A student must complete a minimum of eighteen quarter courses in the College and be in residence for at least six quarters to graduate with a degree from the University of Chicago. At least half of the concentration courses must be taken at the University. Placement Tests Placement tests serve to adapt the needs and backgrounds of individual students to the College curriculum. They place entering students at the proper level of study in a given subject and may be used to award academic credit where appropriate. On the one hand, placement tests minimize the repetition of subjects already mastered and, on the other, they reduce the possibility that students might begin their programs with courses for which they are inadequately prepared.
Placement tests measure skill in problem solving as well as general knowledge in a subject field.
Students who have some background in the areas being tested are urged to review it, but incoming students without such knowledge are not expected to acquire it over the summer preceding entrance. The College offers placement tests to entering students only during Orientation in late September. Placement tests may not be taken at a later date. Over the summer, information that describes these tests in detail is sent to all incoming first-year and transfer students. Optional Language Placement Tests.