Placement, Transfer Credit, and Waivers
If you are starting Russian at GW and wish to enroll at a level higher than SLAV 001 (or our intensive SLAV 005), you need to take our placement exam. This includes heritage speakers - those who speak the language at home but have no formal training. The placement exam consists of a short oral proficiency interview by phone plus a brief online multiple choice test. For complete information about the placement exam, please contact Prof. Richard Robin.
NOTE: You must take the placement exam prior to your registration, and only register for the course into which you place. Students without proper placement will be removed from this classes. Please also note that the PLACEMENT exam is for placement only. It cannot be used as a waiver or credit exam.
TRANSFER CREDIT FROM OTHER INSTITUTIONS:
You can transfer credit for foreign-language courses that you take elsewhere (either in the U.S. or abroad) after you start coursework at GW. But - and this is a big "but" - if you are taking a Slavic language outside GW, you must arrange for a transfer of credit agreement through RGSLL before you take these outside courses. In drawing up such a document, you and the departmental advisor will tentatively agree in advance as to how much credit you will get for which courses taken outside GW. The agreement is not final until two conditions have been met upon return to GW:
- You must present a valid transcript from the outside institution.
- For all Slavic language courses you must demonstrate an appropriate gain in language proficiency, as measured by an Oral Proficiency Interview and a short written test.
NOTE: At this time, RGSLL only accepts transfer credit from accredited 4-year institutions. Courses taken at community colleges will not be accepted.
Waiver exams are offered to exempt students from completing language or literature courses, provided they can demonstrate the required proficiency in the subject. However, students will not receive GW credit from waiver exams.
For Columbian College of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) students, a waiver exam will allow you to waive departmental language requirements, but it does not exempt you from the Foreign Language GCR. In other words, a waiver exam for SLAV 002 (or SLAV 005) would satisfy the first year of prerequisite courses for our Slavic major, but you will still have to take an additional two semesters either here at GW or at another institution.
Elliott School of International Affairs (ESIA) students can waive up to two of the three required years of study in a modern foreign language.
A student who is already proficient in the Russian language or literature may, upon passing an appropriate examination, waive any or all of the language or literature courses below the 100 level, as well as up to 6 credit hours of 100-level courses.
