You cannot fulfill the foreign language requirement of the College of Arts and Sciences or other schools on the Indiana University Bloomington campus (nor the university’s general education requirements) simply by taking the placement exam. Depending on the requirement, it may be fulfilled by taking AP or IB exams (see the Office of Admissions website). However, normally a student with prior knowledge of French must take the online Indiana University placement exam and then complete at least one “validating course” in French.
French Placement & Special Credit
Placement exam
If you have previous knowledge of French, you must take the online placement exam through the Bloomington Evaluation Services and Testing office. The scores will be made available to you during the orientation session for freshmen or transfer students, or you can check with the Department to obtain your score. The placement exam is used only to place you at the correct level as you start your language study at IU. It is not used to establish proficiency in the language or to receive any university credit. To be clear, if you test out of F100 or F150 with the placement exam, you will NOT receive credit for those courses. If you test out of any 200-level French course, see Special Credit, below.
The online placement exam costs $54, which covers all language placement exams for one academic year. This amount will be billed to your Bursar account.
| Score | Placement |
|---|---|
| 0-25 | F100 |
| 26-35 | F150 |
| 36-43 | F200 |
| 44-51 | F250 |
| 52+ | F300, F313, F314, F315, F316, or F317 |
Advanced placement + IB credit
You should consult the Office of Admissions website to find out about credit in French given as a result of Advanced Placement (AP) exams or International Baccalaureate (IB) exams.
Special credit
To apply for special credit, you must complete the Request for Special Credit Form.
If you take the placement exam and test into F250, you may apply for special credit for F200 (3 credit hours) after you have completed F250 with a grade of C or better. The F250 course must be the first course in French taken at IUB. F250 is considered the validating course.
If you take the placement exam and test into the 300-level, you may claim special credit for F200 (3 cr.) and F250 (3 cr.) after you have completed a 300-level French class taught in French with a grade of C or better. The 300-level course, which is the validating course in this case, must be the first course in French taken at Indiana University Bloomington.
Fees may be assessed depending on the student's credit hour enrollment for specified semesters. Special Credit in French is awarded with an S grade.
A transfer course can NOT be used as a validating course to apply for Special Credit. You can only take the Indiana University Bloomington validating course ONCE in an effort to achieve the minimum grade of C to then apply for Special Credit. Also, if you are fluent in French due to being raised or educated in a French-speaking country, you are NOT eligible to receive Special Credit in French.
Please note that if you have taken a lower level course than the one you are requesting special credit for here at Indiana University Bloomington and skipped that course we cannot award credit for the course.
If you believe you have met the requirements for Special Credit and have additional questions or the above form is not working, please email us at the Department of French and Italian and we can verify your transcript and send the request over to the Registrar.
Course permissions
Please download and complete the Permission for Individual Readings Form for permission to register for the following:
- X490 - Individual Readings and F399/499 Readings for Honors
The College of Arts