Language Credit and Placement

Some colleges and schools require language courses as a part of their College Requirements. Language courses are not required by the Core Curriculum, but some advanced language courses can satisfy either the Liberal Arts 4 or Liberal Arts 6 requirement of the Core Curriculum.

This page explains the two ways in which incoming students who have previously studied a language are placed into an appropriate course at Notre Dame

  1. By an AP, IB HL, or SAT II Exam
  2. By an ND Language Placement Exam.

For French or Spanish: Students are required to take a departmental placement exam before enrolling in a course, including those who have never studied the language before.  However, if a student has AP, IB HL, or SAT II exam credit, they do not need to take the department placement exam.

For Catalan, Creole, Italian or Portuguese: Students with no prior experience can enroll directly in beginning-level courses.  Students continuing their study of one of these languages should contact the department for placement and course selection.

Placement for any language not included here is determined by the department on a case-by-case basis. As always, please contact your First Year Advisor for more information.

When registering for language courses, students must follow the placement determined by their AP, IB HL, SAT II, or placement exam score. Only the relevant language department can approve a change in placement.

Language Credit and Placement by AP, IB HL, or SAT II Examination

Students who have taken an AP, IB HL, or SAT II exam may, depending on the score, receive credit and placement from the exam. Students with language credit by exam do not need to take a Notre Dame placement exam. (Students who took the German AP, IB HL, or SAT II exam and wish to study German at Notre Dame must take the German ND placement exam.) If you took an IB HL language exam,  visit the IB HL Exam Credit page

If you took an AP or SAT II language exam, use the AP/SAT II Language Credit and ND Placement table below:

French

SAT II Subject Test Score

French and French with Listening

Advanced Placement

Test Score

Credits (Courses)

Placement

Level

790-800 5 6 (ROFR 20201 - 20202) ROFR 30310 or 30320
690-780 6 (ROFR 20201 - 20202) ROFR 20300 or 20600
590-680 7 (ROFR 10102 - 20201) ROFR 20202
490-580 8 (ROFR 10101 - 10102) ROFR 20201 or 20215
480 4 (ROFR 10101) ROFR 10102 or 10115* or 10110*

German

SAT II Subject Test Score

German and German with Listening

Advanced Placement

Test Score

Credits (Courses)

Placement

Level

790-800 7 (GE 10102 - 20201) GE 20202 or 30000 +
690-780 8 (GE 10101 - 10102) GE 20201
570-680 4 (GE 10101) GE 10102

Italian

SAT II Subject Test Score

Italian and Italian with Listening

Advanced Placement

Test Score

Credits (Courses)

Placement

Level

790-800 6 (ROIT 20201 - 20202) ROIT 30310
690-780 6 (ROIT 10102-20201) ROIT 20202
590-680 3 8 (ROIT 10101-10102) ROIT 20201 or 20215
490-580 4 (ROIT 10101) ROIT 10102

Spanish

SAT II Subject Test Score

Spanish and Spanish with Listening

Advanced Placement

Test Score

Credits (Courses)

Placement

Level

790-800 5 (lang.) / 4 (lit.) 6 (ROSP 20201 - 20202) ROSP 30310 or 30320
690-780 4 (lang.) / 3 (lit.) 6 (ROSP 20201 - 20202) ROSP 20600
590-680 3 (lang.) / 2 (lit.) 7 (ROSP 10102-20201) ROSP 20202
490-580 2 (lang.) / 1 (lit.) 8 (ROSP 10101-10102) ROSP 20201 or 20215
480 1 (lang.) 4 (ROSP 10101) ROSP 10102 or 10115* or 10110*

*If you have received credit for 10101 and you chose to take 10110 or 10115, the AP/SAT II credit that you received for 10101 will still show on your transcript, but will no longer count in the total credits required to earn the degree. This is because the course content of 10110 and 10115 incorporates the content of 10101.


Placement by Notre Dame Language Placement Exams

Students who did not take an AP, IB, or SAT II exam or did not receive a high enough score for credit and placement must take a Notre Dame Language Placement Exam. These exams are for placement only and do not confer any credit. Placement exams may only be taken once. Many placement exams take place in the summer. View the table below to identify each language department’s placement procedure.

The CSLC (Center for Study of Language and Cultures) Languages offers a language assessment service for a range of languages, including less commonly taught languages. Visit the CSLC webpage for more information.

Language Placement Exam Procedures by Department

Language

Placement 

Administered by

Contact

Arabic (MEAR)

Placement test

CSLC (Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures)

Alessia Blad-Miller

Catalan (LLRO)

Enroll in intro level course (LLRO 10113 Beginning Catalan)

Department of Romance Languages

Keith Schaefer

Chinese (EALC)

Placement exam: Register here

Online Written Exam: completed and submitted by 11:59 PM, Thurs., Aug. 18

IN-person 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM, Fr., Aug 19

More detailed information, including the times and the link to the exam, will be sent to students from the registration list when it gets closer to the dates.

Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures

Dr. Jincheng Liu

Creole (LLRO)

Enroll in intro level course (LLRO 10112 Beginning Creole)

Department of Romance Languages

Keith Schaefer

French (ROFR)

Placement Exam

Department of Romance Languages

Keith Schaefer

German (GE)

Placement Exam

Department of German and Russian Languages and Literatures

Denise Della Rossa

Greek (CLGR) 

Enroll in Intro Greek (CLGR 10001)

Classics Department

Tadeusz Mazurek

Irish (IRLL/IRST)

Enroll in Beginning Irish 1 (IRLL 10101)

Department of Irish Language and Literature

Amy Mulligan 

Italian (ROIT)

Students with no prior experience can enroll directly into beginning-level courses.  Students continuing their study of Italian should contact the Department for placement and course selection

Department of Romance Languages

Keith Schaefer

Korean (EALK)

Online placement test: Friday, Aug 19 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM: Register here
More detailed information including the time and the link will be sent to students from the registration list.

Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures

Yeonhee Yoon

Latin (CLLA)

Placement Exam

Classics Department

Tadeusz Mazurek

Portuguese (ROPO)

Students with no prior experience can enroll directly in beginning-level courses.  Students continuing their study of Portuguese should contact the Department for placement and course selection

Department of Romance Languages

Keith Schaefer

Russian (RU)

Placement Exam

Department of German and Russian Languages and Literatures

Denise Della Rossa

Spanish (ROSP)

Placement Exam

Department of Romance Languages

Keith Schaefer

Japanese (EALJ)

In-person or Zoom placement exam. Contact for more information.

Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures

Noriko Hanabusa