Music Humanities

The Music Humanities exemption exam will take place on Friday, September 9 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in 622 Dodge Hall. All students must wear masks. Please note that this exam may only be attempted once, during students' first term at Columbia. More information found here. Questions? Please email Professor Benjamin Steege at bas39@columbia.edu. 

Mathematics

The Chemistry placement exam will take place online ONLY for students from 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, August 30 through 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, August 31. Additional information found here.  

Please email Dr. Vesna Gasperov at vg2231@columbia.edu with questions and to receive login information. 

Physics

The Physics information session and placement exam for accelerated Physics will take place on Wednesday, August 31 from 5:15-6:30 p.m. in 301 Uris. (Only a pen is needed, no calculator.

For general questions, please contact Professor Jeremy Dodd at jrd4@columbia.edu. For specific questions about Accelerated Physics only, please reach out to Professor Norman Christ at nhc1@columbia.edu.

Foreign Languages

Language placement at Columbia is determined in one of two ways. Students who wish to continue with a language they studied in secondary school MUST either take a Columbia language department placement exam in order to register for a course in that language OR submit results from SAT II Subject Tests or Advanced Placement exams. Those students who have demonstrated proficiency in a language via SAT II or AP should refer to the Academic Planning Guide for New Students for specific course placement information. Students who have not taken an SAT II Subject Test or an AP exam must take a Columbia departmental exam in order to determine appropriate placement. 

Language exams will take place during orientation. The information below will continue to be updated throughout Summer 2022. Please continue to check back. 

African Languages

By appointment. Please contact Mariame Sy at sms2168@columbia.edu

Arabic

Friday, September 2, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm 

Knox 101 and 103

Please contact Taoufik Ben Amor at tb46@columbia.edu or Professor Reem Faraj at rf2273@columbia.edu.

Students may register for the course that they estimate would fit their level pending the results of the exam.

For more information, see these FAQ.

Armenian

Please contact Charry Karamanoukian at ck2444@columbia.edu to arrange the exam. Placement tests are done individually on Zoom prior to the start of classes. 

Bengali

Please contact Dwijen Bhattacharjya at db174@columbia.edu for details and to arrange a time to take the exam. 

Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian

The exam will be offered August 22- August 30, by appointment. Both written and oral parts will be administered remotely. 

Please contact Aleksander Bošković at ab3865@columbia.edu with any questions. More information found here and here. 

Chinese

The first part of the placement exam (including multiple choice and short answers) can be taken online anytime from August 15-25. 

The oral portion of the exam will occur on Zoom on Friday, September 2 between 10:00 am - 12:00 pm. 

More information and the exam sign-up link are found here. 

French

Information on the French placement exam can be found here.

Questions? Please email Pascale Hubert-Liebler at ph2028@columbia.edu

German

The first part of the placement exam (assessing listening, grammar, reading, and writing) can be taken online anytime from August 27 at 12:00 am - September 16 at 11:59 p.m.

The oral component of the exam will occur after the first part is complete. You will sign-up for an in-person or Zoom session during NSOP week. More information here. 

Questions? Reach out to Jutta Schmiers-Heller at js2331@columbi.edu. 

Greek

The Classical Greek placement exam will take place on Wednesday, August 31 from 1:00-3:00 p.m. in 618 Hamilton. 

Questions? Please reach out to Dr. Marcus Folch at mf2664@columbia.edu.

To schedule a placement exam in Modern Greek, please reach out to Dr. Nikolas P. Kakkoufa at nk2776@columbia.edu. The exam will be open from August 22nd September 2nd. After the written online portion, an oral exam will be arranged. 

Hebrew

Thursday, September 1, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm in Knox Hall 101 and 103. 

To register, please contact Naama Harel at nh2508@columbia.edu.

Hindu-Urdu

The Hindu and Urdu exams will take place on Friday, September 2 from 10:00 am - 1:00 pm in Knox 114 and 116. 

Please contact Rakesh Ranjan at rr2574@columbia.edu for more information and to register. 

