Placement Test Information

Spanish and Portuguese Language Placement Tests

The Department of Spanish & Portuguese Studies in partnership with Avant Assessment offers comprehensive online Spanish and Portuguese placement tests for students seeking placement in Spanish or Portuguese undergraduate language courses, or to demonstrate proficiency for graduation requirements.

Matriculated and non-matriculated UW Seattle undergraduates and graduate students, other UW campus students (Bothell and Tacoma), prospective students, and recently admitted students can take this test. All students who have previously studied either Spanish or Portuguese but do not have college credit in the language must take the placement test in order to register for a course of that language at the UW.

If you have grown up speaking Spanish or in a home where Spanish is spoken, please contact the Spanish Heritage Language Program Director, Dr. Angélica Amezcua at aamezcua@uw.edu before registering for the placement test. For Portuguese, please consult the Portuguese Language Program Director Eduardo Viana da Silva at evsilva@uw.edu before registering for the Portuguese placement test, as it may not be required in some cases. They will determine whether you need to take the Avant STAMP 4S placement test or not.

The Avant STAMP 4S placement test is a remotely proctored, web-based test that assesses language proficiency. The test has four sections and test items are based on real-world, everyday situations. On average the test takes around 2 hours and the maximum amount of time allowed is 3 hours.

The test has four sections:

  • Reading (30 multiple choice questions)
  • Writing (3 prompts)
  • Listening (30 multiple choice questions)
  • Speaking (3 prompts)

Preparation

Students do not need to study for the placement test but may review materials from previous courses. You may also use the following guides to prepare:

Results

Each Avant STAMP 4S test takes approximately 10 days to grade all sections. Once 10 days have passed since test completion, students can use this request form to inquire about their test results. Avant cannot send specific test score breakdowns to students. As long as all sections of the test have been graded and results are available, the Humanities Academic Services team will be in touch with your results and information on next steps for registration or proficiency reporting.

N.B.: Students should submit this request form only after 10 days have passed since test completion. This is to ensure that grading has been completed by Avant's graders for all test sections, which takes time. Information on placement or proficiency cannot be provided until all sections have been scored, no matter how time-sensitive a student’s registration needs are. Students are encouraged to legislate for this timeline when planning for registration or graduation, as grading is conducted externally.

Fees

The Avant STAMP 4S placement test has a fee. The cost of the test is listed on the first page seen when registering for the test. Payment is made online via debit or credit card.

Registering for the Test

Spanish: Students need to go to the Spanish language testing page on the HAS website https://hasc.washington.edu/spanish for directions on how to take the test.

Portuguese: We encourage students to first consult with the Portuguese Program Coordinator, Eduardo Viana da Silva, at evsilva@uw.edu as this test may not be required for some cases. Then, if needed, register for the Portuguese placement test using your UW email address and student ID number if you have one.

New first year students should take the exam as soon as possible during the summer and at least 2 weeks before autumn quarter begins. Current UW students should take the placement test before the end of registration Period II to register for courses the next quarter. Current students must take the placement test at least 2 weeks before the quarter begins in which they wish to take a language course.

Support

If you have any issues with registering or taking the test please contact Avant’s Support team at support@avantassessment.com or call 1-888-713-7887 for assistance. They are open Monday through Friday 5:00 AM to 4:00 PM Pacific Time.

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