Fall 2010 - how do language/math profieciency exams work?

U.S.A. California

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in terms of CSUs, with so many of them expecting us to take an exam at their university, how do we manage the time to travel to all these places and take their exams?

am i wrong here? can you take it somewhere local then send it out? :confused:

What exams are you speaking of? I remember when I entered the CSU system, I could take the Math, English, and writing exams at a university close to me and then they could forward my results to the university of my choice. I'm unsure which exams you're speaking of but this is from my experience. Hope this helps.

ah sorry! i'm talking about the English Placement Test and Entry Level Mathematics Test (EPT/ELM).

transferring from a community college, almost every csu requires this right?

so i can just take this somewhere local and it'll be okie dokie?

Yes you can take them at a CSU near you. :-) ALL CSUs do require those placement exams. I went to a CSU near me so I didn't have to worry about anything. I'm unsure if your results go into a bank and then all CSUs have access to them or not, you may need to have your results forwarded. Either way, take it at a CSU near you. Good Luck!

ah sorry! i'm talking about the English Placement Test and Entry Level Mathematics Test (EPT/ELM).

transferring from a community college, almost every csu requires this right?

so i can just take this somewhere local and it'll be okie dokie?

If you are transferring from a community college with all of your GE done, then you don't need to take these entry level tests. They are usually for first time freshmen who have not had any college experience yet and need to be placed into entry level courses.

If you've taken a college level English composition course and a college level math course in calculus or statistics, then you will be exempt from taking the exams.... unless, you didn't take them yet and you have few units on you.

Even as a transfer student you still must take the placement exams. I was a transfer student from the community college level and I still had to take the exams. I took a transferable math class and wasn't exempt. I completed all my English courses at the community college level and still had to take the exam You must do upper division GE courses once you get to that level in college plus take an upper division English course in your major before you're allowed to graduate.

In terms of the ELM/EPT, I don't think so. It's up to certain CSUs to do that, unless you took courses that didn't satisfy the CSU-GE Breadth in areas A-2 and B-4. I've been enrolled in 2 CSUs (SFSU and CSUB), and I've never had to take any placement exams. Likewise with my other friends who transferred with the same transferrable-level courses according to the CSU-GE breadth and assist.org (such as calculus or statistics), because the courses that we took were above the remedial courses(like intermediate algebra), and satisfied the CSU-GE breadth requirements for areas A-2 and B-4. I've never had to take any placement exams since I took college freshman level English and math. If you scored well in the SAT, SAT II, ACT, CST, or Advanced Placement in high school, then you shouldn't have to take it either.

As for the upper division requirement, everyone must take it. Some CSUs have the WST (SJSU, CSUEB...), some have the GWAR (SFSU, CSUB...), others may have an upper division writting course requirement. All of those are for graduation requirements. Some CSUs have upper division English course requirements for a specific major (like SFSU), but others have a choice to choose from (like CSUB). That's along with the upper division GE requirements as well for residency.

I'm a BSN student at CSUB and I'm taking a GWAR course to meet the upper division English requirement, taking along other upper division graduation requirements.

I found this on CSUDH's website:

"The CSU system requires new, non-exempt, admitted freshmen and transfer students entering Fall 1998 and after to take the EPT/ELM examinations prior to registering for classes. The tests are not a condition for admission to the University, but are a condition of enrollment and course registration."

"non-exempt" is your key word. I guess that answers your question.

If you need to take it because you're not exempt, then good luck, but if you're exempt from taking it, then best wishes to you in your goal for becoming a nurse.

I entered after Fall 1998 and was required to take the exams even though I had all my lower division GE requirements fulfilled, and that included math. Why I had to take the math exam I had no idea as I didn't have to take another math course after I took the transferable math and English courses at the community college level.

Now the two CSUs that you went to and weren't required to take the exams were you enrolled as a full time student or were you enrolled part time or less? If it was part time or less that could be the reason why you didn't have to take the exams. You really should find out if you must take those exams prior to graduation because from what I remember I thought it was a requirement to graduate, but I could be wrong. But that was over 10 years ago. I entered Spring 2000 and took the exams Fall 1999. So I'm a bit rusty on how that worked, I just knew that it was a requirement to take the exams for the CSU system and that you can take it at any CSU.

I entered after Fall 1998 and was required to take the exams even though I had all my lower division GE requirements fulfilled, and that included math. Why I had to take the math exam I had no idea as I didn't have to take another math course after I took the transferable math and English courses at the community college level.

Now the two CSUs that you went to and weren't required to take the exams were you enrolled as a full time student or were you enrolled part time or less? If it was part time or less that could be the reason why you didn't have to take the exams. You really should find out if you must take those exams prior to graduation because from what I remember I thought it was a requirement to graduate, but I could be wrong. But that was over 10 years ago. I entered Spring 2000 and took the exams Fall 1999. So I'm a bit rusty on how that worked, I just knew that it was a requirement to take the exams for the CSU system and that you can take it at any CSU.

I am a full time student, and had been. I've already checked to see if I needed them or not. I am exempted through my college courses and high school exams scores.

There is a list stating who need to take the exams, and who are exempt from taking the exams on the CSU websites for testing. Both of my CSUs had those lists, and since the ELM/EPT are used CSU-wide, then all CSUs should have them. I am not sure if they had this 10 years ago or if this is relatively new.

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