Placement Exam tests are available online in Chinese [additional information below], French, German, and/or Spanish. No credit is awarded through these tests. The department encourages entering students to consider taking the advanced placement exam, if available, because a high score on that exam offers the possibility of both advanced placement and credit. Courses numbered 202 and above are normally open only to those who have already satisfied the language requirement for the language in question. Please note that these guidelines pertain exclusively to initial placement into language courses.
Students tend to be unnecessarily worried about how well they will do on the test, but they should be reminded that it simply establishes a baseline. A low placement score initially is not always a reflection of deficiency but rather a lack of practice in the language.
Accessing Arabic, Chinese, French, German, and Spanish Placement Tests
The placement tests are not timed. The student must use their Loyola student ID number for this exam. This seven-digit number is listed in your Loyola username and password technology email that was sent to you.
- Enter the web address https://webcape.org into your browser;
- Select Loyola University Maryland from the drop-down box and click GO;
- At the login page, enter the password loyola4501;
- Select the language of the placement exam that you would like to take from the drop-down box and click the begin button;
- On the registration form, fill in your name, seven-digit Loyola student ID number, etc.;
- When the test is complete, your score and placement are displayed on the results page;
- Click 'finished.'
Placement results will be discussed by the student's advisor on the second day of summer orientation.
Arabic Placement Test Information
The Arabic online placement exam can be taken at this website https://www.esl-languages.com/en/study-abroad/online-tests/arabic-test/index.htm. When the student finds out the score, please email it to our Arabic professor, Dr. Inas Hassan. She may ask the student to write a small paragraph or two on any topic and then schedule an oral interview. With all these steps, she will determine where the student should be placed in the core.
Chinese Placement Test Information
The Chinese online placement exam is created by Brigham Young University “to function as a proficiency test as well as an achievement test.” It uses both simplified and traditional characters by design. “The lower level items have prompts in both types next to each other. As learners are pushed higher they are presented text prompts in one or the other form based on the idea that being an advanced learner means being able to handle texts wherever they are from.” For more information, please see the BYU Chinese Placement Test Information.
The Chinese program at Loyola gives students the opportunity to choose either version of Chinese characters they would like to start with at the beginning level. As most of our students choose simplified characters, we currently use the simplified version in our 100-level CI courses. However, we expose our students to both forms in the 200- and 300-level courses so that our students at the advanced level will be able to read texts from different places (such as Mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc.).