Proficiency Examinations
Rutgers Math Dept., New Brunswick/Piscataway
The Mathematics Department offers proficiency
examinations in many of its courses, subject to the following policies:
Purposes
Course credit
-
A student who earns a grade of B or
better (for most courses this means an exam score of at least 80% ) on a proficiency exam in a
course which carries college credit may, for a nominal sum, receive Rutgers
credit for the course "by examination." Students should check with their
college in advance about this, since colleges may require that credit be
preapproved before the exam is taken.
- Note however that this fee must be paid before taking the exam
and is not refundable in the event of failure to meet the proficiency
standard
Satisfying prerequisites
-
A student who earns a grade of C or
better (for most courses this means an exam score of
at least 70% )
on a proficiency exam
is regarded by the Mathematics Department as having passed that course for
the purpose of satisfying prerequisites for other Department courses. This
status will be implemented by adjusting placement or providing prerequisite
overrides, as appropriate.
- 026/111/112: There is one exception to this policy:
a grade of C on a proficiency
exam in Intermediate Algebra (640:026) satisfies the prerequisite for
admission to Precalculus I (640:111), while a grade of B or better
satisfies the prerequisite for admission to Precalculus (640:115).
Restrictions
- A student must have the required prerequisites for the
course in which the proficiency exam is to be taken.
- A proficiency exam may not be taken in a course in which a
student has previously enrolled and received a grade.
- A proficiency exam may not be taken in a course for which a
student is currently registered (at Rutgers New Brunswick)
and for which classes have started.
- A student may take a proficiency exam in a given course at
most once.
- If graduation credit is desired a nonrefundable
fee must be paid in advance.
($30 as of Fall 2006)
Courses in which exams are offered
Whether or not a proficiency exam will be given in a
particular course
is at the discretion of the department. In general:
- No proficiency exams are given in Introduction to Mathematical
Reasoning (640:300), Advanced Calculus I (640:311), and Introduction to
Abstract Algebra I (640:351). These courses are intended to
develop expository skills as well as specific knowledge, and the grade
depends more heavily than most on work done during the semester.
- No proficiency exams are given in Elements of Algebra (640:027), in
100 level liberal arts courses, or in topics courses, independent study
courses, research courses, or seminar courses.
- No proficiency exam will be given in a course which has not been
offered recently, even if it is in the catalog.
Procedure
A student wishing to take a proficiency exam should look at syllabi and
other supporting materials for the course in question.
These materials can
usually be found by links from the web page Course Materials; if not,
it is the responsibility of the student to find out from the Mathematics
Department office whether a proficiency exam is offered for the course and,
if so, on what syllabus it is based.
Proficiency exams are given a certain fixed times during the week and, as a
rule, are not given near the beginning or end of classes each semester. To
arrange a time to take a proficiency examination, a student should contact
the Mathematics Department office, at 732-445-2390, at least one week
before he or she wishes to take the exam.
The office staff will
schedule the exam during one of the available times.
There is a proficiency fee that should be paid before scheduling
the examination if the student wishes to have the credit on the transcript.
This applies both to
- Students who desire graduation credit (requires B or better)
- Students who desire a formal record of the result for use in subsequent
terms (requires C or better)
Dates:
In Fall 2006, the last proficiency exam was scheduled for Dec. 7.
They began again Jan. 4 in Spring 2007.
In Summer 2007 the last proficiency exam was scheduled for Aug. 16th, which
is somewhat later than usual.
Comments and queries to ugvc-AT-math.rutgers.edu
