Placement Exams available online, before registration, must be taken by Wednesday, August 9.
Dear incoming students,
Believe it or not, it’s August! And, of course, we’re back in your inbox with a few reminders before you arrive on campus.
First order of business: Placement Exams.
As a reminder–from the message you received on June 7–some courses require you to take a placement exam prior to registration . Placement exams are offered for chemistry, calculus, music theory, and languages. The purpose of these exams is to place you in the courses that best match your experience level.
Most of these exams are available online, though a few are only offered in-person during Orientation. For the exams that are available online, we ask that new students take them no later than Wednesday, August 9 . To take an online placement exam—or to find out more information—visit the Advising Center's Placement Exam webpage.
For the most part, if you are planning to take courses in calculus, chemistry, music theory, Chinese, French, German, or Spanish, you should take the appropriate online placement exam before August 9. There will be placement exams offered during Orientation week for the other languages taught at Occidental and exemption exams in Chinese (oral component only; schedule your time here), French, German, and Spanish for those students who placed into Language 201 or beyond. Again, please reference the Academic Advising Overview email you received in early June if needed. Note: if you plan to take the calculus exam, remember that you can take it multiple times to improve your placement.
Now, for something you’ve been anticipating: this Friday, August 4, you will receive your housing assignment from REHS. This includes your roommate(s) and your residence hall placement for the coming academic year. Exciting! As you begin the packing process, don’t forget to reference our Move-in Guide for all the info you need on shipping items to campus, room decor and more.
Lastly, the final Tiger Chat of the summer is happening next Friday, August 11 at 11 a.m. PST. Please join us via Zoom if you have any last questions or would like further clarification about any emails or information you’ve received so far.
Continue to enjoy the rest of your summer! We’ll see you here at Oxy in just a bit.
P.S. There are many important forms due by the end of the day today. Please review this To-Do Checklist & Timeline to make sure you complete them all. As a heads up, many departments on campus are only reachable via email today . You can find their contact information here if you have any questions.