Overview

A student in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences with a knowledge of a language that is not taught at the University of Iowa may have the option of taking a proficiency exam to meet the fourth level General Education CLAS Core World Languages requirement. If the exam demonstrates that the student has the required level of language proficiency, the student will have met the GE CLAS Core requirement in World Languages, with this completion noted on the student’s degree audit.

Students in the Tippie College of Business with knowledge of a language that is not taught at the University of Iowa also may take a proficiency exam through the process described below, however world language satisfaction is determined by the Tipple College of Business for students enrolled in that college. 

The languages offered for these proficiency exams are not taught at the University of Iowa, and not every language is offered. The costs for these exams are paid by the student.

  • Students wishing to take a proficiency exam in a language not taught at the University of Iowa must first seek approval from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at least two weeks before the student would like to take the exam, see below for instructions for seeking approval.
  • Students are encouraged to take the exam during their first year at the University of Iowa. If the student does not score at the required level for the exam, the student will need to choose another option for fulfilling the World Languages requirement before graduating. Retesting is not allowed. There are no exceptions to this policy.
  • For languages that are taught at the University of Iowa, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences accepts only the UI online course placement test and UI one-on-one proficiency interview offered by the related CLAS departments. There are no exceptions to this policy.

World Languages not Taught at UI: Offered Exams

The languages listed below are not taught at the University of Iowa; proficiency exams in these languages are offered as a way to fulfill the GE World Languages requirement for students with a strong competency in a second language. Please note the list of languages available is subject to change.

  • Afrikaans
  • Akan-Twi
  • Albanian
  • Amharic
  • Armenian
  • Assyrian
  • Azerbaijani
  • Baluchi
  • Belorussian
  • Bengali
  • Bosnian
  • Bulgarian
  • Burmese
  • Cambodian
  • Cantonese
  • Cebuano
  • Chavacano
  • Chechen
  • Czech
  • Danish
  • Dari
  • Dutch
  • Egyptian
  • Ewe
  • Finnish
  • Ga
  • Georgian
  • Greek (Modern)
  • Gujarati
  • Haitian Creole
  • Hausa
  • Hebrew (Modern)
  • Hindi
  • Hmong
  • Hungarian
  • Igbo
  • Ilocano
  • Indonesian
  • Iraqi
  • Javanese
  • Kazakh
  • Kikongo
  • Krio
  • Kurdish-Kurmanji
  • Kurdish-Sorani
  • Lao
  • Lingala
  • Macedonian
  • Malay
  • Malayalam
  • Mandingo-Bambara
  • Marathi
  • Marshallese
  • Mongolian
  • Nepali
  • Norwegian
  • Pashto
  • Persian Farsi
  • Polish
  • Punjabi
  • Romanian
  • Serbian/Croatian
  • Sindhi
  • Sinhalese
  • Slovak
  • Somali
  • Swedish
  • Tagalog
  • Tajik
  • Tamil
  • Tausug
  • Telugu
  • Thai
  • Tibetan
  • Tigrinya
  • Turkish
  • Turkmen
  • Uighur
  • Ukrainian
  • Urdu
  • Uzbek
  • Vietnamese
  • Wolof
  • Yoruba
  • Zulu

Cost of Proficiency Exams

The student is responsible for paying the related fee, usually $145. For remote proctoring, there is an additional $20 fee. The cost of the exam cannot be added to the U-Bill; the fee is payable by credit card or e-check only. If the student misses the exam, is late to the exam, or cancels less than 24 business hours before the scheduled start time, the fee is not refunded and the student is is charged an additional cancellation/rescheduling fee by the testing provider.

Procedure to Request a Proficiency Exam

If you are a student in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and would like to take a proficiency exam in a language not taught at the University of Iowa to satisfy your General Education CLAS Core World Languages requirement, please follow these steps:

  1. Make sure the language you know is on the list of offered languages, above. Not all languages are offered and the list of offered languages is subject to change.
  2. Seek approval from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to take the exam at least two weeks before you hope to take the proficiency exam. Without prior approval, your score will not be accepted.
  3. To request approval and discuss the testing process, schedule an appointment on MyUI up to two weeks in advance at https://myui.uiowa.edu/my-ui/student/records/advising/appointments.page. Choose "College Office" then "College of Liberal Arts and Sciences" with "World Language Proficiency" as the appointment type. In the Notes area, type the language for which you are seeking testing. The appointment will be held with an academic staff member in CLAS Undergraduate Programs. You also may schedule an appointment by calling 319-335-2633 weekdays between 8:00 am-4:30 pm. If you have questions, please email clas-undergrad@uiowa.edu.

Passing Score Required for GE CLAS Core World Languages

A student tested for proficiency in a language not taught at UI must reach the fourth level of proficiency in order to fulfill the GE CLAS Core World Languages requirement. This is the equivalent to the level of proficiency achieved by students who pass a second semester intermediate language course taught at UI. For proficiency exams offered as listed above, this corresponds to the "Intermediate Mid" exam score or higher. Any score lower than Intermediate Mid is not accepted. If the student does not score at the required level for the exam, the student will need to choose another option for fulfilling the World Languages Core requirement before graduating. The student is informed via their uiowa.edu email address of their score around two weeks after taking the exam, and fulfillment of the GE requirement will be added to the student's degree audit if they achieved the appropriate score.