Any current UW student is welcome to take the exam, including students at UW Bothell, UW Tacoma, and recently admitted students.

If you grew up in a Spanish-speaking home or community, DO NOT register for the placement test. Instead, please contact Professor Angélica Amezcua (aamezcua@uw.edu) to learn more about our "Spanish Heritage Language" courses and for your next steps.

If you have no experience with the Spanish language, then you should register for SPAN 110 (the first class in the 1st year Spanish sequence); if you have zero experience with Spanish, no placement assessment is needed. (SPAN 110 is a combination of content from SPAN 101 and SPAN 102. SPAN 101 and 102 are not currently offered at UW). Non-heritage students who have 2 years experience (or more) with Spanish in high school should take the placement assessment to see which course level is the best fit for their skillset. Placement tests typically take at least 10 days to grade, so students looking to register for Spanish classes are strongly urged to plan ahead with when they take the test if possible.

Please read the instructions below carefully to register for a placement test in Spanish. Further information is available here.

If you have any existing background or experience with the Spanish language (including high school or self-study), are looking to continue your study of Spanish at UW, and do not consider yourself a heritage speaker, the placement test is the best assessment to take in order to determine which class you should register for. Heritage speakers should contact the Spanish Heritage Language Program Director Angélica Amezcua (aamezcua@uw.edu) for next steps.

The placement exam for Spanish is offered online by AVANT. Once students have registered and paid for their test, AVANT will send further instructions regarding proctoring and students can then schedule the date and time for their test. Students are responsible for ensuring their systems are compatible with the AVANT exam and proctoring systems; to take the assessment online, students will need a compatible computer with a webcam and microphone in order to take the test.

Once students have confirmed their system meets test requirements, they can register for the placement assessment in Spanish here.

If you have any questions on testing administration, or need technical assistance with proctoring, please contact Avant Assessment Support at support@avantassessment.com.

Please note: The AVANT proctoring system is not currently compatible with Chromebooks. Access to computer workstations is available through the UW Library system when campus is open, and students can also borrow laptops for home use through the UW Student Technology loan service.

IMPORTANT: To ensure correct reporting of results, students should use their UW.edu email address and include their UW student ID number when registering for the exam.

If you are looking to demonstrate an existing skillset in Spanish in order to fulfill the world language proficiency requirement for graduation purposes, the proficiency assessment is the best exam to take. Students who pass a proficiency assessment typically do not intend to take further language classes at UW. In most cases, "proficiency" is defined as passing the equivalent of a 103-level class in the language. Proficiency is different from placement, which is used to assess which class level is the best fit for a student who wants to continue learning a language at the UW.

The proficiency assessment in Spanish uses the same exam format as the placement assessment. Proficiency assessments in Spanish are offered online through Avant; once students have registered and paid for their test, Avant will send further instructions regarding proctoring and students can then schedule the date and time for their test. Students are responsible for ensuring their systems are compatible with the Avant exam and proctoring systems; to take the assessment online, students will need a compatible computer with a webcam and microphone in order to take the test.

Once students have confirmed their system meets test requirements, they can register for the proficiency assessment in Spanish here.

Please note: The AVANT proctoring system is not currently compatible with Chromebooks. Access to computer workstations is available through the UW Library system when campus is open, and students can also borrow laptops for home use through the UW Student Technology loan service.

Each Avant Spanish test takes approximately 10 days to grade all sections. Students should use this request form to inquire to the UW Language Learning Center (LLC) about their test results only once 10 days have passed since test completion.

As long as all sections of the test have been graded and results are available, the LLC team will be in touch with your results and information on next steps for registration or proficiency reporting.

N.B.:  Students should submit this request form only after 10 days have passed since test completion. This is to ensure that grading has been completed by Avant's graders for all test sections, which takes time. Information on placement or proficiency cannot be provided until all sections have been scored, no matter how time-sensitive a student’s registration needs are.

Students are strongly urged to plan ahead for the time needed for grading and results reporting when testing for registration or graduation purposes.

Yes. Registration for the placement/ proficiency test in Spanish currently incurs a registration fee, payable online by credit or debit card. Unfortunately, neither the Department of Spanish & Portuguese Studies nor the Humanities Academic Services Center are able to provide fee waivers or needs-based financial assistance to cover this fee at the present time.

Yes. While students do not need to study for the test, they can review materials from previous courses they may have taken to prepare. Additionally, the following materials are also available to support students preparing to take an assessment through Avant:

• STAMP 4S Remote Proctoring Test Taker Guide
• STAMP 4S Benchmarks & Rubric Guide
• Language Writing Examples
• STAMP 4S Power Up Guide
• STAMP 4S Sample Tests

The test will cover all four primary language skills, with sections on reading (30 multiple choice questions), writing (3 prompts), listening (30 multiple choice questions), and speaking (3 prompts). Questions are based on real-world, everyday situations. AVANT measures a test taker’s language ability according to Benchmark Levels that are based on ACTFL national standards.

There is no current limit for the number of times a student can take placement or proficiency tests in Spanish. If a retake is needed, students should allow at least three months between test attempts to allow sufficient study that will see scores improve in a meaningful way.

No, Avant cannot send specific test score breakdowns to students. Test scores are valid for 1 year.

Yes, the Department of Spanish & Portuguese Studies allows students to use their Advanced Placement (AP)/International Baccalaureate (IB) scores as a measure of placement. Qualifying AP scores break down as follows:

Areas of Inquiry Credits

    SSci = Social Sciences

    NatSci = Natural Sciences

    A&H = Arts and Humanities

Basic Skills Credits

    C = Composition

    RSN = Reasoning

    FL = Foreign (World) Language

Qualifying IB scores break down as follows:

Higher Level

Standard Level

No. These exams are purely to either place students into the correct class or to fulfill graduation requirements for language proficiency. First-year (elementary) or second-year (intermediate) foreign-language credit is not granted either by examination or by course completion in a student’s native language. “Native language” is defined as the language, or one of the languages, spoken in the student’s home during the first six years of their life and in which they received instruction through the seventh grade.

If you grew up in a home where Spanish was spoken, you may qualify for the Heritage Language Program, regardless of whether you have or have not received instruction in the language. Please contact the Spanish Heritage Language Program Director Angélica Amezcua (aamezcua@uw.edu) for next steps.

Students who misrepresent the extent of their background so as to gain entrance to a course at the elementary or intermediate level may be dropped from the rolls of that course.