First-Year Placement Test

Learn more about first-year placement test requirements.

About the Placement Test

Before entering their first semester in college, international students write a diagnostic essay. The writing task is an analytical response to a short reading. Students have 60 minutes to write, and no preparation is required.

After Writing Program faculty have evaluated the essay, the Program Director will email students advising them as to whether they should take a Workshop for Multilingual Writers (WRIT 120), whether they should be meeting regularly with a Writing Partner, or whether they should only take the Balch Seminar.

If you are a multilingual student who is not required to attend International Student Orientation and you would like to be considered for admission to WRIT 120, please email the director of Multilingual Writing.

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Workshop for Multilingual Writers (WRIT 120)

This full-credit course is offered in the fall. It is a good companion course for first-year students as they write for their Emily Balch Seminars. The course covers the basics of college-level academic writing in English.

Writing Partners

A writing partnership is a guaranteed, weekly appointment with a Writing Center tutor. Over the course of the semester, your partner gets to know you and your writing process and helps you set long-term goals for improving as a writer.

Partners might use their time together in a number of ways:

to review writing assignments and strategize ways to approach them
to talk out ideas for papers
to discuss drafts
to revise and copyedit
to discuss course readings and figure out how to use them effectively in writing
to explore resources that will make you a better writer.

Having a writing partner is like having a personal trainer for your brain! It's great for senior thesis writers, students taking classes with lots of writing assignments, frequent Writing Center patrons, students making the transition to college writing, or writers who procrastinate or have writer's block. The time commitment is small, but the payoff in terms of becoming a better writer is huge.