Placement for Chinese

All Chinese classes require that students be properly placed. All students, including new beginners, need to complete our placement procedure. You must have completed the placement and received your proper placement to be formally registered for the corresponding class/level.

THE EASIEST WAY to access the placement test is to go to the Office of Testing Services using the link below.

If you have any questions, be sure to contact the Office of Testing Services. They will create a help ticket for you and will respond promptly.

The Chinese program reserves the right to follow up with individual students for a placement validation interview.

Testing Services: Placement Testing

Who Needs to Take the Placement Survey and/or Placement Test?

  1. Chinese 101-104 are offered for students who have no or limited knowledge of Chinese, therefore, we require all students to take Chinese placement screening survey. If you have taken Chinese before or are from a Chinese family, you also need to take the placement test. Please go to the website: testing.uic.edu/placement-testing, and follow the instructions on it to take the test. Please contact the Basic Language Program Coordinator if you have any questions regarding the placement test.
  2. If you were born in Mainland China or Taiwan, and came to the United States at 12 years old or above, you are not eligible to take Chinese to fulfill the foreign language requirement. You’ve already met the foreign language study requirement. The Basic Language Program Coordinator can provide you the document needed. To see if you are eligible to take Chinese 200 or Chinese 209, please complete the placement test and send your inquiry to any Chinese instructor.

How to Access the Placement Survey and Placement Test

If you are incoming students, please see instruction at this webpage: testing.uic.edu/placement-testing/first-year-students/

Continuing students request the test on the Registration tab under Academics.  New students either are given the link based on the language question answers or can request the test in the Placement testing portlet in MyUIC.

There should be “placement tests” option in your UIC portlet. When you click that, you should be able to see a list of available tests, Spanish, German, Japanese, Chinese etc. You need to submit a request for the test.  Once approved, you are given a link to the test. It will take a day or two for the link to become available in the portal.

The test consists the initial step, which is the survey, required of all students. If you have studied Chinese before or speak Mandarin Chinese due to home background, you have existing proficiency and will be directed to complete the 100-point grammar/writing-based test. Your test result will be available in your portal after the test has been graded, typically in five business days.

If you continue to have difficulty accessing the test, please email the Basic Language Program Coordinator or the Office of Testing Services directly.

Placement Survey

The placement survey is required of all students as part of the placement procedure. The survey asks for your language background in order to obtain information for placement. It also asks for your learning style in order to adjust our teaching methods in manners best suited to students’ preference.

Placement Test

The Placement Test is two hours and consists of two sections:

  • Section I is the multiple-choice section, which focuses on grammatical structures, vocabulary knowledge, expressions and phrases communicative situations and cultural knowledge
  • Section II is the writing section, with two specific writing tasks.

Preparation for the test is not necessary. No dictionary or other references are allowed during the test. You may request either the Traditional Character version of the test of the Simplified Character version.

Once the test is transferred to the Basic Language Program Coordinator, we will make sure to evaluate the test within five working days. Your result should be available in your portal by the  end of that period.

Transfer Students

If you are a transfer student and have transferred UIC Chinese language credits from your previous institution, and you want to continue to study Chinese at UIC, you are required to follow the same placement procedure (completing the Chinese Placement Test). Students who have taken the Chinese Advanced Placement Test or the IB Test may consult UIC’s “Credit by Examination” Page for proper interpretations of your standard test score, and for information regarding credit for Chinese at UIC and class exemption/placement.

FAQs about the Online Placement Procedure Heading link

I’ve never studied Chinese before. Do I still need to take the Placement?

Yes, the placement is required of all students. All students must complete Step 1 of the online placement in order to proceed further. Depending on your study and language background, you may or may not need to proceed to Step 2 and Step 3 which is grammar and writing based test. All you need to do is to start the online placement test procedure and the system will notify you which step to take next.

How soon do I get my score? How do I interpret my score?

The sore should be available to you within five business days if not sooner. The placement result will be shown in your portal. If you don’t know how to interpret your score for placement, email the Basic Language Program Coordinator.

Where do I see my score?

  • Continuing Students: Log on to UIC.EDU -> Academics -> Registration -> Placement Test Results.
  • New Incoming Students: Log on to UIC.EDU -> UIC Connect-> Pathway to Enrollment -> Placement Testing

I’ve submitted a request to take the Chinese Placement Test, but haven’t been sent the link.

The link sent to you by the Office of Testing Services doesn’t read “Chinese”. It reads “non-math placement test”. Click this link and you will be led to the Moodle test page.

When I took the test, my computer froze. Can I re-take the test?

It is possible. You should contact the Office of Testing Services directly to request a re-take. You may also submit a Help Desk ticket.