Placement Exams and Assessments: Purple Prep for #NU2030

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Placement Exams and Assessments

Placement Exams and Assessments

Required for All McCormick Students

Mathematics placement exam (see below)
Initial chemistry assessment (see below)
Chemistry placement exam—required only for students planning to take CHEM 171, 215, or 217 (see below)
Other Assessments and Exams: See below for details about assessments and exams offered in areas such as language or computer science. Depending on your course objectives, you may opt to take one or more of these tests in preparation for the fall.

See McCormick's webpage for more information.

Required for Students Planning to Take Chemistry

How do you know if you need to take a Chemistry course at Northwestern? Review the June Purple Prep email for your school for a helpful breakdown.

Initial chemistry assessment
- Required for all non-McCormick students planning to take any chemistry class in 2026–27 and all McCormick students, whether or not they have earned credit via AP or IB examination.
Chemistry placement exam
- Required only for students planning to take Accelerated General Chemistry (CHEM 171), Organic Chemistry (CHEM 215), or Organic Chemistry for Majors (CHEM 217). Students must take the chemistry initial assessment prior to taking the placement exam.

Find information about accessing these in the Exams and Assessments section below.

Required for Student Planning to Take Calculus

How do you know if you need to take a Calculus course at Northwestern? Review the June Purple Prep email for your school for a helpful breakdown.

Mathematics placement exam
- Required for any non-McCormick student planning to take a calculus course at Northwestern and for all McCormick students, whether or not they have earned credit via AP or IB examination.

Find information about accessing this in the Exams and Assessments section below.

Required for Students Planning to Study Languages Other Than English or Validate Language Proficiency

Regardless of your undergraduate school, if you have prior knowledge of a language other than English, your language level must be assessed prior to continuing study of the language. Prior knowledge can come from studying in high school, speaking at home, living abroad, or self-study.

Online placement tests are available for most languages offered at Northwestern; however, in some cases, your AP/IB exam score can be used in lieu of the placement exam.

Each language program has different requirements. Please check the AP/IB Language Credit table and the placement test information at Language Placement.

You are also encouraged to visit the Weinberg Language Resource Center website to learn more about languages offered at Northwestern.

If you have no prior knowledge of the language you intend to take at Northwestern, the language placement exam is not required. Please enroll in the first-quarter course of the first-year sequence, which may be only offered in the fall quarter. Please check each department's annual course offering schedule. Links are found in the table under Languages Offered at Northwestern. Please note that you are not allowed to self-place into and enroll in a beginning-level language class if you have prior knowledge of the language. Doing so is considered a violation of academic integrity. Please take the placement exam.

See the For New Undergraduate Students page for more information.

Exams and Assessments

Once you have reviewed the above section to determine which exams and assessments are relevant to you, find more information on each exam/assessment below, including deadline dates, access links, and contact information.

Initial Chemistry Assessment

This assessment is required for all students—including students with AP Chemistry credit—who plan to take any chemistry course at Northwestern and for all McCormick students regardless of chemistry plans. The exam is administered on Canvas. Invitations to the Canvas site will be sent directly to students starting on June 1. For more information, visit the Department of Chemistry website.

Access the Initial Chemistry Assessment under the courses section on Canvas.
If you do not see this exam when you log into Canvas after June 1, please email chemhelp@northwestern.edu for assistance.
Complete by July 31.

Chemistry Placement Exam

This placement exam is required in addition to the initial chemistry assessment for students planning to take Accelerated General Chemistry (CHEM 171), Organic Chemistry (CHEM 215), or Organic Chemistry for Majors (CHEM 217), regardless of any credit earned through AP or IB examination. The exam is administered on Canvas. Invitations to the Canvas site will be sent directly to students starting on June 1.

If you do not see this exam when you log into Canvas after June 1, please email chemhelp@northwestern.edu for assistance.
Complete by July 31.

Language Placement Exam

Policies and procedures for language placement vary by department and apply to students with prior knowledge of languages other than English, acquired through high school study, home use, self-study, etc. Language Placement Exams are not administered via Canvas.

Review how your background in a specific language determines the need to take a language exam at the Language Placement page. Click on a language name and carefully read ALL of the information on the page. Contact the placement coordinator for any inquiries.
Deadline to complete the online language placement test: July 31
- Japanese and Korean online tests are available from July 1 to July 31
- All other online tests are available at any time.
- Hindi and Urdu placement tests will be conducted in-person during the Wildcat Welcome Week. Students taking the Hindi or Urdu placement test must create an online profile before taking the test.
Complete follow-up testing as directed.

IMPORTANT

Language Survey is NOT a placement exam. Please complete language placement test(s) if applicable.
For students who are required to take the language placement test, but do not complete the online test by the specified deadline, and do not follow up with additional testing as directed, there is no guarantee that their placement results will be available before their registration.
Taking a language placement exam does not commit you to studying the language.
Language placement exams are not graded as pass or fail, and your scores will not appear on your transcript. They are designated to help you understand your current level in the curriculum and identify the appropriate course to continue your language studies at Northwestern.
If you know more than one language, we encourage you to take a placement exam of each language you know. Knowing where you are in Northwestern curriculum will help you know opportunities and options available to you. You may not enroll in a class that is lower than your placement without prior approval from the language program director or the language placement coordinator.

Mathematics Placement Exam

The math placement exam is required for any non-McCormick student planning to take a calculus course at Northwestern and for all McCormick students. The exam is administered on Canvas. Invitations to the Canvas site will be sent directly to students starting on June 1. For more information, visit the Department of Mathematics website.

Access the Math Placement Exam under the courses section on Canvas.
If you do not see this exam when you log into Canvas after June 1, please email calculus@math.northwestern.edu for assistance.
Complete by July 31.

Computer Science Placement Exam

All McCormick students will take either Gen_Eng 150 or 151. Students (across Northwestern, not just McCormick) who earned a score of 4 or 5 on AP CS A will automatically be eligible for Gen_Eng 151. Additionally, for those who do *not* have AP CS A credit but have extensive OOP experience, an optional entrance exam (given during Wildcat Welcome week) is available to grant permission to join Gen_Eng 151 "Honors Programming for Engineers." Non-McCormick students are also welcome to take this exam.

An optional Computer Science Placement Exam will take place in-person on campus during the first week of the fall quarter. While some students will undoubtedly come to Northwestern with a lot of programming experience, that experience may not line up nicely with specific courses. The placement exams are not for *everyone*, but rather for the small number of students with extensive programming experience beyond AP coursework AND are planning to pursue formal CS study through a CS/AI major/minor or other related program at Northwestern. Placement exams are available for CS 180, 208 and 211. This exam will be used to verify whether students are prepared to begin their CS coursework at a point beyond the foundation courses. Placing out of a course does not earn you credit for that course; you will have to replace the credit with an extra 300-level CS course.

View the McCormick First-Year Students page for topics covered in each of the introductory foundation courses, details of the exam, and the registration for the exam. You must register for the exam in advance.

Please email advising@cs.northwestern.edu and sara@northwestern.edu if you have any questions.

Exam Accommodations

If you need accommodations for an online placement exam or assessment, plan to initiate the AccessibleNU (ANU) application process four weeks in advance of your placement test. Please note that language placement exams are not timed.

Canvas Invitations

Canvas is commonly used at Northwestern for accessing course materials, turning in assignments, viewing grades, and handling other academic tasks. You'll use Canvas this summer if certain online placement exams and assessments are required for you. Every incoming student is emailed an invitation to join the Canvas exam page even if no exams or assessments are required.