If you have a public (non-international) high school or college diploma from Mainland China or Taiwan, where Mandarin Chinese is the medium of instruction, you are exempt from taking the placement test. Please contact Dr. Wu Yanwen (yw4033@columbia.edu) and provide your diploma along with the following information: your program, school affiliation, and the contact details of your academic advisor. This information is required to obtain a language certificate that will exempt you from the 2-year foreign language requirement.
Students who do not meet the above conditions but wish to test out of the language requirement, as well as those who wish to continue their study of Chinese at Columbia, MUST take the placement exam.
Placement Test:
For information on registration, exam dates, format, and other details, please click here.
Proficiency Test:
PhD candidates from other departments, such as Art History, Comparative Literature (excluding TC) should come to Dr. Zhirong Wang (zw30@columbia.edu) for language testing and evaluations. These students usually require a translation test.
Recipients of FLAS should go to their own Chinese instructors for evaluations if they are taking a Chinese course at Columbia. Recipients of FLAS , who are not taking Chinese courses at Columbia, should see Dr. Zhirong Wang (zw30@columbia.edu) for language evaluations.
Students with all other cases of language evaluations, should contact Dr. Kaidi Chen (kc3640@columbia.edu)
For all the placement/proficiency test fees, please visit Language Testing Fee Policies page.
