Placement Exams

Registration for Spring 2025 quarter placement exams is now closed.
Registration for AY2025-26 will open on June 2, 2025.

 

The department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures offers proficiency exams for Arabic, Armenian (Eastern and Western), Hebrew, Persian, and Turkish at the beginning of each quarter. No exams are offered during the summer.

Important Note

No exceptions or makeup exams are offered. If students fail to take the exam on the scheduled date, they will need to wait until the next term it is offered.

If you are not a registered UCLA student, the exam costs $50. Payment MUST BE MADE prior to taking the exam. Students must pay by check, and checks should be made payable to “UC Regents”. Cash will never be accepted. Checks should then be mailed to the NELC Program Coordinator, Kaplan Hall 361, 415 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095.

Students use the exam to document proficiency with a foreign language for university or program requirement.  Please check with your institution to make sure our departmental exam is accepted. 

Registration is required for all students taking the exam.

Exam Levels

  • Level 1= 1 quarter (elementary)
  • Level 2= 2 quarters (elementary)
  • Level 3= 3 quarters (elementary — completes 1 year of language)
  • Level 4= 4 quarters (intermediate)
  • Level 5= 5 quarters (intermediate)
  • Level 6= 6 quarters (intermediate — completes 2 years of language)

For general questions about exams, please contact nreast@humnet.ucla.edu. See below for more information about exam dates.

  • Armenian (Eastern)

    • Fall 2025: TBD
    • Winter 2026: TBD
    • Spring 2026: TBD

    For more information please contact Tereza Hovhannisyan.

    Register

  • Armenian (Western)

    • Fall 2025: TBD
    • Winter 2026: TBD
    • Spring 2026: TBD

    For more information please contact Dr. Hagop Kouloujian.

    Register

  • Arabic

    About this exam:
    The Arabic placement exam is an online exam that is being administered over Zoom. It is based on the book “Al-kitaab Fii Taa’llum Alarabiyya”. It includes listening, vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension, and composition questions. The exam is offered for students who want to know their language level for the purpose of placing in language classes or placing out of the College language requirement.

    When can I take this exam?

    The exam is offered three times during the academic year: in the fall, winter, and spring quarters. Students need to make sure to take it in one of these quarters. There’re no makeup exams offered.

    The dates of the exam are announced on the NELC website well in advance. Make sure to register for the exam before registration closes.

    • Fall 2025: TBD
    • Winter 2026: TBD
    • Spring 2026: TBD

    How can I take the exam?

    After registering in the NELC website, you will later receive a link to enroll in the “Arabic Placement Exam”  test website (make sure to click on “enroll me in this course” on the top right corner of the front page). Once you are enrolled, you will find more information about the exam and how you can take it. Please note that if you are not a UCLA student, then you will need to create a UCLA Logon ID using this link https://accounts.iam.ucla.edu/ before you can enroll.

    Students from UC campuses other than UCLA, who wish to assess their Arabic language proficiency for the purpose of enrolling in Arabic classes through UC cross-campus enrollment, are kindly requested to get in touch with the instructor via email at amohamed@humnet.ucla.edu

    For more information please contact Dr. Abeer Hamza.

    Register

  • Hebrew

    The exam is written only and based on the textbook Ha-Yesod (found usually at UCLA Bookstore, textbook for Hebrew). It includes the following:

    1. A passage in Hebrew for partial translation to English
    2. Comprehension questions in Hebrew on the passage mentioned above
    3. Two sections with multiple choice answers on grammar and vocabulary
    4. Fill in the blank questions with the correct form and tense of verbs + translating and vocalizing them
    5. Fill in the blank questions with the correct preposition (+ in the correct form)
    6. Rewriting nouns with suffixes using the Hebrew possessive “of”
    7. Fill in the blank questions with the correct numbers using Hebrew words
    8. Translation to Hebrew of short sentences
    9. A short composition

    • Fall 2025: TBD
    • Winter 2026: TBD
    • Spring 2026: TBD

    For more information please contact  Dr. Sariel Birnbaum.

    Register

  • Persian

    This is a comprehensive exam (2 hours), which includes listening, speaking, reading, writing, and grammar.  It is equivalent to three quarters or two semester of Persian at the elementary level. For this exam, please bring a pencil (not pen), an eraser, and your student ID card.

    • Fall 2025: TBD
    • Winter 2026: TBD
    • Spring 2026: TBD

    For more information please contact Dr. Sahba Shayani.

    Register

  • Turkish

    The exam consists of four sections: Speaking, listening, reading comprehension, and writing an essay in Turkish on a given topic.

    • Fall 2025: TBD
    • Winter 2026: TBD
    • Spring 2026: TBD

    For more information please contact Zeynep Durmus

    Register