Academic Policies

Second Language Requirement for Undergraduate Degrees

Policy revised 6/18/07: additional option for international students.
Amended 5/3/10: Effective Summer 2010, the IELTS is an option for international students.

Second language requirements vary depending on whether you are in a B.A or a non-B.A degree program.

For all students in B.A. degree programs:  fourth-semester skill level in a second language is required.  B.A. degree students may fulfill this requirement with one of the following options:

1. Scoring the equivalent of fourth-semester skill level on an entrance or placement examination administered by The University of Arizona.
2. Completion of a two-course sequence beyond the second semester of post-secondary language instruction.
3. Completion with a C or higher of a 300- or 400-level language course at the post-secondary level.
4. Completion of one course beyond the third semester in combination with an AP (Advanced Placement) score, IB (International Baccalaureate) score or a CLEP (College Level Entrance Program) score determined by the individual language department.
5. An AP, IB, or CLEP language score as listed below.
   

   	AP score	IB score	CLEP score
   Chinese	5 or higher	--	--
   French	3 or higher	5 or higher	63 or higher
   German	3 or higher	4 or higher	60 or higher
   Italian	3 or higher	--	--
   Japanese	5 or higher	--	--
   Latin	5 or higher	6 or higher	--
   Spanish	3 or higher	5 or higher	68 or higher

6. A minimum of one semester study abroad in a language program approved by the appropriate language department as the equivalent of fourth-semester skill level.

For all students in non-B.A. degree programs:  second-semester skill level in a second language is required.  Non-B.A. degree students may fulfill this requirement with one of the following options:

1. Scoring the equivalent of second-semester skill level on an entrance or placement examination administered by The University of Arizona.
2. Completion with a C or better of a second semester course at the post-secondary level.
3. An AP (Advanced Placement), IB (International Baccalaureate) or CLEP (College Level Entrance Program) language score as listed below.
   

   	AP score	IB score	CLEP score
   Chinese	3 or higher	--	--
   French	3 or higher	5 or higher	49 or higher
   German	3 or higher	4 or higher	46 or higher
   Italian	3 or higher	--	--
   Japanese	3 or higher	--	--
   Latin	3 or higher	4 or higher	--
   Spanish	3 or higher	4 or higher	55 or higher

4. In the College of Engineering by a method determined within the College; however, all students in the college must also take a language placement examination on entrance to the University.

Note:  Credit will not be awarded for language courses equivalent to, or at a lower level than, elementary or intermediate language courses for which the student has already earned credit (i.e., University Credit, transfer credit, or credit by exam).  This policy applies to languages offered by the College of Education (i.e., American Sign Language) and College of Humanities (i.e., Chinese, Critical Languages, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish).

U.S. students who are native speakers of a language other than English (e.g. Spanish, American Sign Language, Navajo) may satisfy the requirement through a proficiency exam administered by the appropriate department.

International students who are native speakers of languages other than English may fulfill the second language requirement with the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or with the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), provided that it was an admissions requirement and their score was satisfactory for admission to the University of Arizona. U.S. citizens and international students from countries where English is the official language may not use the TOEFL or IELTS to satisfy the Second Language Requirement; those students must meet the requirement through one of the options stated above.

All questions about language proficiency exams should be directed to the department that will evaluate proficiency. If you want to be tested in a language that is not taught by a UA department, contact:

Department of Linguistics 
Douglass Building, Room 200E
The University of Arizona
PO Box 210028
Tucson, AZ 85721-0028
Phone: (520) 621-6897
Fax: (520) 626-9014

Related Topics:

• First-year Composition
• General Education
• Mathematics
• Second Language Requirement, Graduate Degrees