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Placement and Test Out

You are here: Department of English and Philosophy - Handbooks

Last Revised(11/00)

Student Placement Policies

1. In order to fulfill the Communications Skills requirement for General Education, the Faculty Senate and the Chancellor approved (spring, 1993) a six-credit writing requirement. All students who register for freshman English courses, other than those awarded transfer credit from other institutions, must take the English Placement Test (EPT). The English Department establishes EPT cutoff scores that change yearly and will be entered into the schema below.
   1. Students scoring 478 and below must complete ENGL-090, Writing Workshop, with a C or better to be eligible for ENGL-101, Freshman Composition.
   2. Students scoring between 479 and 642 or successfully completing ENGL-090 will first take ENGL-101, Freshman Composition, followed by ENGL-102, Reading and Related Writing or, if receiving an A- or better in ENGL-101, ENGL-112, Honors II.
   3. Students scoring 643 and above may take ENGL-111, Freshman English Honors, followed by ENGL-112, Honors II. Those not taking ENGL-112 or ENGL-113 will complete the requirement by taking ENGL-102. Students in the Academic Honors program must take ENGL-113 as the second course to complete the requirement.
2. The English Department designates English Composition as the CLEP exam for which college credit will be given. Students who achieve a score of 55 shall receive 3 credits for ENGL-101/111. Students who achieve a score of 60 or above shall also receive 3 credits for ENGL-102/112.
3. Students who receive marginal EPT scores of 467 to 478 may be exempted from ENGL-090.
   1. All ENGL-090 students will be asked to produce a writing sample to be evaluated within the first three class days of each semester.
   2. Papers of students who are within the marginal scores and produce a strong writing sample will be reviewed by two ENGL-090 instructors to decide if the writing is competent enough to exempt the student from remediation.
   3. The English Department office must receive a note listing those students exempted from ENGL-090. Registration and Records will then be notified to clear the University's first year remediation requirement.
   4. Exempted students will immediately be withdrawn from ENGL-090 and sent to the English Department Office for placement into ENGL-101.

Test Out, Life Experience Credit and Transfer Policy for Advanced Writing

Revised (11/93; 3/91)

Testing out of Business or Technical Writing

Students who feel that they have mastered the skills learned in Business Writing (ENGL-320) or Technical Writing ENGL 415/615) or Writing Technical Manuals (ENGL-435) at UW-Stout may attempt to "Test Out" through the following procedure:

1. The student picks up the appropriate papers from the English Department office, takes them to the Cashier's office and pays for the privilege to attempt the test out.
2. If the test out is for Business or Technical Writing, the students meets with a member of the Advanced Writing Committee who assigns a topic for a ten page feasibility study. If the test out is for Writing Technical Manuals, the student meets with a member of the Advanced Writing Committee who will assign a topic for a manual.
3. The student makes an appointment with the committee member to write an impromptu memo related to the feasibility study or manual outlined in Step 2.
4. When the memo and the feasibility study are completed, they are read by three members of the advanced writing staff, The readers assign a grade for the test out or refuse to grant the test out. At least two of the three readers must assign a B grade or better to the submitted work before the test out will be granted.
5. The Test Out procedure must be initiated by the student within the first four weeks of the current semester. If the Test Out is initiated during the Fall semester, all Test Out assignments must be submitted before the end of first quarter. If the Test Out is initiated during Spring semester, all Test Out assignments must be submitted before the end of third quarter. No test outs will be conducted during any Summer Session.

NOTE: Because these three courses teach so many skills that may be demonstrated only through application, the department feels that no less than the projects named will be adequate to judge whether a student has the skills necessary to pass the course.

Credit for Life Experience

Because no adequate procedure for awarding credit for life experience has been approved at UW-Stout, the TEST OUT procedure—with modifications--will be used to award students such credit. In the English Department, this procedure is reserved for non-traditional students with significant professional writing experience. Such students can attempt to test out of advanced writing courses through the following procedures:

