To determine your language placement, please contact the professor listed below using the following guidelines:

• Contact Professor Anna Voskresensky (annasky82@uky.edu). Be sure to use your official UK email address, and include your student number in the message.

• In your message, specify what your experience with the language is:

  • Have you studied it formally in school? If so, for how many years? What are the topics you most recently covered in class?

  • Have you spoken the language at home with your family or friends? If so, do you also write and read the language? How often do you speak the language?

  • Have you lived in a country where the language is spoken? For how long?

LANGUAGE PLACEMENT/CREDIT

Students who desire an evaluation of their proficiency in Russian should contact the appropriate member of the program to arrange for a special exam to determine their language level and receive a recommendation about the appropriate course to choose for continued study of that language. The UK Russian Studies program accepts scores from students who have taken the Prototype Russian AP examination, and awards credit accordingly. Contact program faculty in order to determine the amount of credit possible. After discussing the question of a special exam with the appropriate faculty member, the student must determine prior to the exam which of the following outcomes is sought:

1. A diagnosis of appropriate course level for continued study of the language
2. Satisfaction of all or part of the USP and/or College of Arts And Sciences foreign language requirement
3. Academic credit for a specific course or courses (pass/fail)
4. Academic credit plus a letter grade

For options 2, 3, and 4 a petition form specifying the chosen option must be obtained from the College of Arts and Sciences, and be completed and presented to the department prior scheduling the exam.

Students who have already studied a given language are strongly urged to obtain an evaluation of their language skills before selecting courses. All students who have had two or more years of high school Russian or are native/heritage speakers of Russian and are enrolling in college-level Russian for the first time must take the Russian Placement Exam. The program reserves the right to reassign students to a higher-level course, if it is discovered that the student has selected an inappropriate lower-level course.

THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE PLACEMENT EXAMINATION

Russian Placement Test at UK

Placement is an assessment of a student's level of preparation within a given language. The purpose of the placement test is to help students enroll in a language course in which they have the appropriate skills and are most likely to improve their knowledge of the Russian language. Please note that the placement test does NOT grant credit hours or grades and cannot be used to replace failing grades in any previously completed course. The placement test simply determines one’s proficiency level. In order to enroll in a Russian language course, students who do NOT meet the exemption criteria below must take the placement test. After consultation with the Russian Studies Advisor (Prof. Anna Voskresensky, annasky82@uky.edu), students will be directed to the proper class based on their experience and until the results of the placement test have been received. Although they will not be officially enrolled, all students waiting for placement are required to attend all class meetings of their anticipated placement level RUS course the first week of classes in order not to fall behind.

Who should take the placement test?   You must take the test if any of the following applies:

• You know some Russian (e.g. you studied Russian previously, or Russian was spoken in your family, or you can read and write some Russian) and wish to take a UK Russian course OR want to be placed out of the language requirement at UK.
• You participated in a Russian Language Study Abroad Program with the UK Education Abroad Office. You must see Professor Anna Voskresensky, if you wish to take a UK Russian course when you return.
• You participated in an education abroad program with institutions other than the UK Education Abroad Office. You must take the test if you wish to take a UK Russian course when you return.
• You are a native speaker of Russian who graduated from a U.S. high school and would like to place out of the foreign language requirement.

Who should NOT take the placement test?   Do NOT take the test if any of the following applies:

• You do not know any Russian and wish to begin taking elementary Russian courses (i.e., RUS 101).
• You have a high school or college diploma from a country where Russian is the official language.  This means you are coded as an International Student by the Office of the Registrar, and you do NOT want to enroll in a UK Russian course.

Native speakers are ineligible to enroll in UK Russian language courses at the 100-200 level or in Russian conversation courses. If you are not coded as an International Student by the Registrar’s Office and believe you should be, please contact the Registrar at 859-257-3161.

What if I want academic credit hours for my Russian knowledge?

You do not need to take the placement test. You should take special department exams for credit. Please note that elementary and intermediate Russian credit (RUS 101-202) is not available on the basis of a special examination. Credit is only provided for RUS 301, RUS 302, RUS 401, and RUS 402. Native speakers of Russian may not take the special examination for Russian language credit.

Please contact the Modern and Classical Languages department office for Arabic, Chinese, French, German, and Russian exams at 859-257-3761. Exams must be scheduled at least 24 hours in advance and will be given from 8:30-11:00am, 1:00-3:30pm, set up in 1.5 hour increments. Upon arrival for the exam at room 1055 Patterson Office Tower, students must have their student ID card or a valid photo ID before the exam will be administered. Students will need to fill out a form to provide their name, student ID number, college, and their year of study (freshman, sophomore, etc.). The student will be given a unique username and password to login to take the exam. Upon completion of the exam, students will speak with Department Manager Liliana Drucker, who will look up their score, provide the necessary overrides for registration, and submit the score into SAP by the following business day. Scores are available in MyUK on the student's unofficial transcript the following business day after taking the placement test.