Who should write the English Placement Essay?

All entering RWC students are required to write an English Placement Essay, which determines the beginning composition course students must take. Students will not be permitted to register for preparatory or English composition courses without a current English placement score or without having successfully completed the previous course in the sequence.

New Students: Students must be recognized as an admitted UC student. If you are a confirmed student at UC, you will be recognized by the system. If your RWC admission application has been submitted but not finalized, you must also complete a Basic Data Form at the RWC Registration Office before taking either the on-campus or online placement assessment. Non-matriculated students must complete the Basic Data Form prior to taking English Placement.

Continuing Students: Students who have been enrolled at any University of Cincinnati college but whose English placement scores are older than two years must re-take the English Placement Essay.

Transfer Students must write a placement essay if they have not received transfer credit for English 101.

When and How?

1. ONLINE ENGLISH ESSAY OPTION: You can write your English placement essay online from home or from anywhere with access to the Web and have several days to complete it. Essays will be graded by Raymond Walters English faculty, just as are the on-campus essays. The difference is that instead of writing the essay in one hour in a computer lab on campus, you can write at your own pace and according to your own schedule. Students who chose this option last summer reported that it was "less stressful" and that they felt they produced better writing. Check the online schedule page. These will appear on the schedule later this summer. To write the essay online, students must register online. See Online English Placement.

PLEASE READ THE COMPLETE INFORMATION ABOUT THE ONLINE ESSAY by following this link. Online English Placement  If you have additional questions or concerns, please contact Marlene Miner at 745-5684 or email marlene.miner@uc.edu.

2. ON-CAMPUS ENGLISH ESSAY OPTION: Students can write the English placement essay at the Raymond Walters Campus. The on-campus essay consists of a 60-minute, timed reading and writing task. As for the online placement essay, students will be asked to read a short article, write a summary, write an essay responding to a specific prompt, and write a reflective paragraph about their essay. The essays will be written on a word processing program, unless students request to write with pen on paper.

The on-campus English Placement Essay is offered twice a week during the third through tenth weeks of every term. The last opportunity for each term is two days before in-person registration. Students may schedule an appointment to come to campus to take the English Placement Assessment at the same time as their math and other placement tests. Phone the Placement Testing Office at 745-5783 to schedule.

TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR ENGLISH COURSES

All students must have current English placement scores or have passed the pre-requisite course to be eligible for English 095,097,099,101-102-103. Students will be denied access to courses at registration if they are not eligible for that English course. If scores are older than two years, students should re-take the English placement assessment.

Course eligibility criteria:
English 081 or ESL090: English Placement (For ESL students only)
English 095: English Placement or C- or better in English 081
English 097: English Placement or C- or better in English 095
English 099: English Placement or C- or better in English 097
English 101: English Placement or C- or better in English 099
                          or English 100
English 102: C- or better in English 101
English 103: C- or better in English 102

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