Department policy since fall 2009 is that all incoming students must take placement exams. The exams are intended to make sure students are ready to succeed in the core graduate classes. They consist of questions that one might expect to see in an exam in an advanced undergraduate course on that subject. Students passing the placement exams nearly always pass the corresponding course. Students not passing an exam should probably take an appropriate advanced undergraduate elective rather than the core graduate course; the decision about what to do is made after discussing the situation with the graduate director. This students who do not pass the placement exam but directly go on to take the graduate course have about an 80% pass (20% fail) rate in the graduate class.
Instructions for the exam and topics that may be on the exam can be found in pdf format here.
In parallel with the placement exam, challenge / exemption exams are held. These exams can be used to satisfy the corresponding core graduate course requirement of a grade of B or better in the course. They consist of questions that one might expect to see in an exam in that graduate course. Permission of the Graduate Program Director is required to take a challenge exam. Please request permission in advance, as challenge exams might not be given unless enough students will be taking them. The challenge exams are held at the same time and place at the corresponding placement exams - make sure you take the correct one! Typically only about half of the students taking the challenge exams pass them.The placement / challenge exams are held towards the end of the week before the term starts, during orientation week near the end of August and just before Martin Luther King Day in January. There are a number of welcome orientations scheduled by the university. There is also a department orientation, planned in part by the graduate students to help newly arriving students, typically scheduled for Wednesday of orientation week, that includes a free lunch!
Note that placement exams were cancelled starting fall 2020 due to COVID. No placement exams have been offered since then.
The fall 2025 orientation schedule is currently scheduled to be:
You may bring 1 page of notes to each exam. A calculate is typically not needed.