Students, incoming and continuing, with any knowledge of Ancient Greek, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Latin, Russian, or Spanish who haven’t taken a course in these languages at The Claremont Colleges will be required to take a placement exam. The exams will need to be taken before your arrival on campus. Please read below for the various deadlines*. To take a placement exam outside of the dates listed below, please contact the language department directly.
The results allow the departments to place you in the appropriate level class to continue your study of a language.
All Pomona language placement exams will be available by July 05, 2025. The times listed are all PDT.
Ancient Greek
*All students who have previously studied Ancient Greek should contact Prof. Chinn (christopher.chinn@pomona.edu) to discuss their placement.
Chinese
All students must take the online component by 11:59 p.m. on Tue. July 15th.
The Chinese placement test can be taken on Canvas
French
*All students must take the online exam by 11:59 p.m. on Tue. July 15th.
The French placement test is available via Canvas. Please read below for further Sakai information.
German
*All students must take the online exam by 11:59 p.m. on Tue. July 15th.
The German placement test can be taken at any time. Please create the required login on the Emmersion website to take the placement exam.
Japanese
*All students should take the online component by 11:59 p.m. on Tue. July 25th.
The Japanese placement test consists of 3 components; All 3 are required. All 3 components of the Japanese Placement Exam are available on Canvas
Latin
*All students who have previously studied Latin should take the online exam by 11:59 p.m. on Fri. Aug. 29th.
The Latin placement test is available via Canvas. Please read below for further Sakai information.
Russian
*All students with knowledge of Russian must take the online exam by 11:55 p.m. on Tue. July 15th.
The Russian placement test is available via Canvas. Please read below for further Sakai information.
Spanish
*All students must take the online exam by 11:59 p.m. on Tue. July 15th.
The Spanish placement test can be taken at any time. Please create the required login on the Emmersion website to take the placement exam.
Arabic
Contact: Prof. Bassam Frangieh (Bassam.Frangieh@cmc.edu)
The Arabic placement test is available as needed. Please contact Prof. Frangieh to arrange an exam.
Italian
Contact: Prof. Becky Ballinger (rballing@scrippscollege.edu)
*All students must take the online exam by 11:59 p.m. on Tue. July 15th.
Students should register on the Emmersion test site using your college issued email address: https://app.emmersion.ai/link/215af174cb
If you are having technical issues with accessing the test please click the link here: Emmersion Learning Support
Korean
Contact: Prof. Minju Kim (Minju.Kim@cmc.edu) or Prof. Sooran Pak (spak@cmc.edu)
The Korean placement test is on August 01, 2025 from 9:00AM- 12:00PM (PDT). Please email one of the professors listed above to inform them of your participation before the exam.
The exam will be on Zoom https://cmc-its.zoom.us/j/82210089937
Portuguese
Primary Contact: Prof. Norman Valencia (Norman.Valencia@ClaremontMcKenna.edu)
The Portuguese placement test is on August 01, 2025 from 9:00AM- 12:00PM (PDT). Please email Prof. Valencia to schedule your participation before the exam.
The exam will be on Zoom https://cmc-its.zoom.us/j/86865019146
Accessing the Canvas based Placement Exams
The online Canvas exams will be available on July 01st; direct your browser to Canvas and perform the following:
**Reminder: you need to set up your College email in order to access Canvas.**
Use your Pomona College credentials to complete login, if prompted.
Non-Pomona Students should log into Canvas through their school’s Canvas instance:
- Claremont McKenna College: https://cmc.instructure.com
- Harvey Mudd College: https://harveymuddcollege.instructure.com
- Pitzer College: https://canvas.pitzer.edu
- Scripps College: https://scrippscollege.instructure.com
- Incoming students will see multiple placement exam sites on their Canvas Dashboard. Incoming students will have been automatically added to any online placement exams that are available.
- If you encounter difficulties logging into Sakai, you can contact your College ITS Help Desk:
- Pomona: servicedesk@pomona.edu or 909-621-8061
- Scripps: help@scrippscollege.edu or 909-607-3406
- CMC: help@claremontmckenna.edu or 909-607-0911
- HMC: help-desk@hmc.edu or 909-607-7777
- Pitzer: help@pitzer.edu or 909-607-3065.