Return to the Academic Placement Subject List

The Arabic placement exam (Part I) is offered online over the summer. For instructions and the link to the exam, go to http://placement-test.mmlc.northwestern.edu.

Part II, Validation of Proficiency/Placement in Arabic, is Thursday, September 18th, 10:00am-12:00pm, in Kresge 4-425.

If you have any background whatsoever in any variety of Arabic, you must take the online Arabic placement exam (Part I) to determine at what level to continue your studies or to demonstrate that your proficiency in Modern Standard Arabic satisfies the Weinberg foreign language requirement.

The online placement exam is a basic test of grammar and reading skills and your ability to use the structures of Modern Standard Arabic correctly; it is to be completed online before September 19th. Based on your performance on the online exam, you may be required to validate your level of proficiency/placement in Arabic. This follow-up exam (Part II), offered September 18th, consists of a more extensive reading and writing task and a brief oral interview with the coordinator of Arabic language instruction. After completing the online exam, you will receive notification of a tentative placement and/or instructions to attend the placement validation section (“Placement, Part II”) via e-mail.

Please note: although students may use a regional spoken variety of Arabic for the oral interview portion of Part II of the exam, fluency in a spoken variety of Arabic does not satisfy the Weinberg foreign language requirement. Students attempting to "test out" of the requirement must show they can draw on Modern Standard Arabic in addition to any spoken variety used.

If you have questions about placement in Arabic, e-mail Lynn Whitcomb in the Program of African and Asian Languages at l-whitcomb@northwestern.edu, stop by room 4-360, Kresge Hall, or call 847- 491-2770.

To Do List

Packing List

Shipping Your Belongings

Academic Placement Exams

Essential NU: For the Record (available July 28th)

The Road to the Rock Newsletter (available soon)