Hungarian

For information on the Hungarian placement exam, please email Carol Rounds at chr2@columbia.edu.

Indonesian

Please contact Yudis Nugraha at kn2905@columbia.edu to arrange to take the exam. The exam will take place via Zoom and Google Form two weeks before the start of classes. 

Italian

The Italian placement exam can be done online anytime before the end of the change of program period. Information found here. 

To register for the exam and for any other questions, please email Lani Muller at lcm36@columbia.edu. 

Japanese

The Japanese placement exam will take place online between August 20 - August 29. Registration for the exam is found here.

Questions? Please contact Naoko Sourial at nns2111@columbia.edu.

Korean

The first part of the Korean placement exam will take place online between August 15 and August 30. A link to the exam is found here. 

The second part will take place on September 1 between 10:00 am - 1:00 pm

Location TBA

Questions? Please email Professor Joowon Suh at js604@columbia.edu.

Latin

The Latin exam will take place on Wednesday, August 31 from 1-3 p.m. in 618 Hamilton. Please note this is a sight exam. No dictionaries or grammatical aids may be used.

Questions? Please contact Marcus Folch at mf2664@columbia.edu.

Persian

The Persian exam will take place on Friday, September 2 from 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

 To register and for more information, please contact Saeed Honarmand at sh3468@columbia.edu.

Portuguese

The Portuguese exam will take place on Thursday, September 8 at 6:00 p.m. in 201 Casa Hispánica (612 west 116th Street). Please email Ana Paula Huback at aph2129@columbia.edu or José Antonio Castellanos-Pazos at jc846@columbia.edu with any questions and to register.

More information can be found here. 

Russian

The Russian Placement Test will take place (remotely) on Wednesday, August 24 from 1:00-3:00 p.m. (its written part) and Thursday, August 25 (its oral part). For all details see here. 

With questions and inquiries, contact Alla Smyslova at as2157@columbia.edu. Please note you'll need to complete this cover page and email it as an attachment to Alla at least one day before the test. 

Sanskrit

Students interested in taking the Sanskrit placement exam should email Shiv Subramaniam at sks2184@columbia.edu.

Spanish

• Part I: Take the Spanish placement exam online any time prior to September 1. 

You may take the exam only once. It consists of multiple-choice questions about vocabulary, grammar, and reading comprehension. There is no oral or listening component to the exam. Since it is an adaptive test, the length varies from one individual to another, with an average time of 25 minutes. Students and the Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures will be notified of score and placement recommendations immediately upon completion of the exam. You should save a screenshot of your score. In addition, you can access, view, take another screenshot, or print your placement exam results by logging in to the exam website. 

• Part II: Offered during the week of August 22nd and on August 31st between 11am and 2pm. 

If your score on the online test qualifies for exemption from the language requirement at Columbia (higher than 625), you will be required to take another version of the exam. If your score qualifies you to take this second exam, please register for it here, preferable by Friday, August 19th. 

Questions? Please contact Dr. Lee B. Abraham, 402 Casa Hispánica, 212-854-3764, lba2133@columbia.edu. 

Tamil

Anyone interested in taking the Tamil placement exam should email Shiv Subramaniam at sks2184@columbia.edu. 

Tibetan

The placement exam can be taken online anytime August 15- August 28. A speaking portion (for Modern Tibetan only) will occur on Thursday, September 1 at 5:00 p.m. 

Please contact Sonam Tsering at st2931@columbia.edu with any questions.

More information can be found here. 

Turkish

Turkish placements exams will be scheduled individually during the first two weeks of the term.

To schedule an exam, please email Zuleyha Colak at zc2208@columbia.edu.

Vietnamese

Anyone interested in taking the Vietnamese placement exam should email Chung Nguyen at cn2496@columbia.edu. The test will be done in person on Thursday, September 1 from 1:30-3:30 in 502A Kent Hall. 

Yiddish

The Yiddish placement exam will be available to take here anytime between August 31 and September 16.  Questions? Please email Agnieszka Legutko at abl2109@columbia.edu.