Course Placement

The mathematics faculty welcome you to Grinnell College, and we look forward to seeing you in our courses! We want your first math course at Grinnell to be an enjoyable experience where you feel comfortable and where you learn new mathematical ideas. In addition, we want you to start in a class that will help you grow intellectually and prepare you for other courses at Grinnell. To ensure that you begin in an appropriate course that will achieve all of these goals, we would like to get some information from you about your background. Please complete the Mathematics Placement Questionnaire by July 31. 

In many cases, this information will be enough for us to suggest a good starting point. If that's not the case for you, then in order for us to give you a recommendation, we will ask that you take a short (20-minute) diagnostic assessment on campus, prior to registering for your classes.  (You will also be able to consult with members of the Department of Mathematicsr during NSO to discuss your options.)

If you are a native Chinese speaker or an absolute beginner of Chinese, you do not need to take any action. You may enroll in the introductory course, CHI 101.

If you have studied Chinese in the past and are interested in taking Chinese anytime during your four years at Grinnell, please take a moment to complete the short written test available on the Academic Onboarding canvas page. You may choose to do the test in traditional or simplified version. It should take no more than half an hour.

Learn more about the Chinese program at Grinnell.

If you do not have previous experience in French and/or have never studied French in school, you do not need to complete the placement exam. You may enroll in the introductory course, FRN 101.

However, students with no French exposure but who are fluent in a romance language such as Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian or Italian are encouraged to take the online test so that we can get in touch with them. The typical placement for speakers of another romance language is FRN 103, an accelerated course that covers the content of two semesters in one.

Learn more about the French major at Grinnell.

All students with previous French exposure and/or are fluent in a romance language are encouraged to take the brief, online French placement test (login required) by July 26, to determine which French course at Grinnell is best suited to you. Even if you don’t plan to take French during your first semester, you should still do the placement test so that you can know which course to take later.

To take the placement test, go to the test website (login required), where you will create an account with a password.

Please use your Grinnell College email address.

• You can skip the “pre-test survey” and just hit “submit” to go to the next page, where you will then hit “Begin test.”
• You’ll then be given a series of multiple-choice questions.  Choose the answer that seems best for each question.
• At the end, you ’ll get a provisional placement in one of our fall courses.  This is “provisional” because we will probably follow-up with you to make sure that this placement is right for your skills and your interests.

We will then be in touch over the next couple of weeks with a recommended course. If you have any questions about the test or about the French program at Grinnell, feel free to email Professor Marion Tricoire.

Students with previous experience in German are encouraged to complete the language survey that can be found on the New Student Checklist.  The German Studies department will then contact you via email with placement exam information. After taking the placement exam, you may be invited to complete an online interview. If you have any questions about German Studies and the placement process, please contact Professor Viki Poetzl.

If you have no previous experience in German, you may enroll in the introductory course, GRM 101.

Students with previous experience in Japanese are encouraged to complete the language survey found in the New Student Checklist.

Additionally, students with previous experience should complete the Japanese Placement Exam.

Please complete the placement exam by mid-July. Following the exam, the Japanese department will contact you with further information and, in some cases, an invitation to complete an online placement interview.

If you have no previous experience in Japanese, you may enroll in the introductory course, JPN 101. You do not need to complete the placement exam.

Learn more about the Japanese major at Grinnell.

If you do not have previous experience in Spanish and/or have never studied Spanish in school, you do not need to complete the placement exam.  You may enroll in the introductory course, SPN 105.

Learn more about the Spanish major at Grinnell.

We encourage all students who have studied Spanish and/or have experience in Spanish to complete the language survey that can be found on the New Student checklist. Based on your responses, the Spanish department will follow up with you via email with information on our placement procedures, which can also be found below.

If you have studied Spanish in school, and/or if you speak Spanish at home, with friends/family, or have been exposed to Spanish in a non-academic setting, we strongly encourage you to complete our placement exam. Obtaining a placement in Spanish may be useful for you even if you do not plan on taking Spanish at Grinnell – for example, some majors and certain study abroad programs require language proficiency. A link to the exam is provided below. Please review the instructions before completing the exam.

We strongly recommend that you complete the placement exam by July 31.

About the Placement Exam:

• This exam has three sections (self-survey, grammar, reading comprehension) and will take about an hour to complete.
• The exam must be completed in one session; it cannot be completed in segments.
• Many students will receive an assigned placement into a specific course after completing the exam.  Expect an email with this information after Aug. 1. This information will be shared with your Tutorial adviser.
• Some students will be invited to complete an online placement interview during August. Please check your email for more information. Your final placement will be shared with you and your adviser prior to NSO.

If you have any questions about Spanish or the placement process, please contact Professor John Petrus [petrusjo@grinnell.edu].

Arabic, Greek, Latin, and Russian will hold placement activities during NSO.

During NSO, following your first Tutorial meeting, you are encouraged to attend a Languages and Culture at Grinnell event where you will learn more about the language study Grinnell offers and get questions answered about your placement. And students who have experience in more than one foreign language will have the opportunity to consult with faculty in language departments to determine next steps.

If you decide to learn a new language, or if you are placed at the 100 level, the beginning level in all the languages is only offered in the fall, so you should start your language study in your first semester. This is especially true if you plan to study abroad in your third year or if you're thinking about majoring in a language.

STA 209 is the entry course to the statistics concentration. It also fulfills several course pre-requisites and major requirements for other departments. In order to enroll in STA 209 you need to fulfil the pre-requisite of MAT 131. See the math section above for placement information regarding MAT 131. Note that an AP Statistics Exam score of any level does not necessarily meet the pre-requisite for STA 209, but if you have taken AP Statistics you may want to consult the Statistics department regarding placement into STA 209. If you don’t meet the STA 209 pre-requisite yet, we strongly encourage you to enroll in the mathematics courses that will provide you with the necessary skills.  You may consult with the Statistics Department during NSO or at a later time about what level math background is necessary for STA 209.

If you are interested in computer science coursework, the curriculum at Grinnell begins with CSC 151: Functional Problem Solving, which uses the Scheme programming language. This course is appropriate for nearly all incoming students, whether they have no prior computer science experience or have taken computer science courses in high school (including AP Computer Science or AP Computer Science Principles). All incoming students are welcome to take CSC 151, but students with extensive experience with a functional programming language should consult with a member of the computer science department during NSO to determine whether a different placement is appropriate.

It may be appropriate for students with prior computer science experience to begin in CSC 151 but skip a later course in the curriculum. These placement decisions are made in consultation with the instructor for the course to be skipped, usually during the registration period for the semester when the student would otherwise take the course to be skipped. These placements do not need to be resolved before the student takes CSC 151.

Computer science faculty have office hours during NSO to discuss placements.

Students who are interested in majoring in physics typically enroll in PHY 131: General Physics I during their first semester. Those who have completed advanced physics coursework (such as AP, IB, CAP or A-level) are encouraged to review the placement policy. Students are also welcome to consult with a physics faculty member about course placement during office hours at NSO.

Every subject at Grinnell has a starting point for all new Grinnellians – typically a 100-level introductory course. Some departments allow a student to enter at a more advanced level given advanced placement achieved during high school. If you are considering beginning at the 200-level or higher, you can consult the Advanced Placement tables for AP, Cambridge A-Level, CAPE, or IB exams.

Bottom line: Once you arrive on campus, as you prepare for your first registration, the conversations you have with your adviser will help you determine which class to take based on your preparation and interests.