Subjects with Departmental Proficiency Exams


FOR NEW STUDENTS ENROLLING IN THE 2025-2026 ACADEMIC YEAR (SUMMER 2025, FALL 2025 AND SPRING 2026)

Please check this website often. We will update it as new information concerning testing becomes available. Feel free to call PNP at 217-244-4437 during business hours, or email us your question.

There are many exams that allow an incoming student to try to earn proficiency credit. In addition to the Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams that you can take in high school, you have ample opportunity to demonstrate your proficiency in the sciences and the humanities by taking a departmental proficiency exam once you come to campus. Currently enrolled students are also allowed to take a departmental proficiency exam if they have not already earned credit for the course or for a higher-level course in the subject.

Departmental proficiency tests are usually given at the beginning of each fall and spring semester. Usually you are permitted to attempt an exam only once, but there are a couple of exams that you are allowed to take twice. Given that different departments have different policies, you should always check with the department first.

Click on a subject below for more specific information.

Chemistry

For general information, please see the department's webpage. 

Computer Science

For general information, please see the department's webpage.  

Economics

For general information, please see the department's webpage.

Integrative Biology

For general information, please see the department's webpage.

Languages Other Than English (LOTE)

For more information, please see our page on Proficiency Exams in LOTE

Math

For general information, please see the department's webpage.

Molecular and Cellular Biology

For general information, please see the department's webpage.

Music

For general information, please see the department's webpage.

Physics

For general information, please see the department's webpage.

Psychology 100

For general information, please see the department's webpage.

Rhetoric / Composition I

For the 2025-2026 academic year, credit for 'Composition I' will be automatically awarded for the following test scores: 

  • an official ACT English score of 34, 35, or 36 if you chose to have your ACT scores used in the evaluation of your application to Illinois
  • an official SAT EBRW score of 730-800 if you chose to have your SAT scores used in the evaluation of your application to Illinois
  • an AP English Language exam score of 4 or 5
  • an AP English Literature exam score of 4 or 5
  • an IB Higher Level English A: Literature score of 6 or 7
  • an IB Standard Level English A: Literature score of 6 or 7
  • an IB Higher Level English A: Language and Literature score of 6 or 7
  • an IB Standard Level English A: Language and Literature score of 6 or 7
  • an IB English A: Literature and Performance (only offered at Standard Level) score of 6 or 7
  • Earning test-based credit means that 4 hours of credit for RHET 105 will be posted to your official academic record. This credit fulfills the General Education 'Composition I' requirement. Self-0reported scores cannot be used for academic credit. RHET 105 credit WILL NOT be posted to your academic record until your official test scores are received directly from the testing agency. 

International students who are told to take the English Placement Test (the EPT) are required to take the EPT unless they have RHET 105 credit in their official academic record. The EPT does not award RHET 105 credit. It serves to place you into a 'Composition I' course. 

  • NOTE: If you are an international student who received an email stating that you are required to take the EPT and yet you know that your ACT or SAT score is high enough to earn credit for RHET 105, make sure the tyou had your ACT or SAT scores sent to Illinois. If satisfaction of the 'Composition I' requirement does not appear on your official academic record, then you must take the EPT as stated in the email. 

Please note that duplicate credit will not be awarded. This means, for example, that if you already earned 4 hours of RHET 105 credit based on your SAT EBRW score, you cannot earn another 4 hours of RHET 105 credit with a high score on the AP English Language exam. You can earn credit for a particular course only once. 

Statistics

For general information, please see the department's webpage.

To try to proficiency out of an introductory course not mentioned above, contact the department that offers the course.

SHOULD YOU SIT FOR A DEPARTMENTAL PROFICIENCY EXAM?

Any student who just missed earning proficiency credit from the AP Calculus exam, the IB Math exams, the AP Physics exams, or the IB Physics exams -- and any student who scores well on the Chemistry and/or Physics Placement Exam -- should seriously consider taking the departmental proficiency test. If you believe you know the material well, it is probably worth your while to attempt the proficiency exam. Your academic record is not affected if you fail the exam (most likely, you would simply enroll in the course that you attempted to proficiency). Remember, usually you are allowed only one attempt at any particular test.

If a departmental proficiency exam also offers course placement, you will need to check with the department for your placement results.

IMPORTANT!

Duplicate credit earned through AP, IB, departmental examinations, or any other means will not be granted. This means, for example, that if you already earned MATH 220 credit through the AP Calculus exam, you cannot earn MATH 220 credit again by taking the Math Department's MATH 220 proficiency exam. Credit for a particular course will be awarded only once.