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Spanish and Portuguese Studies

Spanish Placement

Which Spanish course should you take?

The best Spanish course for you depends largely on your background and prior experience as well as your own confidence level with what you have learned in previous courses. On this page, we try to help guide you to that course, but if you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to contact the Department!

Sequence of Spanish courses

The sequence is as follows:

  1. SPN 1130 (Beginning Spanish 1) [also SPN1120 at FL community colleges]
  2. SPN 1131 (Beginning Spanish 2) [also SPN1121 at FL community colleges]
  3. SPN 2200 (Intermediate Spanish 1)
  4. SPN 2201 (Intermediate Spanish 2)
  5. SPN 2240 (Spanish Communication and Conversation)

Note that successful completion of SPN 1131 or any higher course fulfills the language requirements in the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Journalism and Communications, and Arts.

Language Requirement

Students wishing to satisfy the foreign language proficiency requirement must do so by:

(a) Successfully completing a terminal course in a Beginning Spanish sequence (SPN 1131, SPN 1182, SPN 1134) or a higher level

OR

(b) Obtaining the appropriate score on the SAT II Spanish, AICE, AP, IB, or CLEP exam.

Please see advising page for more details.

Credit by exam scores and equivalencies

Please refer to this document to determine what credit you have and what course is the next course for you.

If you are unsure of your credit or of what course to take, please contact the Department.

Figuring out your placement

If you are not bringing in college credit, or if you aren’t sure those credits represent your abilities, consider taking our Spanish Placement Guide Survey. The survey asks about your experiences and will recommend a course for you at the end. Remember that these are just suggestions. If you would prefer to take a placement test, we offer the WebCAPE test for $10. Please see the WebCAPE page for the details – and remember to save or screenshot your score for your advisor!

If during the first week of classes you feel that the course is too low or too high for you, please contact a member of our faculty to help find the best course for you:

IMPORTANT NOTE: Our classes are designed with student success and proficiency in mind, and are designed to maximize your learning at each level. There are many components to the overall grade, which allows for greater overall success even if you do not excel in all areas. However, remember that they do require a certain commitment to stay up-to-date with the syllabus and not get behind.