Korean Language Placement Exam Policies for Undergraduate and Graduate Students
Placement Exam Policies for Undergraduate Students
  1. Placement exams should be administered in a standard manner to all students: online, written, and oral.
  2. The placement exam will be used to place students in appropriate levels.
  3. All students who want to take a Korean course must take the placement exam. The students who already know Hangul and want to enroll in Introductory Korean A or First Year Korean I also need to take the placement exam. Only the pure beginners who cannot read and write Hangul are exempt from the placement exam.
  4. Students who did not pass the placement exam in the current semester cannot retake the exam until the following semester. Those students should wait at least five months to retake the placement exams.
  5. Students who passed the placement exam but did not take a Korean language course for more than six months, should retake the placement exam to decide on their appropriate level.
  6. Students who had taken a Korean language course at EALAC more than six months ago and wish to continue to study at EALAC, should take the placement exam to be placed at the appropriate level.
  7. Students who had taken a Korean language course, received a C or lower, and wish to continue to the second semester should take the placement exam. Student who received a C+ or lower, and wish to advance to the next level should take the placement exam. In other words, a student needs to achieve a final grade of B- or above to advance to the next level.
  8. Students who studied Korean elsewhere and wish to take a Korean language course at EALAC, should take the placement exam.
  9. Results will be available after 4 pm on the day of the exam.
Date

Fall semester

  1. Before Thursday prior to the first day of the fall semester
  2. Make-up test: on the Friday of the first week

Spring semester

  1. Before Friday prior to the first day of the spring semester
  2. Make-up test: on the Friday of the first week

Exception: For those who are graduating in December but need to take a placement exam, please contact the appropriate language program director.

Reporting of Results

Language program directors will report students’ results to the appropriate school via email to:

  • Deans for Columbia College, the language placement results for students taking the exam to test out of the CC requirement should be sent to CC in a timely fashion (approximately two weeks from the date of the first examination).
  • Advisors for Columbia Engineering
  • Registrar for Barnard
  • Advisors for General Studies
  • Coordinator for School of International Public Affairs
  • Associate director for Teachers College

All language placement results must be sent to the EALAC DGS (Director of Graduate Studies), DUS (Director of Undergraduate Studies), M.A. Program Director and Department Chair.

Placement Exam Policies for Graduate Students (EALAC)

For the Academic Year 2021-22, please contact Prof. Joowon Suh (js604@columbia.edu).

All the language programs will adopt a system of policies and procedures that sets across-the-board standards for administering and reporting of placement exams.

The exam from each language program will cover all levels of students so that they do not have to assess themselves in order to choose the level of the exam to take. Results of this exam will show what the level of proficiency each student fits in.

Format: Chinese, Japanese, and Korean all have the same format.

  1. Written test: listening (20 mins), writing (timed writing 30 mins)
  2. Translation: a choice of material in this section, between a history and a literature article. Translation with dictionary.
  3. Time: 3 hours