When you get to college, there are certain classes you need to take, introductory building blocks for what follows after. You need to know calculus for any number of majors, and must take introductory chemistry before you can be expected to understand the advanced version.
Students arrive at college with different levels of knowledge and preparation; each high school is distinct, with unique coursework, and some students have already mastered concepts others have yet to encounter. Colleges use placement tests to determine what you’ve mastered already, and to see if you can get out of taking these introductory courses in favor of diving right into advanced coursework.
In this article, we’re going to look in detail at how this process works at UT Austin (with some comparisons to other schools). Our goal is to help you understand how these tests work, and when and how you should take advantage of them to keep your collegiate plan on track. Let’s jump right in!
How College Placement Tests Work
In general, colleges have a multi-tiered placement test system. First, many allow the submission of test scores for credit, specifically AP andIB scores. We;ve discussed this phenomenon before, and you can see UT Austin’s credit equivalencies for scores here.
Not all high schools offer AP courses however, even if they have equivalent coursework; these students must find a different way to demonstrate they have mastered the material. Other students may have not scored as well as they could have on AP exams, but still think they have mastered the subjects. Placement tests are the avenue for all of these students to demonstrate their proficiency.
At UT Austin, AP exam credit and placement tests are equivalent, but this is not the case at every college. At UChicago, for example, you can earn credit for AP exam scores, but if you want to take a particular course, you must take a placement exam. Thus students not majoring in the sciences can earn credit through AP coursework, and avoid the placement exams, but those who wish to major in the sciences must take these exams.
Other schools have their own unique approaches, but the goal is generally the same: to make sure students have the skills they claim to, and to assess where they should begin taking further coursework in their chosen areas of study.
Some schools will use placement exams or AP credit to count for distribution requirements, and others will not. As with many college policies, there is no standardization here, with each school following their own priorities.
A Note on Placement Exam Subjects
Across almost all schools, placement exams are offered in math, science, and foreign language. These are cumulative subjects, where you build solidly on foundations of what came before to reach new heights later. There are far fewer placement exams or exams for credit in the humanities or social sciences.
You can still earn credit for having AP exam scores within the accepted range in these subjects, and they can stand in for particular courses at some schools, but they are not used for placement, or to place out of introductory courses, in the same way. This is because of how courses in the humanities work; they are far less cumulative in the same way, and require mastering skills that cannot easily be tested in a single exam sitting.
UT Austin does offer some Humanities exams, but far fewer of them than other subjects.
Taking Placement Tests at UT Austin
UT Austin offers placement tests on a regular basis. Students generally take these right as they are beginning their time at UT Austin, in order to place out of required courses or determine what sections they should enroll in as freshmen. They are offered more regularly for the sake of transfer students, or other students who may need to take them at other points besides the start of fall semester.
You may sign up for these tests through the testing services website, using your UT Austin student ID. Incoming students sign up in the spring or summer before they enroll, and take them right after they get to campus in most cases. Signing up for these tests is not particularly difficult, nor is it meant to be.
The tests themselves are administered in different formats, but are generally administered in person and on campus. Accommodations are available. If you need accommodations (here or in your classes), this must be handled through disability services; the testing center themself can only grant accommodations approved by that office.
The tests themselves are meant to demonstrate mastery of a particular subject, the sort of mastery a student is expected to have if they took and passed the equivalent course. These are long and somewhat challenging tests for that reason, but if you have a solid mastery of the subject, they shouldn’t be too onerous.
Taking Placement Tests at Other Colleges
When these tests are offered or required varies. UChicago, for example, makes placement tests available online at the end of May, and allows incoming students to submit them until mid-June. These too can only be accessed by incoming UChicago students.
Other schools have in-person placement tests during orientation, but virtual testing became far more widespread during the Covid-19 pandemic. Colleges do employ a variety of online monitoring tools during these virtual tests to ensure students aren’t cheating.
We advise not cheating on these tests anyway; placing into a math class you aren’t qualified for will only hurt you in the long run. You’ve already been accepted into the school, and they won’t kick you out for underperforming on a placement test. You should give an honest effort, and see what material you have mastered.
How to Prepare for Placement Tests
These tests are meant to demonstrate your full understanding of a particular subject, and reflect that in their contents. Preparing for them should look like preparing for any other comprehensive exam, such as an AP test. The one major difference you may face is how much time has elapsed between taking a course and having to take the exam proving your mastery of the subject.
Preparing for these tests should ideally be a process undertaken over time. You don’t want to spend the 24 hours before the test cramming and hope for the best, that’s just setting you up for failure (both on the test itself, and for any courses you take that assume you already know this material).
Ideally, you should figure out what exams you are taking in the spring, and then have some lead-time before actually taking them. How much time you will have depends entirely on the university in question; some will enable you to spend the summer studying, others, like UChicago, test in the late spring or early summer.
You should review your full course materials for whatever subject you are testing in. This should be targeted as an approach, not spending time on things you have mastered, and going over in more depth the parts which may have faded in your memory. We advise not just passive review, but self-testing through practice problems, seeing if you can apply the concepts properly.
This need not be onerous; twenty to thirty minutes of work on this a day for a few weeks is far more helpful than trying to cram it all in at the last minute. If you are testing in areas you are currently taking coursework in, then this can and should overlap with the studying you are doing for finals.
Finally, we advise making use of online resources like Khan academy, especially if you are reviewing material from a course you took in a previous year. They are free to use, and offer a fairly high quality of instruction. The exact format and questions you will face on each exam will differ, but all seek to see that you have truly mastered the material, and to what level you have done so.
Final Thoughts
Regardless of major, there are classes you will need to take at college, skills you will need to show your mastery of. Placement tests are meant specifically to show your mastery of these skills at a collegiate level, and to place you at which level you will be able to succeed and grow. These can be quite stressful, but the college earnestly wants what’s best for you.
We hope this article has given you a solid understanding of how placement tests work at UT Austin, and how these compare to some other schools. Of course, the first step is getting into one of these colleges, and that’s where Ivy Scholars comes in. Our mentors are adept at advising students on every aspect of the admissions process; schedule a free consultation today to learn more about how we can make your life easier.
