Some of Cornell’s almost 60 offered languages utilize online assessments to place students into the appropriate level of study. Generally speaking, a student must take a language placement test if they:

• have more than one year of study in the language.
• do not have an SAT II or AP score in that language.

On this platform, online tests are available for the following languages:

• Chinese (Simplified Characters)
• Chinese (Traditional Characters)
• French
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Spanish

You will receive the link to your placement test once you complete the Application process here.

For additional placement information for these languages and all others, as well as points of contact, consult the Language Placement Tests Contacts document.

Additional notes

Please always check with the relevant department for questions (see contacts document). This platform simply provides access to the online language placement tests. Final decisions about placement are made by departments, not the Language Resource Center.

A student may be exempt from taking a language if they

• completed secondary education at a foreign institution where the language of instruction was not English.
• have native or near-native proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing a second language, as determined by examination.

For more information, please contact your department and review the Arts & Sciences language requirement website.