● You must register for the exam by filling out the 2024 Fall Student Questionnaire for the Japanese Placement Test at least four days before your desired exam date. Once we receive your information through the questionnaire above, you will be able to access the Canvas site.

 

HarvardKey:

● The Japanese Placement Exam is administered in Canvas. In order to access Canvas, you will need a HarvardKey account. If you are an outside applicant, please go to this URL to set up your account: https://key2.harvard.edu/register?appid=canvas

If you need help creating your HarvardKey, please call the HUIT Service Desk at 617- 495 - 7777 or email ithelp@harvard.edu.

 

2. By the exam day:

● Activate Japanese language fonts on your device before the day of the test and familiarize yourself with their use, including hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Installation instructions for both Mac and PC can be found here. If you have any questions about installing the Japanese input software, please contact Harvard IT as soon as possible so you can have your laptop ready in advance of the exam.

 

● Please make sure your laptop is 100% charged. During the exam, please check your device battery regularly to make sure that you do not lose any work due to your device suddenly losing power.

 

3. On the day of the exam:

Locate yourself in a quiet, well-lit room with a reliable internet connection.

Make sure you have a headset for the oral interview section of the exam.

 

4. When you take the exam:

● Honor Code:

When you start the exam, go first to the Japanese Language Placement Test Honor Code section and fill out the necessary information. Keep in mind the Harvard honor code while taking the test. Opening tabs or windows to any site outside of the quiz and its questions may constitute a violation of the honor code. Additionally, sharing the link or any of the test’s contents with others is a violation of the honor code.

 

● Oral Interview:

When it is time for your oral interview, please go to the zoom link to meet with an instructor for the level you wish to place into. You will also be contacted to confirm the link and time of your interview a day before the interview.

 

● Accommodations:

If you will need any special accommodations for the exam (e.g. assistance for a visual/hearing impairment or extra time), please contact Rebecca Mahoney < mahoney@fas.harvard.edu>.

 

5. Exam Format:

The exam consists of the following five sections with the time limit for each shown in ( ):

I. Grammar (40 minutes)

II. Reading Comprehension (40 minutes) [Choose one option.]

(III-A) for those wishing to place into 2nd year Japanese.

(III-B) for those wishing to place into 3rd year Japanese.

(III-C) for those wishing to place into 4th year Japanese.

(III-D) for those wishing to place into 5th year Japanese.

III. Essay Writing (30 minutes)

IV. Oral Interview (10 minutes) [administered individually via Zoom] The Zoom link will be sent to you by an instructor of the level you wish to place into.

 

● You may complete the sections in I-III in any order you wish as long as you complete all the sections during the exam period.

● In II. Reading Comprehension, choose only one option to complete from II-A, II-B, II-C, or II-D, depending on the level that you wish to place into.

● Each of the sections I-III has a time limit, so please be careful to pace yourself to answer the questions in each section within the time allotted.

● If you finish the answers in a section before the time limit is up, you may submit the answers early and move on to another section.

● Please note that each section closes automatically when the time limit is up, and you cannot take any section more than once.

● DO NOT: (1) switch to any other browser window during the exam.

(2) make use of any tools other than the Japanese input system on your computer.

(3) seek the help of any other person during the exam.

 

6. After the exam:

You will be notified of the exam results on the next business day following your completion of the exam

 

 

Korean Placement Exam

TEST DATES:
- Thursday, March 21, 2024

(*Make-up date: Friday, March 22, 2024)

TIME
4:00 pm – 6:00 pm (EST) Writing /Reading/Grammar & 10-min Oral Exam between 2-4 pm (EST)
(You will be signing up via canvas)

TO REGISTER:

  • To register for the exam, please fill out the registration form and questionnaire (at least two days before the chosen exam date) through this link: https://forms.gle/PNeuuHiKBEvX61r1A
  • Once we receive your completed online form, we will send you a confirmation email with instructions and a zoom link for the written portion of the exam (Writing/Reading/Grammar) and how to sign up for the 10- minute Oral Exam.

ON THE DAY OF THE EXAM:

  • Please come into the zoom 2 minutes before the exam time. You MUST stay in zoom throughout the exam with the video on.
  • You MUST be registered prior to taking the exam.
  • After checking in, you will be given detailed instructions to access the placement exam through a canvas site.

 

Literary (Classical) Chinese Placement Exam

 

Placement exams for Fall 2024 course are offered March 18-April 5 and must be taken before Fall 2024 registration closes.

 

To register: e-mail David Sena, Preceptor in Literary Chinese (dsena@fas.harvard.edu).  Please provide your name and year of study, and describe your prior study of literary or classical Chinese. Indicate whether you intend to take the first- or the second-year exam (see program website for details about this).

For information about literary/classical Chinese at Harvard and the placement exams for first- and second-year courses, please visit the Literary and Classical Chinese Language Program website.

 

Vietnamese Placement Exam


Spring placement exams for Vietnamese language will take place from March 25-29, 2024. The placement exam has two components: oral (virtually) and written (in person). The oral exam lasts for about 15-20 minutes, and the written exam, which composes of reading and writing assessments lasts for about 60-75 minutes.

Students who speak some Vietnamese at home but do not read or write Vietnamese at all are recommended to enroll in the Vietnamese elementary courses so there is no need to take the placement test.
On the other hand, students who speak Vietnamese and can do basic reading and writing should take the placement exams to be placed into an appropriate level.

Courses starting from intermediate level (i.e; VIETNAM 120A or VIETNAM 120B and above) are counted towards the Vietnamese language citation.

Students interested in the placement exam should email cô Hoa at hle@fas.harvard.edu to schedule the exams or for any further questions

Chinese Placement Exam

Please see the bottom of the page for frequently-asked questions.

