Language Placement Exams

Students who have prior experience with Latin and wish to begin taking Latin at the intermediate (200) or advanced (300) level at Lawrence should complete the online placement exam linked below.  In preparation, we strongly encourage you to download and work through the practice exam (available below with an answer key).

The Latin placement exam consists of parsing questions, a short sight passage, and grammar questions about the passage.  Students have 90 minutes to complete the online test.

Those wishing to take the placement exam will need a Lawrence University email address and password in order to access the test through Moodle.

The Classics Department will grade tests as we receive them and notify students of their Latin placement by email as soon as possible.  Students may take the exam at any time but should plan to complete the exam well in advance of the term in which they expect to take their first Latin course.

When you take the online test, you will be asked to affirm the Lawrence University Honor Code.  By doing so you are verifying that you received no help during the exam and consulted no outside resources (you should, however, use the parsing sheet that accompanies the online exam).

There is no placement exam for Greek.  If you have prior Greek experience and wish to begin taking Greek at the 200- or 300-level, please contact the department.

While everybody’s language experience will be judged on a case-by-case basis, here are some rough guidelines:
• 1-2 years of HS experience: start at the 100-level
• 2-3 years of HS experience: start at the 200-level
• 3-4 years of HS experience: start at the 300-level

Practice Placement Exam

Practice Exam Answer Key

Click here to take the Latin Placement Exam

There are two ways to satisfy the foreign language general education requirement (GER) through Latin.  The easiest way is through course work, passing either CLAS 220 (Intensive Intermediate Latin) or any 300-level Latin course.  If you wish to satisfy the foreign language GER by exam, you must write in person under proctored conditions.  There is an opportunity to do so annually during Week 1 of the fall term and you must notify the Classics Department of your intention to write no later than 5pm on the Friday of Welcome Week.  The standard for this exam is very high; students must achieve a grade in the A-range (90% or above) in order to satisfy the foreign language GER.  We strongly encourage students to use the practice placement exam above to gauge their likelihood of success before writing the in-person exam as students may only attempt the exam once during their time at Lawrence.