Placement Testing

Incoming students must complete the mathematics and world language placement exams from home. No outside books or other resources can be used while taking these exams. Not taking placement tests could impact your ability to register for certain courses.

World Language Placement Tests

All students must complete at least one course at or above the Intermediate II level (104) in a world or classical language to fulfill Loyola’s core curriculum. Although students may take the online placement exam multiple times, only the highest score is counted. Students may only register for the highest-level course into which they place. The Department of Modern Languages and Literatures does not allow “self-placement.” Students who wish to register for a level other than the highest one into which they place need permission from the Associate Chair of Modern Languages and Literatures. If there is a discrepancy between the student’s perceived level and their online placement test score results, student will normally take a proctored placement exam in the Language Learning Center (Maryland Hall 443) scheduled in consultation with the Associate Chair of Modern Languages and Literatures. Normally, students will complete the core language requirement by the end of the sophomore year at Loyola.

Students who place higher than the 104 level on Loyola’s language placement test may be exempt from the world language core requirement, pending confirmation from Loyola’s Modern Languages and Literatures department after a proctored on-site placement test. Please visit the Language Learning Center site for the dates and times that the proctored placement test will be available.

Students are welcome to take Loyola’s online language refreshers (non-credit, free-of-charge) to review their language skills before taking the placement exam.  Online language refreshers are available through ASPIRE.

Instructions for taking the placement tests are available below:

• Chinese, French, German, Italian, and Spanish
• Latin
• Arabic

For Arabic only: when you receive your placement test score, please email it to Dr. Inas Hassan in World Languages. Students may be asked to write a small paragraph or two on any topic and then schedule an oral interview to determine final placement.

For more information, please visit the Language Core page.

Math Placement Tests

All students are required to take at least one course in mathematics or statistics to fulfill Loyola's core curriculum (except MA*005).

Instructions for taking the math placement test are available below:

1. Login to the math placement test through ALEKS.
2. Enter your Inside Loyola login credentials when prompted. In the “user name” field, enter your full Loyola student email address. (e.g. jdoe8@loyola.edu)
3. Take the ALEKS survey and introduction tutorial. (approx. 5 minutes)
4. Once you begin the placement test, you have 48 hours to finish it. You can pause and restart as many times as you need during that time.
5. Go slow and read each question carefully. The placement test is adaptive, so if you get a question wrong it will usually give you an easier question to follow up.
6. You can retake the placement test after you do five (5) hours of work on the practice modules that the test provides. You must finish the test before you have access to the practice modules.

Accessible Version

Students who need an accessible version of the exam should log in using this link: ALEKS Accessible Version and then follow the instructions above.

Placement results will be discussed with an advisor during orientation.

Students who complete or retake the exam after orientation will need to notify AASC at 410-617-5050 so that AASC can update the scores in the system.

Experiencing technical issues with the exam?