Rhetoric placement uses ACT and SAT scores.
NOTE: Test-optional students (i.e., students who chose not to submit any ACT/SAT scores with their application) cannot change their minds now and decide to send in their ACT/SAT score for either course placement or RHET 105 proficiency credit.
RHET placement for test-optional students will be determined by discussions about their preparedness for these courses. Test-optional students may need to take the Rhetoric Placement Questionnaire and discuss their preparation for 'Composition I' with a Rhetoric staff member prior to their Summer Registration appointment. Check the PNP Student Profile to see what the RHET message says.
When we do have official ACT/SAT scores from a student, they will be evaluated as follows:
- When a student takes only the ACT or only the SAT, but they take it more than once, PNP uses the highest score.
- When a student takes both the ACT and the SAT, PNP looks at the highest score from each test and then uses the better of the two to determine whether RHET 105 credit is to be awarded.
- International students who are required to take the EPT and who do not have their 'Composition I' requirement already fulfilled, must take the EPT regardless of their ACT or SAT scores.
- International transfer students who have partial 'Composition I' credit and low TOEFL or IELTS scores -- thus getting the '1ESL' attribute (i.e., the "EPT Required" designation) -- should take the EPT and follow the course placement recommendation.
Remember, it is not permitted for currently enrolled undergraduate students to take the ACT or SAT now, as college students, in an attempt to earn RHET 105 credit. This policy appears in the Academic Catalog under "Degree Requirements: Written Communication Requirement" for undergraduate students. The ACT and the SAT, and the AP and IB exams too, are written for and statistically normed on high school students. Although test scores will be evaluated for course placement and possible proficiency credit whenever they are received -- for example, it is okay for a UIUC junior or senior to send in their AP scores that were never sent when they first enrolled as a freshman -- the tests themselves have to have been taken prior to enrolling in college courses.
Test-based credit will not be taken away.
- Any student who has RHET 105 credit from an approved test (i.e., the ACT, the SAT, an AP English exam, or an IB 'English A' exam) has fulfilled the 'Composition I' requirement.
- Any international student who has the ESL attribute but who also has RHET 105 credit on their official academic record can ignore the message to take the Written EPT. However, they may need to take the Oral EPT. They should avail themselves of our campus resources that help non-native speakers of English improve their academic writing skills and/or their oral English fluency.