Ithaca College Orientation Placement Exam FAQ

Below you will find details for the Math, Language, Music, and Writing Placement Exams. Review this information carefully; more details can be found on the Placement Exam website. Transfer students should also review the placement exam information and verify that all transcripts have been sent to the Office of the Registrar.

MATH PLACEMENT:
Contact: Arlene Dende, Department of Mathamatics Administrative Assistant, by email adende@ithaca.edu or phone 607-274-3107 The Department of Mathematics at Ithaca College has designed a placement exam to help determine the math or computer science courses appropriate to your background and your academic goals. All students must take the Math Placement Exam on-line prior to their summer orientation program. Math Placement instructions can be found in the Math Placement Exam Quickguide. You can also find more information on the Math Department website. Access to on-line math placement testing begins at 12:00 am on March 23, 2011 and is no longer available to you after 12:00 am the first day of orientation. However, you will be able to register to take the test on Monday, August 29, 2011 at 5:30 PM in 309 Williams Hall (test takes approximately 1 hours to complete). Contact Arlene Dende by phone at 607-274-3107 or via email adende@ithaca.edu to register for the exam. Transfer students may not have to take the placement exam based on their math transfer credits; however, we strongly encourage taking the placement exam. Transfer students with questions about math credit should contact Arlene Dende by phone at 607-274-3107 or via email adende@ithaca.edu. Transfer students should verify that all transcripts have been sent to the Office of the Registrar and have posted to their account. Helpful Tips: Take the placement exam as soon as possible to ensure the information is available for class registration during orientation. The exam closes by 12:00 am the first day of orientation. Activate your Netpass Account at least 24 hours prior to taking the placement exam. Use the letter from the Office of the Registrar with your HomerConnect User ID and PIN to complete this process. This letter will be sent to all paid students starting the first week in April. A Math Placement Study Guide and sample exams are available on-line and can be downloaded from the Math Department website: http://www.ithaca.edu/hs/depts/math/placement/ Students planning to major in biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics or physics should review trigonometry, logarithms and exponents to ensure placement in Calculus I. Please use a calculator to take the exam.

LANGUAGE PLACEMENT:
Contact: Dr. Michael Richardson, Associate Professor and Chair of Modern Languages and Literatures, by email mrichardson@ithaca.edu or phone 607-274-3559 All students who have studied a foreign language previous to coming to Ithaca College should take a language placement exam, regardless of whether or not they intend to continue with that language at Ithaca. These exams help determine the appropriate language placement based on your aptitude and your academic goals. On-line placement exams are available for students of German, Spanish, and French via your myIthaca webpage. Log on to your myIthaca account and click on the Exams tab at the top of the page. Access to on-line language placement testing begins at 12:00 am on March 23, 2011. Students who need to take a placement exam in Latin, Hebrew, or Italian will need to do so once they arrive for their summer orientation. Please contact the Language Center at 607-274-7093 to arrange an appointment for this on-campus exam during your summer orientation program.

Please note the language requirements for your major or intended major below: The departments of English, Politics, Writing, Journalism, International Business, Culture and Communication, Music Education, Music Education/Performance, Music Performance (vocal majors only), Music Performance: Collaborative Emphasis, Music Theory and BA in Music (vocal majors only) along with Health and Physical Education and Teachers of Students with Speech and Language Disabilities have a foreign language requirement. Students majoring in any of those departments or seriously considering those departments as a major and who have taken foreign language must take the Language Placement Exam. All students considering a teacher certification program should take the language placement exam. Even Exploratory students who have not yet decided on an academic major should consider taking the placement exam if they think they might be interested in teaching. Study of a language other than English is required for teacher certification in New York and many other states.

MUSIC PLACEMENT:
Contact: Dr. Craig Cummings, Professor and Chair, Department of Music Theory, History, and Composition, by email cummings@ithaca.edu or phone 607-274-3703 During summer orientation, all incoming first-year music majors at Ithaca College must take the Music Theory Fundamentals Examination. Please review the letter from Dr. Cummings, Music Theory Fundamental Exam, Keyboard instructions, and non-music major specific information on the Placement Exam Website.

WRITING PLACEMENT:
Contact: Dr. Diane McPherson, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Writing, by email mcpherso@ithaca.edu or phone 607-274-3031 The Department of Writing no longer administers a separate Writing Placement Test. Writing Placement is currently based on Verbal SAT scores. All incoming first-year students are required to take a 100-level Writing course. Class registration will happen during summer orientation, and you will have an opportunity to discuss you writing class placement with a summer advisor at that time. Approved writing courses include: WRTG-10600 for students in all schools; WRTG-16500 for Writing Majors; Ithaca Seminars (but only those taught by faculty in the Department of Writing) are also considered the equivalent of WRTG-10600. AP Scores in English Language, Literature, or English Composition do not yield course-specific credit; a score of 4 or 5 on either exam results in credit for WRTG-18845, but does not excuse the student from the Writing requirement. Transfer students who have been given transfer credit for WRTG-18888 by the Office of the Registrar should contact Diane McPherson by email mcpherso@ithaca.edu or phone 607-274-3031. Transfer courses will be evaluated to determine if they are the equivalent of Ithaca College Academic Writing I courses. Transfer students who do not have transfer credit for an academic writing course should be enrolled in WRTG-10600. Transfer students should make sure their transcripts have been submitted as soon as possible.