Note for the Class of 2024: Due to the pandemic, the Department of Romance Languages has not yet scheduled in-person exams. They will update their website (French and Spanish) and alert Wharton advisors once the University confirms plans for fall semester. Students who plan to fulfill the language requirement with Portuguese may email Jackie Zahn directly at jzahn@sas.upenn.edu.
For students entering Wharton in fall 2017 or later
At the time they first enroll in a beginning- or intermediate-level language course, all students who have previously studied that language must have a placement score. The only students exempt from having a placement score are those who have never studied the language before. Credit will not be given for a language course taken at a lower level than a student’s placement score indicates.
Certain language departments offer written exams at the beginning of each semester. The schedule and location of these exams in the fall will appear on the New Student Orientation website during the preceding summer.
Students wishing to be evaluated in a modern language other than those taught by the language departments should consult the Penn Language Center.
Students who feel their placement scores do not accurately reflect their language level, or students who have other questions about their language study, should make an appointment to speak with the coordinator of their particular language program.
Students who have taken the SAT II/Subject exam prior to the beginning of their first semester at Penn may use that score to place them in the proper level:
| SAT Subject | Score | Register for |
| French¹ | Under 380 380 – 440 450 or above |
FREN 110 FREN 121 Fulfills Requirement |
| German | Under 350 350 – 440 450 or above |
GRMN 101 GRMN 102 Fulfills Requirement |
| Hebrew² | 700 or above | Fulfills Requirement |
| Italian | Under 380 380 – 440 450 or above |
ITAL 110 ITAL 120 Fulfills Requirement |
| Japanese | Students who score 450 or above may fulfill the language requirement | |
| Latin | Under 450 450 –540 550 or above |
LATN 101 LATN 102 Fulfills Requirement |
| Russian | Under 350 350 – 440 450 or above |
RUSS 001 RUSS 002 Fulfills Requirement |
| Spanish¹ | Under 380 380 – 440 450 or above |
SPAN 110 SPAN 121 Fulfills Requirement |
¹ Students may take either the listening or non-listening version of the test.
² Students who score under 700 in Hebrew and wish to continue in the language must take the placement exam offered during New Student Orientation.