Placement Exams

Placement Exams are an essential part of the orientation process and ensure proper placements into academic classes. There are two placement exams that students may take as part of the orientation process: Math Placement Exam and Foreign Language Assessment. 

Math Placement Exam

Upon submitting an enrollment deposit, incoming students who are required to take the placement exam (and do not meet one of the exemptions listed below) will receive an email directly from the proctoring company Examity titled “Remote Voucher Notification.” This email, sent to your UMICH email account, will include your unique voucher number that you will utilize to create an account and take your exam. When creating your profile in Accuplacer, please ensure that your name reads exactly the way it is written on your voucher. All characters are required to match in order to move forward including capitalization and spaces. The voucher will be valid for 60 days, and you can complete the exam anytime during those 60 days, however, you will not be able to register for orientation until you have completed the exam.

The exam has no time limit, although most students finish within two hours. Calculators are not allowed.

Upon completion, your exam will be reviewed and score verified by university staff. In the event that any concerns are found with your examination, your score may be invalidated and you would be contacted directly within 7 days to discuss next steps.

Students are strongly encouraged to prepare for the exam:

  • Utilize the Math Learning Center's Placement Exam Preparation materials
  • Free Accuplacer math app 
    • It is recommended students review:
      • Arithmetic Sample Questions 
      • Quantitative Reasoning, Algebra, and Statistics Sample Questions
      • Advanced Algebra and Functions Sample Questions

Once you have been issued a voucher, here are some helpful Examity test taking guides if you need assistance with completing your exam:

If a student is not satisfied with their placement result, they may choose to retake the exam once after reviewing materials for at least 14 days. To schedule an exam re-take, please email  [email protected].

All Students
To ensure students are placed into the appropriate course, they may be required to take the math placement exam. This varies based on a student’s college and declared major, combined with their transferable credit.

Exemption Criteria

Students may waive the math placement exam requirement for any program if they meet any of the following criteria*:

  • Transferable credit equivalent to Math 105 or above
    • Placement will be into the next course in the sequence
  • A 3, 4, or 5 on an AP Calculus exam
  • SAT math section score of 620 or higher
    • Placement into Math 115 (Calc I)
  • ACT math score of 26 or higher
    • Placement into Math 115 (Calc I)

*These results must be on record at UM-Dearborn for this placement exam waiver to apply.

Requirements by Academic College

Current and Non-Degree Seeking Students (including Dual Enrollment and Prospective Degree-Seeking Students)
For current students and non-degree students that need to take the Mathematics placement exam because of their curricular choices, please register for a math placement exam

Foreign Language Assessment

The Foreign Language Assessment is strongly recommended for students with less than three years prior experience in a language who plan to continue in that language at UM-Dearborn (whether required for graduation or not). This assessment should be taken prior to attending the Virtual Orientation Session. Assessments are proctored on campus in the Foreign Language Lab, Room 3065 CASL Building (CB). You must register for the assessment in advance as space is limited.

The results will be communicated by email. It may take up to two weeks for results to be available.

The assessments for FrenchGerman, and Spanish are in computer-based format, while the Arabic assessment is paper-based.

If you take a Foreign Language Advanced Placement (AP) Exam, the AP score will override the assessment score if it is higher. Foreign Language course credit is not awarded by assessment.

Placement into Composition

All students are required to take six credit hours of Written and Oral Communication courses within the Dearborn Discovery Core. Incoming students will have an initial placement into COMP 105.

Students may choose to appeal their placement by submitting a portfolio for faculty review. If the appeal is successful, students will be placed in COMP 106.

If applicable, a student's placement may be based on an Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) exam result, or previous dual enrollment or college credit.

Orientation

2149 - James C. Renick University Center
4901 Evergreen Road
Dearborn, MI 48128
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