To determine your language placement, please contact the professor listed below using the following guidelines:

• Contact Prof. Wei Jiang (jiang.wei@uky.edu). Be sure to use your official UK email address, and include your student number in the message.

• In your message, specify what your experience with the language is:

  • Have you studied it formally in school? If so, for how many years? What are the topics you most recently covered in class? Did you earn the Seal of Biliteracy?

  • Have you spoken the language at home with your family or friends? If so, do you also write and read the language? How often do you speak the language?

  • Have you lived in a country where the language is spoken? For how long?

Chinese Placement Test at UK

Please read the following information carefully. After reading, if you still feel you need to take the placement text, please contact Prof. Wei Jiang (jiang.wei@uky.edu) for information on how to proceed.

Placement is an assessment of a student's level of preparation within a given language. The purpose of the placement test is to help students enroll in a language course in which they have the appropriate skills and are most likely to improve their knowledge of the Chinese language. Please note that the placement test does NOT grant credit or grades and cannot be used to replace failing grades in any previously completed course. The placement test simply determines one's proficiency level.

In order to enroll in a Chinese language course, students who do NOT meet the exemption criteria below must take the placement test.

Who should take the placement test? 

You should take the test if any of the following applies:

• You know some Chinese (e.g. you studied Chinese previously, or Chinese was spoken in your family, or you can read and write some Chinese) and wish to take a UK Chinese course OR want to be placed out of the language requirement at UK.
• You participated in a Chinese Language Study Abroad Program with the UK Education Abroad Office.
• You participated a study abroad program with institutions other than the UK Education Abroad Office. You must take the test if you wish to take a UK Chinese course when you return.
• You are a heritage speaker of Chinese, attended K-12 in the United States, and would like to place out of the foreign language requirement of a given college at the University of Kentucky.

Who should NOT take the placement test?

Do not take the test if any of the following applies:

• You do not know any Chinese and wish to take an elementary Chinese course (i.e., CHI 101).
• You have a high school or college diploma from a country where Chinese is the official language, you are coded as International Student by Office of the Registrar, and you do not want to enroll in a UK Chinese language course.

Native speakers are ineligible to enroll in UK Chinese language courses at the 100-200 level or in Chinese conversation courses. If you are not coded as International Student by the Registrar's Office and believe you should be, please contact the Registrar at 859-257-3161.

What if I earned the Seal of Biliteracy in high school?

You have completed UK's language requirement. Please submit documentation of your Seal of Biliteracy to your academic advisor. If you wish to continue to study Chinese at UK, you should begin in CHI 301.

What if I want academic credit for my Chinese knowledge?

You do not need to take the placement test. You should take special department exams for credit. Please note that elementary and intermediate Chinese credit (CHI 101-202) is not available on the basis of a special examination. Credit is only provided for CHI301, CHI302, CHI401, and CHI402. Native speakers of Chinese may not take the special examination for Chinese language credit.

Do I need to sign up in order to take the test?

Part One: Please contact the MCLLC department office for Chinese placement exams in reading and listening at (859) 257-3761. Exams must be scheduled at least 24 hours in advance and will be given from 8:30am-11am, 1-3:30pm, set up in 1.5 hour increments. Upon arrival for the exam at room 1055 Patterson Office Tower, students must have their student ID card or a valid photo ID before the exam will be administered. Students will need to fill out a form to provide their name, student ID number, college, and their year of study (freshman, sophomore, etc.). The student will be given a unique username and password to login to take the exam. Upon completion of the exam, students will speak with Department Manager Taylor Kincaid (or Liliana Drucker if Taylor is not available) who will look up their score, provide the necessary overrides for registration, and submit the score into SAP by the following business day.

Part Two: You should contact individual language instructors by email to make an appointment for an individual placement interview (both oral and written tests may be performed). Here is a list of Chinese language instructors and their email contacts. Please put "Chinese placement interview" in the subject line.

CHI 101-102, CHI 201-202: Wei Jiang (jiang.wei@uky.edu)

CHI 301-302, CHI 401-402: Jianjun He (jianjun.he@uky.edu)

Do I need an I.D. to take a placement test?

Yes. You must present a valid photo I.D. The following are examples of acceptable forms of I.D.:

UK photo I.D. card, or a government-issued photo I.D. card.

Is there a fee for the test?

No fee is required if you are a UK student.

Which character form is used in the test?

Simplified characters are used in the test.

How should I prepare for the test?

The best way to prepare for the reading and listening test is to review what you have been taught.

The oral and written test is based on (but not limited to) the Chinese textbooks and course materials used at UK. The best way to prepare is to review what you have been taught.

If you need additional preparation, the following list covers the current and previous textbooks used at UK.

1.   Integrated Chinese 4th Edition Volumn 1 and Volumn 2 by Yao

2.   Integrated Chinese 4th Edition Volumn 3 and Volumn 4 by Yao

3.   Connections II. Edited by Liu

4.   Encounters I. Edited by Liu

When will the test results be available?

Results for the reading and listening portion of the exam will be available the following business day in your MyUK unofficial transcript.

Results will be emailed to you following the test. While awaiting placement test results, you are required to participate in the CHI level class that you believe you will place into even though you aren't officially enrolled in that course. Once your placement test results are evaluated, you will be eligible to officially enroll in the appropriate course.

You are subject to the Chinese Studies curriculum honor code when taking this test. It is important that you DO YOUR BEST on this exam. If it becomes evident later that you have intentionally done poorly on the test in order to place at a level lower than your actual level, you may face disciplinary actions for violating the Integrity Pledge, and you will be dropped from the course.

I have taken the placement test before. How long is the test result valid? 

The test result is valid only for one semester. If you do not enroll in the CHI class the semester you take the placement test, you must take the placement test again if you decide to enroll in a future CHI language class.