Foreign Language Competency Exam

Competency in reading, writing, and speaking at the 102-level (second-semester-level) or higher in a language other than English is required for all CAS and SOC students. Students may complete this requirement in one of two ways:

1. Earn college credit with a C- or better at the 102-level or above in a language (other than English) at Loyola (or the equivalent in transfer credit from another college, or by an appropriate score on an Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate examination):

• At Loyola, students may study any language offered through the Modern Languages and Literatures department or study Latin (LATN) or Ancient Greek (GREK) offered through the Classical Studies department. Placement examination and/or placement advising is available through the Modern Languages and Literatures department or Classical Studies department.
• If coursework in a language (e.g., Danish, Korean, Croatian, etc.) is not offered at Loyola, a student may review eligibility and seek permission to take coursework at another college or university during the summer in accordance with the Policy on Prior Permission to Take Coursework at Other Universities.
• Eligible scores on an Advanced Placement (AP) exam or International Baccalaureate (IB) exam may award credit-by-exam for language coursework. All AP or IB scores must be officially reported to Loyola by the testing agency.
  
  -OR-   

 2. Demonstrate competency by passing a 102-level Language Competency Examination.

Note: Students are permitted to take only one language competency exam, and the exam may only be taken once. Multi-lingual students who wish to take a competency exam should request to take a language competency exam in the language they know best in reading, writing, and speaking.

Beginning-Level Language Competency Exams (to satisfy 102-level language requirement)

Currently we offer the following beginning-level language competency exams (please note that this list is subject to changes/availability):

Afrikaans Albanian Amharic Arabic Armenian Bengali Bosnian Bulgarian Burmese Chinese (Cantonese) Chinese (Mandarin-Simplified) Chinese (Mandarin-Traditional) Croatian Chuukese Czech French German Greek (Ancient) Greek (Modern

Gujarati Haitian Creole Hakha Chin Hawaiian Hebrew Hindi Hmong Ilocano Italian Japanese Kannada Korean Latin Latvian Marathi Marshallese  Mongolian

Persian/Farsi Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Samoan Serbian Spanish Somali Maay Maay Somali Maxaa Tagalog/Filipino Tamil Telugu Turkish Ukrainian Urdu Vietnamese

Note: This list of available language exams is subject to change without notice.

Intermediate-Level Language Competency Exams for Global Studies Majors/Minors (to satisfy 103- or 104-level language requirement)

Students who major in Global Studies are required to complete and pass a 104-level language course or test for proficiency at the 104-level or higher. Students who minor in Global Studies are required to complete and pass a 103-level language course or test for proficiency at the 103-level or higher. For Global Studies majors/minors, the intermediate-level language competency exams currently available through the Modern Languages and Literatures are:

Albanian Arabic Bulgarian Chinese (Mandarin-Simplified) Chinese (Mandarin-Traditional)

French German Hebrew Italian Japanese Korean

Polish Romanian Serbian Spanish Ukrainian Vietnamese

Note: This list of available language exams is subject to change without notice.

Scheduling a Language Competency Exam

The first step to scheduling a language competency exam is to send an email (from your Loyola account) to LanguageTesting@luc.edu. Please include your Name, Student ID number, current majors/minors, and the language in which you would like to be tested. 

The Department of Modern Languages and Literatures will reply with instructions on how to schedule your specific exam. Students are responsible for the $100.00 cost of the exam. Simply click here (LINK TO WEB PAYMENT FORM) to pay via credit card. 

Language competency exams that are conducted in the Language Learning Resource Center (LLRC) may not be scheduled during the first week of each semester or during registration week in each semester.

Some language competency exams are scheduled by appointment based on the availability of the faculty member. Please plan in advance if you wish to take a Language Competency Exam as results may take up to six weeks or more to return.

Note: Competency exam results may take up to six weeks to return. In order for students to plan their course work accordingly, students who wish to take a Language Competency Exam should schedule the exam as soon as possible, no later than the end of their junior year.

Requesting a Language Competency Exam in a Language Not Offered at Loyola

Students who believe that they are competent in reading, writing, and speaking a language that is not offered at Loyola (and is not listed in the table above) may submit a request to the Modern Languages & Literatures Department for a competency exam in that language. The student must complete the Language Exam Request (PDF) and, if a language competency exam is made available, pass the exam administered in that language in order to meet the 102-level language requirement (or 103- or 104-level requirement for a specific minor/major, e.g., Global Studies, European Studies, Latin American & Latina/o Studies). For the purpose of competency testing in languages not offered at Loyola, the Modern Languages & Literatures Department will recognize only those languages which can be tested for competency in reading, writing, and speaking.

Students must submit a completed Language Exam Request (PDF) to the Modern Languages & Literatures Department (LanguageTesting@luc.edu) during their first semester. Once a request is submitted, the Modern Languages & Literatures Department will make a reasonable effort to locate an academically qualified tester at Loyola or at another college or university.

If a qualified tester is located, the student will be notified and directed to schedule an appointment for the language competency examination which, in most cases, will be conducted in the Language Learning Resource Center. After the competency exam has been administered, the exam will be submitted to the language tester for review, and the language tester will submit a report to the Modern Languages & Literatures Department.

If no qualified tester can be found within one academic semester, the student’s request will be denied, and the student will be required to satisfy the language requirement via language course work at the 102-level or higher (or at the 103- or 104-level for a specific minor/major, e.g., Global Studies, European Studies, Latin American & Latina/o Studies, etc.).