Frequently Asked Questions

Scores from the online placement exams will appear on your Placement and Test Scores Report, available under Documents in my.Harvard. Results are generally available within 24 hours of submitting an exam (with the exception of the Writing exam). The report will not be available to incoming students in the summer until mid-July.

The Placement and Test Scores Report is designed to help students and advisors select the most appropriate courses based on their previous academic experiences. It is particularly useful for incoming first year students.

The Report contains three main sections:

• Test Scores from exams taken pre-matriculation
• Harvard placement exams results
• Course recommendations

Pre-matriculation Test Scores

Scores listed in this section include any AP and IB (HL only), SAT or ACT exams that have been taken before a student arrives at Harvard. While students may have submitted the results for these exams as part of their admissions application, students will need to resend official final reports to the Registrar’s Office. Information about sending these scores can be found on the Registrar’s website.

Harvard Placement Exam Results

Students who take exams in Math, Writing, Life Sciences (Chemistry and Biology) and Languages (French, German, Italian, and Spanish) will see their results listed in this section.

“Harvard Placement” exams refer to exams administered through the online Questionmark system while “Harvard Department” exams refer to exams administered by individual departments (e.g. all other Language exams).

Course Recommendations

Course recommendations are based on the results of any exam listed in the pre-matriculation or placement exams. Here are some general thoughts that may be helpful when reviewing this section:

• The course recommendations are meant to help students identify which courses may be most appropriate based on their prior academic experience.
• Students are advised to follow the recommendations in the Placement Report.
• Students should discuss their recommendations with their academic advisor and with advisors in the relevant department.

If you get disconnected or accidentally close the exam browser, simply return to OPER site and you will be able to click the “Resume” exam button (as long as your exam has not expired, and you still have time remaining). If your exam time has expired, click the “Request Reset” button and submit your reason for the exam restart so that administrators may review your request within two business days and then confirm your exam status via email.  Once the exam time has expired any resets will be from the start of the exam.   

Students with a documented disability may be eligible for accommodations on the placement exams. To request accommodations for placement exams, please contact the Disability Access Office. If a student has already received an accommodation for courses they still must contact their DAO advisor to request an accommodation for the placement exams. Placement Exams should not be taken before the accommodation is in place.

You are expected to take the Writing and Math exams during the scheduled exam period. If it is unavoidable you may take the Math exam as soon as you are able. In exceptional circumstances, students with unavoidable conflicts may take the Writing exam during a make-up period. To petition to take the Writing exam during the make-up period, please visit the Online Placement Exams Registration (OPER) application. Once you’ve registered for the Writing exam you will see a “Request Change of Exam Period” button.

For questions about the Writing Exam, please visit the Writing Program website or email expos@fas.harvard.edu.

All incoming first-year students are required to complete the Writing and Math exams, regardless of scores on any other exam. All first-year students interested in studying the sciences are strongly encouraged to take the Chemistry and Biology placement exams. A Language and Culture AP score of a 5 or an IB Language (HL only) score of a 7 may be used to fulfill the Foreign Language Requirement. Course recommendations are based on the result of the language placement exam.

No, you may only take a reading/grammar language placement exam once for the purpose of fulfilling the language requirement. Qualifying students who are invited to take a proficiency exam after completing the placement exam must take the proficiency exam by that exam period’s deadline (Fall- November, Spring-April, Summer- September).

Yes, students who earn a qualifying placement result on the Reading/Grammar Language Placement Exam are eligible to take a language proficiency exam. in order to fulfill the language requirement.  Qualifying students will be notified by email to sign-up for a time to complete a proctored proficiency exam. The Proficiency Exam must be completed within the same period as the Reading/Grammar exam; it cannot be taken at a later date or during a future exam period.

Students may not take a Reading/Grammar Placement Exam in order to fulfill the requirement in a language they have already studied at Harvard.

Departmental language placement exams in all other languages provide both the opportunity to test out of the language requirement and to receive a course recommendation.

If you are a Harvard Graduate Student you may take a language placement exam and you must register through the Online Placement Exams Registration (OPER) application during an exam period. Exam periods are offered each Fall (October/November), Spring (March/April) and over the Summer. To access an exam during an exam period, first click the “Register” button for an exam. You will then receive an email confirming your registration that includes helpful exam information, and a “Start” exam button will then appear in your list of Current Exams. When you are ready to begin an exam,  click the exam’s “Start” button. 

To obtain your course recommendation email the FAS Registrar’s Office with the subject line “Graduate student DPT results” at placementexams@fas.harvard.edu. Please allow one day to process the results of the exam. 

If you would like to request to take a language exam that is currently not offered to determine whether your knowledge is sufficient such that you have fulfilled the language requirement, please contact placement-help@fas.harvard.edu.