Placement Exams
Fall 2026
Fall 2026
Incoming students planning to enroll in courses in the following departments may need to take placement exams or follow special instructions prior to registration:
Music, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science, and Economics as well as these Languages (Arabic, Chinese, Latin, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish).
By May 18th the individual department placement processes will be updated. After that time, please review the information provided by each of these departments via the drop-down menu in the upper right side of the menu bar to find exam requirements, formats, and instructions as well as details about departments that provide placement guidelines (no exams) or placement consultations (during special drop-in Zoom hours in the placement window). Placement exams and consultations need to be completed between May 18 and June 16 to allow you to have a productive conversation with your advisor and to select course preferences with confidence in July. If accommodations are necessary, please reach out to Jen Nuceder at jmnucede@middlebury.edu or 802-443-2579.
If you realize you have missed an exam or decide after speaking with your advisor or another faculty member that you wish to express preference for a course with an exam requirement, please reach out to the contact person listed on that department’s placement page as soon as possible. Doing so may provide you an opportunity to complete necessary placement steps, but we cannot guarantee that if you miss the December 15 deadline, you will be able to receive a placement recommendation in time for the selection period in January 2026.
Please note:
placement exam results are purely informational. They indicate the course for which you may try to register in that department, but the results of a placement exam do not get you into that course automatically or reserve a seat for you to claim during the registration process. Registration for that course only occurs as part of the course preference and placement process completed in January. You will receive full instructions from the Registrar about how to indicate your course selection preferences, which will be informed by accurate placement results for students who completed exams, surveys, and consults.
placement exam results cannot earn College credit.
ALL new students wishing to enroll in a Spanish course next year MUST take the Spanish placement test. Even if you have never studied Spanish before and expect to take Beginning Spanish as your first course, you MUST complete the Spanish placement exam.
To view websites for Middlebury academic departments, please visit www.middlebury.edu/academics.