Placement Exams

All incoming students are required to take the Mathematics Placement Exam, which is available online through the new student portal. (You will need to sign in with your user name and password included in your admit packet.) If you are a continuing student, the placement exam is available through myGoucher, on the Student->Advising tab. The test is purely for advisory purposes and is used only to recommend placement into your first mathematics course.

Because Goucher courses require strong writing skills, we have a College Writing Proficiency requirement which students should meet by the end of freshman year, or as soon as possible in sophomore year. Transfer students should deal with the requirement immediately.

Because we define proficiency in terms of demonstrated skills, not courses taken, we need to know what skills you have to decide whether you need more training. Neither AP credit, test scores, nor prior composition courses taken at another institution would tell us as much about your writing as this essay. If you do not need to take another writing course to succeed at Goucher, this essay can demonstrate that fact.

Give yourself at least a full hour to develop this essay. Use more time if you need it-you will not be penalized. Click here to begin the Writing Placement Essay.

Graduation requirements include proficiency in a foreign language at the intermediate level. The Language Placement Test is used to place you in the language course appropriate to your present knowledge and proficiency. We encourage all entering students to take the test in the language studied in high school even if they are considering beginning a different language in college.

• French Placement Exam
• German Placement Exam
• Hebrew Placement Exam (PDF, must be printed and mailed)
• Italian Placement Exam
• Spanish Placement Exam
• Russian Placement Exam: taken after you arrive on campus

No dictionaries or other sources may be used during the test. Native speakers of a foreign language should follow the recommendations listed in the documents below.

• Guidelines for native speakers of a foreign language or students taking a language not offered at Goucher
• Foreign Language Agreement 

Please Note: 

• Entering students who have not studied a language in high school need to indicate the foreign language they will study at Goucher. Click here to indicate your foreign language choice.
• Entering students who plan to study a language elsewhere need to indicate the foreign language that they intend to study. Click here to indicate what language you will study elsewhere.
• Placement exam results have an expiration date of one year. You will need to retake the placement test after two or more semesters if you have not taken the language course in which you were placed, unless you have opted to satisfy the language requirement with another language altogether.

Other related forms (including inter-institutional registration forms and non-Goucher Programs form) are available on the forms page at the Records and Registration site.

Students who wish to take Music Theory 1 (MUS 105) must take a placement test. This 15-minute, timed test will evaluate knowledge of music fundamentals, including major and minor scales and key signatures, identification and construction of intervals and triads, meter and harmonic function. This exam is not available online and can be taken on campus.

The Dance Placement Auditions will take place only during Summer Orientation. Contact the chair of the Dance Department at eahearn@goucher.edu.

Equestrian Placements will take place only during Summer Orientation. Contact the director of the Equestrian Program, pzumbrun@goucher.edu