Online Placement Test

Colby’s placement test for French is taken online. This exam may not be used for automatic exemption from the language requirement (see below**).

Please note that the test will be made available to first-year students from June 1 through June 15, 2023, only. The test is required of all incoming students who have taken French before. Students who have never studied French do not have to take it.

Students can sign-up for and take the exam as soon as they obtain their username and password here. It takes a maximum of 45 minutes. Should you have questions, contact Prof. Mouhamédoul Niang, [email protected].

LANGUAGE PLACEMENT SCORE CUT-OFFS FOR COURSE ENROLLMENTS:

A student can fulfill the language requirement at Colby in several ways:

1. By achieving a score of 640 or higher on a foreign language SAT Subject Test taken in the student’s high school, or on the Colby online French placement exam taken in June
2. or, by a score of 4 or 5 in an Advanced Placement exam,
3. or, a score of 6 or 7 in an International Baccalaureate higher-level exam,
4. or, a 7 on a standard-level International Baccalaureate exam.

SCORE   |  FRENCH COURSE
200-450  |  FR125*
460-530  |  FR126
540-610  |  FR127
620-630  |  FR128 or FR131**
640-800  |  FR231 and above

*Students who have completed two or more years of French cannot enroll in FR125.
**If you achieve a score of 620 or above, in order to fulfill the language requirement, you must contact the French Studies department chair and schedule an interview to verify your level.