The  Department of Latin American and Iberian Culture’s online Spanish placement exam does NOT fulfill SIPA’s language proficiency requirement.

Click here for additional information about SIPA’s language proficiency procedures.

If you plan to fulfill SIPA’s language proficiency requirement by taking courses, please follow the procedure below.

For SIPA Students Deciding to Take Courses to Fulfill SIPA’s Language Proficiency Requirement

1. You must take the placement exam, unless you have already taken the prerequisite at Columbia or Barnard.
2. Save a screen capture of your results and bring a copy to submit to your instructor on the first day of class.
3. Register for the course that is provided on the placement exam results page or add your name to the waiting list in SSOL.
4. When you register for the wrong level, you have to drop that class and put yourself on another class’s wait list.
5. You may NOT be registered for two different sections at the same time.

Before the Change of Program Period Begins

1. SSOL Wait Lists are automated.
2. The first student on a wait list is added automatically by the system if there is an opening
3. Instructors and Language Program Directors cannot add or drop students; they have no control over registration.

During the Change of Program Period

Click here for registration protocols (add/drop) during the Change of Program period.

Overview of Registration Protocols

We have designed a set of protocols to help as many students as possible to be placed into the correct level.

The placement exam is an accurate tool to place you into our Language Program, so you must register for the level your score recommends and attend that class to get a better grasp of our classes at Columbia/Barnard.

During the first two weeks of classes, your instructor will also gauge your proficiency and she/he may suggest a change of level, which will have to be approved by the Director of the Language Program at Columbia or the Language Program Director at Barnard.