All entering students who have some background in the Japanese language (Japanese), including heritage students who can speak the language yet with no or limited reading/writing skills, must take the Japanese Placement Exam, regardless of their intention to take Japanese courses here at St. Olaf College.  The test must be completed by September 1.

Part I: Placement Test (To be done off campus/during the summer)

The Placement Test is a 100-question multiple choice computer test. After filling in a short questionnaire of background information, you will move to the testing items, including vocabulary, Kanji (Chinese characters), grammar 1 (particles), grammar 2 (sentence structures and conjugation) and a short reading comprehension. There is only one correct answer for each question unless indicated. Answer as many questions as quickly as possible and return to more difficult questions after you have finished the exam. This is not an achievement test; you might not know or even have seen some of the characters/questions before. Just try your best. There is no penalty for incorrect answers, and you may go back and change your choice (before your final submission). Your score will be the total number of correct answers.

Based on your performance on this section, you may be prompted by the computer to respond to an additional section of reading comprehension (8 questions).

To access the test itself, you will need to enter your St. Olaf username and password. The deadline for new students taking the online Japanese placement test off-campus is September 1.  We encourage you to take it early in the summer. Students unable to access the placement exam online during the summer may be able to take it on campus. Computers will be available to students in different public areas of the college.

All students who complete the online placement test by August 1st will receive placement results in mid-August.

Part II: Oral Interview

Select students may be contacted by an email to discuss their placement result.  This email will be sent during the first week of August.

If you have any questions about the Japanese language program or the placement exam, please contact us by email: japanese-placement@stolaf.edu.