1. The English Department instructs the student to make an appointment with a member of the Advanced Writing Committee and to follow step 2 below.
2. Before the meeting, the student gathers as many examples of his or her professional writing as possible along with any other available evidence of writing experience (such as job descriptions) to bring to the appointment. (NOTE: Material that has been written to meet requirements in a UW-Stout or any other university, college, or technical school course cannot be submitted for Life Experience Credit.)
3. Still before the meeting, the student presents the evidence along with a freshly written memo or letter of transmittal (requesting to be considered for test out) to the English department chair. The material is relayed to the Advanced Writing Committee member with whom the student has an appointment.
4. At the appointment, the student and the Advanced Writing Committee member must decide whether or not the evidence merits an attempt to test out, which advanced writing course the student should apply to test out of, and how much credit might be earned. (In extreme extenuating circumstances, this interview may be conducted by phone after the instructor has received and looked over the evidence.) At this point, if the Advanced Writing Committee member deems the materials not suitable for Life Experience credit, the student may initiate the normal Test Out Procedures.
5. The student arranges for a second appointment with the Advanced Writing Committee member, picks up TEST OUT forms from the English Department Office, fills them out and pays the TEST OUT fee at the Cashier's Office.
6. When the English Department receives evidence that the fee has been paid, the Advanced Writing Committee member calls on two other members of the advanced writing staff to evaluate the student’s materials. A third member may be called in for consultation.
7. The involved advanced writing staff decide either to deny credit or to award credit. When credit is assigned, the staff may adjust earlier recommendations about which course and how much credit may be assigned. Finally, a grade must be assigned and reported to the Registrar’s office.
8. The student is notified in writing of the results.
9. The Life Experience Credit procedure must be initiated within the first four weeks of the current semester. If during fall semester, the portfolio must be submitted for evaluation before the end of first quarter. If during spring semester, the portfolio must be submitted for evaluation before the end of third quarter. No Life Experience Credit procedures will be conducted during summer session.

Test Out Policy for English 101

Students who feel that they have mastered the skills taught in English 101 at UW-Stout may attempt to test out through the following procedure:

1. The student picks up the description of the test-out policy from the English Department office and reads it carefully. The student also picks up the Credit by Exam form from the English Department office and pays the required fee at the Cashier’s office.
2. The student makes an appointment with the department chairperson to write an impromptu essay. Within a two-hour period, the student will read and respond to a prompt by writing a 500 word essay. The student will submit a handwritten copy of the essay, the prompt, and all notes.
3. The department chairperson will forward the handwritten essay to the Freshman English Committee chairperson who will assign it to three readers from the English Department. Each of the three will read the essay and assign a grade. At least two of the three readers must assign a grade of B or better to the essay in order for the student to proceed to Part II of the test-out procedure. The student will be notified in writing by the department chairperson of the result of Part I.
4. Students who successfully complete Part I of the test-out procedure must then successfully complete Part II. The student will pick up the topic for the assigned essay from the department chairperson. The student will have two weeks to produce a 700 to 1000 word documented essay. The essay must use either the APA or MLA style, cite at least two sources, be typed, and be double-spaced. In addition to the completed essay, the student will submit the assignment sheet, all preliminary drafts, and photocopies or printouts of pages from the sources cited.
5. The department chairperson will forward the assigned essay to the Freshman English Committee chairperson who will assign it to three readers from the English Department. Each of the three will read the essay and assign a grade. At least two of the three readers must assign a grade of B or better in order for the student to successfully test out of English 101. The student will be notified in writing by the department chairperson of the result.

Test Out Policy for English 102

Students who feel that they have mastered the skills taught in English 102 at UW-Stout may attempt to test out through the following procedure.

1. The student picks up the description of the test-out policy from the English Department office and reads it carefully. The student picks up the Credit by Exam form from the English Department office and pays the required fee at the Cashier’s office.
2. The student makes an appointment with the department chairperson to write an impromptu essay on a specified selection of literature. Within a two-hour period, the student will read the assigned piece(s) of literature and respond in a 500 word essay. The student will submit a handwritten copy of the essay, the selection of literature, and all notes.
3. The department chairperson will forward the handwritten essay to the Freshman English Committee chairperson who will assign it to three readers from the English Department. Each of the three will read the essay and assign a grade. At least two of the three readers must assign a grade of B or better to the essay in order for the student to proceed to Part II of the test-out procedure. The student will be notified in writ8ing by the department chairperson of the result of Part I.
4. Students who successfully complete Part I of the test-out procedure must then successfully complete Part II. The student will pick up selections(s) of literature from the department chairperson. The student will have two weeks to produce a 600 to 800 word in-depth essay using specific examples from the primary source. The essay must use either the APA or MLA style, be typed, and be double-spaced. In addition to the completed essay, the student will submit the assigned piece of literature and all preliminary drafts.
5. The department chairperson will forward the assigned essay to the Freshman English Committee chairperson who will assign it to three readers from the English department. Each of the three will read the essay and assign a grade. At least two of the three readers must assign a grade of B or better in order for the student to successfully test out of English 102. The student will be notified in writing by the department chairperson of the result.