Challenge Test

Officially enrolled students who believe they are proficient in the material of an undergraduate course may request that the offering department provide an appropriate opportunity for credit by examination. Department approval is required before an exam for a given course will be offered.

A student interested in “challenging” a course for credit must contact the Department of Global Languages and Cultures for approval before testing so that arrangements for testing can be made. To request department approval for Spanish or Hispanic Studies courses please contact Adriana Perez-Smith. (Note: the challenge of Span 101, Span 102, Span 201 and/or Span 202 is only available through the Spanish Placement Test.) For all other languages, please contact the instructor of record.

Courses with an experiential and/or service-learning component (SPAN 208, SPAN 218, SPAN 318, SPAN 305, SPAN 306, SPAN 307, SPAN 407, and SPAN 417) are not eligible for credit by examination.

With approval from the department, the student can sign up for testing and pay the associated testing fee via the online app.

For example, if a student who believes they are proficient in the material of a 300- or 400-level Spanish course, the student can contact the department and request the opportunity to “challenge” the course by appropriately testing. If the student achieves a score of 80% or better on the challenge exam, the Department will notify Testing Services of the credit earned.

Students may only earn credit for the course they are challenging.

Attributes such as W-intensive or C-intensive will not accompany credits for course work that normally would be associated with courses qualifying for writing-intensive or communication-intensive designations (i.e., SPAN 301, SPAN 303, SPAN 320, and SPAN 403).