The WebCAPE Placement Exam

The WebCAPE foreign language placement test is a computer adaptive language test authored by Brigham Young University.This multiple-choice test is individualized (self-adjusting to the student's level) and is not timed. It covers grammar, vocabulary and reading skills.

Who needs to take the WebCAPE Exam

Students with high school study in French or Spanish must take the WebCAPE exam before they can register for classes. Any student who has previous study of German is eligible to take the exam as well if they have had prior study of the language. 

Note: If you are a Heritage learner, that is you learned Spanish at home, you should not take this exam without first consulting with Dr. Samia Mathew, Director of the Heritage Language Program.

How to take the WebCape Exam

Registering for the exam

 Please read and follow the instructions below to register for the exam: 

• Follow this link and create an account using your email and studentID.
• Once you've logged into the WebCAPE, choose the University of Louisville and select French, German or Spanish.
  
• Enter your contact and billing information
  
• Enter the requested user information and click the "continue" button to begin the WebCAPE placement test language that you have selected.  It is important that you use your correct UofL student ID number when you fill out the information. You will receive a confirmation of the payment and testing instructions on your e-mail.
• Immediately after you complete the exam you will receive your score and placement course level.

Please note:  You must enter your UofL student ID number. Your score cannot be processed if you do not include your student ID number when you register.

Taking the exam

Before you begin, please keep in mind the following:

• You DO NOT need to be an enrolled student to take the test.

• The WebCAPE test will cover both familiar and unfamiliar material, because the goal is to find out what you do know and what you don't know. Don't let this discourage you. If you aren't sure, make your best guess and move on.  The test is designed to give you a number of opportunities to answer questions at different levels of skill.

• Because this test is used for placement purposes, we recommend only taking the WebCAPE test once per language.  If you take the exam a second time without permission your placement may be recorded incorrectly

How to take a second exam in a different language

Any student who chooses to take the WebCAPE exam a second time in a different language, will need to contact Dr. Regina Roebuck at regina.roebuck@louisville.edu to get permission to access the test. 

What to do with the results 

PLEASE NOTE:  Your score will not be posted if you fail to provide your correct UofL student ID or do not use the email address that contains your ULink user ID @louisville.edu. For example: rfroeb01@louisville.edu.

WebCAPE scores will be uploaded to Peoplesoft. Scores will determine the language course students will continue their studies in. The better the score, the fewer language courses students will have to take to complete the language requirement and the quicker they can get started on major or minor coursework in the language. 

After taking the exam, students should sign up for the appropriate course depending on their score.

Please note that it may take up to 7 business days for your score to be uploaded into Peoplesoft.   

How to Interpret your Placement Score 

Your score will automatically be displayed upon completing the exam. If you wish, you may save, print, or email the report page displayed at the end of the exam.You can interpret your score by looking at the following score equivalences. For example, if your score on the French test was 210, you should enroll in FREN 121.

SPANISH SCORES

*Please note: You cannot place into Spanish 122, 142, 310 or 321.

FRENCH SCORES

*Please note: You cannot place into French 122 or 202

GERMAN SCORES

RUSSIAN SCORES

Concerns about scores

The scores used for cutoffs are recommendations based on ample research among similar student populations and are the scores most predictive of success. If for whatever reason you don’t believe that the score you obtained represents your actual ability, you should speak with the director of instruction for that language. 

Questions?

For questions regarding payment or any issues with payment, please visit https://support.emmersion.ai/support/tickets/new.