Course Placement Criteria

COURSE PLACEMENT CRITERIA

1. TEXAS SUCCESS INITIATIVE (TSI) REQUIREMENTS:

STUDENTS MUST TAKE THE THEA TEST (OR APPROVED ALTERNATE TEST) BEFORE ENROLLING IN A TEXAS PUBLIC INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION UNLESS EXEMPT.

· Unless they meet institutional placement requirements below, students who fail the writing part of the TSI test on their first attempt must not enroll in ENGL 1303 or ENGL 1304 (or 1309 or 1310) until they have successfully completed developmental coursework assigned by a U.Scholars advisor.

· Unless they meet institutional placement requirements below, students who fail the math part of TSI test on their first attempt must not enroll in MATH 1310 (College Algebra) until they have successfully completed developmental coursework assigned by a U.Scholars advisor.

· Students must pass the reading part of the TSI test (or show proof of exemption) before enrolling in PSYC 1300, HIST 1377, HIST 1378, POLS 1336, POLS 1337, ENGL 2301, 2302, 2303, or 2304. Students with fail the reading portion of the TSI test must not enroll in the above coursework until they have completed developmental education assigned by a U.Scholars advisor.

Þ IN ADDITION TO TSI REQUIREMENTS, STUDENTS MUST ALSO MEET THE PLACEMENT REQUIREMENTS BELOW

2. ENGLISH PLACEMENT REQUIREMENTS: Students must meet one of the placement criteria below to enroll in ENGL 1303: English Composition and will be required to provide documentation the first week of class.

· TSI EXEMPT based on SAT, ACT, TAAS, or TAKS scores [military exemption excluded for this purpose], or

· THEA Writing = 240, or

· Passing score on the writing component of the ACCUPLACER*, ASSET, or COMPASS, or

· TAKS English/Language Arts score of 2200 PLUS a score of at least 3 on the written essay, or

· SAT Critical Reading (after 01/05) or Verbal (before 01/05) = 500, or

· ACT English = 19, or

· TSWE = 40, or

· Successful completion (S) of ENGL 1300
*English Dept. requires ACCUPLACER Essay score of at least 6, or ACCUPLACER Sentence Skills [Objective] of at least 80 with an essay score of at least 5 for placement into ENGL 1303.

If a student does not have one of these scores, he/she should take the English Placement Exam, Institutional Test of Standard Written English (ITSWE), at UH Testing Services (see below) or register for ENGL 1300. Non-Native Speakers of English with a TOEFL writing score of at least a 4.5 may register in ENGL 1309: English Composition for Non-Native Speakers I. Non-Native Speakers of English without the above scores should take the PENNSE (Placement Exam for Non-Native Speakers of English) at UH Testing Services. The PENNSE score will place the student into ENGL 1300 (Foundations) or ENGL 1309 or ENGL 1303.

3. MATH PLACEMENT REQUIREMENTS:
The Online Math Placement Exam will be required for all new students (freshmen and transfer*) beginning in the fall 2007 semester.

EXCEPTIONS TO THE MATH PLACEMENT EXAM REQUIREMENT:
1. Students who have transfer credit for MATH 1310 [College Algebra] or higher: Such students may enroll in any course for which College Algebra is a prerequisite.
2. Students who have credit by exam for College Algebra or higher: the Math Department considers this to be the same as transfer credit.
3. *Transfer students with 30+ hours of transfer credit are not required to take the Math Placement Exam. However, such students may still elect to take the online Math Placement Exam or the Institutional Math Placement Exam.

Online Math Placement Exams: Students will have 2 attempts on each exam--

1. Placement into MATH 1310 (College Algebra)

2. Placement out of MATH 1310

3. Placement out of MATH 1330 (Pre-Calculus)

Take the exam that is appropriate for your situation. If you are unsure, ask your advisor.

Institional Math Placement Exam [only for students with 30+ college hours; not available online]: sign up at TESTING.LAS.UH.EDU

Placement Testing: Students may contact UH Testing Services, 200 Student Service Center (SSC), 713/743-5444, or online at https://testing.las.uh.edu/, to register for the THEA, ACCUPLACER, Institutional Math Placement Exam and the ITSWE. The online Math Placement Exam is available to UH students only at: http://www.casa.uh.edu/MathPlacement

5/08