Test Date:

Friday, March 29

2:35 pm - 4:40 pm ET Written Test (composition; grammar & reading)

4:40 pm - 5:40 pm ET Oral Test (you will be assigned a 5-minute test slot between 4:40 pm and 5:40 pm. A Zoom link with your assigned slot will be sent to you through email)
 

Makeup Exam:

Monday, April 15

2:35 pm - 4:40 pm ET Written Test (composition; grammar & reading)

4:40 pm - 5:40 pm ET Oral Test (you will be assigned a 5-minute test slot between 4:40 pm and 5:40 pm. A Zoom link with your assigned slot will be sent to you through email)
 

How to take the exam?

1. To register for the Chinese placement exam, you MUST fill out the Chinese Placement Exam Survey TWO DAYS prior to the exam, as we need to designate how many teachers will be operating the tests based off of which dates students will be testing. However, if you miss the deadline, you can still register for the exam by filling out the survey. But it would be appreciated if you can finish it two days prior to the exam.

Here is the link to register for the exam:

https://forms.office.com/r/hXbDBJUawt

 

2. The placement exam includes three parts: grammar & reading, composition and oral interview. Before the exam, you will receive an email including the following information:

  • The Zoom meeting address for grammar & reading and composition exam, which you need to attend first.
  • The Zoom meeting address for the oral interview. You will find your name on an excel file where you can find the Zoom link.

 

3. On the exam day you signed up for, please attend the Zoom meeting for grammar & reading and composition exam first, where you will receive the exam links on Zoom chat. When you come to join the Zoom meeting, you will receive an exam link for composition first, you will be given half an hour to finish your composition (by typing). After that, you will receive the exam link for grammar & reading test. You will have one hour and a half to finish this part. You will have a 3–5-minute oral interview afterwards.

 

Test requirements

1. You must have

• One of the following: Harvard ID, driver’s license, passport, or government ID

• A quiet, well-lit room with no other people in the room

• A reliable internet connection

• A computer

• 2 hours of free time for grammar & reading exam and composition, 5 minutes for oral interview

 

2. Your computer must have

• Zoom

• A browser

• A Chinese input for typing the composition

• A front-facing camera

• A microphone

 

What you should know before the exam?

1. IMPORTANT: Please make sure to register by filling out the online questionnaire before you attend the exam.

2. Please prepare your valid ID (with a profile photo on it), such as a Harvard ID, driver’s license, passport, or government ID. You will be asked to show your ID card to the teachers both on the grammar & reading exam Zoom meeting and the oral interview Zoom meeting.

3. Please prepare your laptop and make sure it is 100% charged. During the exam, please check your device battery constantly to make sure that you will not lose any work due to sudden power-off of computer.

4. Please notice that you will finish the composition by typing instead of writing the Chinese characters. Make sure Chinese input is already installed in your laptop. If you have any questions of installing Chinese input, please contact Harvard IT as soon as possible so you can have your laptop prepared for the exam.

5. Please be on time for the exam. The online exam will only be open in our exam time (0.5 hour for composition, 1.5 hours for grammar & reading), and once it is closed, you will not be able to access the exam.

6. General instruction for the online placement test:

· No switching to any other browser windows during exam.

· No use of any other tools other than the Chinese input system on the computer.

· No asking for help.

· Any suspicious actions on computer will lead to immediate termination of your exam.

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. If I don’t know Chinese at all, should I take the placement exam?

No. If you have never been exposed to any Chinese languages in a natural environment or through formal instruction, then it is not required for you to take the exam.

2. I am a Chinese heritage student. I can listen and speak Chinese but cannot read and write, should I take the placement exam?

No. If you have aural-oral skills but cannot read and write at all and know less than 50 characters, you are possibly a good fit for the Chinese Bx course and you are not required to take the placement exam. Chinese Bx course is an intensive elementary level course that is specially designed for heritage learners. Chinese Bx is only offered in the fall semester. If you have any questions regarding this course, you can contact their course head directly.

3. Can I use the exam result to fulfill the Harvard language requirement?

Yes. You will need to be placed into a third-year level course to fulfill the language requirement. For more information about the language requirement, please visit https://oue.fas.harvard.edu/language-requirement.

4. What is the exam format?

The Chinese placement exam has three parts: Composition, Grammar&Vocabulary, and Oral exam. For the "composition" part, you will be given a topic and you will need to write an essay about it. You will need to type Chinese, not hand-write. You will have half an hour to write your essay. For the "grammar" part, you will have about 100 multiple choices questions, including grammar/vocabulary questions and reading comprehension questions. For example, choose the correct grammar/vocabulary to complete the sentence, or read a short essay and then finish the reading comprehension questions. You will have one hour and 30 minutes to complete this part of the exam. For the oral test, you will be assigned to a 5-minute time slot to talk to one or two Chinese instructors. They will ask you some questions in Chinese.

5. When will I receive the confirmation email?

Once you have submitted the questionnaire, a confirmation message will appear to indicate that you have successfully completed the form. This notice is just to confirm that the questionnaire has been filled out successfully. You will receive an email with detailed information the day before the exam day you have registered for. For example, if you registered for the exam on August 17, you will be receiving the email on August 16. That email will include the ZOOM address for the written exam, and your 5 minutes time slot with the ZOOM address for the oral exam.

6. Where can I find my placement result?

Your placement result will be emailed to you on the same day or the day after the exam. However, you will not be able to see your exam result at my.harvard immediately, as the University Registrar will need to upload the scores. It takes about 2-3 weeks for the result to show up at your my.harvard.

 

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