Jared Kilkenny – Special to the Southern News
According to the SCSU website, almost every department at SCSU, including psychology and business, offers an option to test out or receive a waiver for certain courses if students can show that they are familiar with the material. Unfortunately, some students are simply are not aware of these options.
“I wish I would have done that,” said Nadia Minor a political science senior at Southern. “Maybe I would have chosen that had I known that.”
Minor, who applied for graduation this year, is not oblivious to the concept of testing out. Being a native of Mexico, her fluency in Spanish allowed her to receive a waiver for Spanish 100 when she transitioned to the university from high school.
According to the SCSU Factbook, the Foreign Language department takes advantage of the waiver process for current and incoming students more than any other department. For $25 dollars, students can take a computerized exam measuring their level of proficiency in speaking, listening, reading, and writing foreign languages in order to meet the university’s multi-lingual requirement.
“You can test out of any foreign language,” said Elena Schmitt, a professor of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and the foreign language certification department chair. “If you test above the intermediate or mid level, we would recommend that you minor or major in the language and we would place you accordingly and give you more credit for the classes that you don’t need to take.”
According to Schmitt, the option is not taken advantage of very often. Although tests are scheduled twice per week, only about five students apply to take the exam within that timeframe.
“In order to demonstrate proficiency you can either take a test or if you were born in another country and went to school there from an early age, you can bring your diploma or transcripts from your country and we will waive the language requirement. We are not interested in having people sit through the classes. We’re just interested in making sure that they know how to learn in another world language, that they learn something about another culture, and that they are fluent enough to survive.”
According to the SCSU website, similar testing options are also offered off campus through the College Level Examination Program. The program gives students the opportunity to test out of and receive credits for a plethora of courses including aspects of psychology, business, and science. Each test attempt through the CLEP is $80 dollars.
“I am native to [Spanish] so it was nice to not have to waste my time,” said Minor. “But I feel like I could have done well on an early history or English course. For example, I didn’t get a high enough score to get a waiver from my AP Pre-Calculus class in high school but I never knew that I could basically try again once I got to college. I didn’t inquire so much about it.”
According to the SCSU website, the university does support all course options through the CLEP but a final decision on course credit is the choice of the respective department chair.
“There is not a lot of communication,” said Minor. “Initially when you sign up for classes, they make recommendations but I wish there was a little more guidance based on my background. Students are paying money and it’s almost a disservice to not have a full in-depth evaluation of what you can handle. Information is power.”
