Placement Assessments

On this page:

Students may be required to take one or more placement assessments depending on their chosen major, their previous academic history, and other factors.

Students who may require accommodations for any of these assessments should contact the Disability and Access Services office before taking the assessment.

Students are expected to maintain academic integrity in compliance with the UH Hilo Student Conduct Code while taking all online and in person placement assessments.

UH Hilo Writing Placement Assessment

Beginning Fall 2011, students' SAT-EBRW score, SAT-W score, or ACT score will be used for placement into ENG100H [Course Info Not Available], ENG 100 Composition I (3) or ENG 100T Composition with Tutorial (3) .

You must take the UH Hilo Writing Placement Assessment if:

• your first language is not English
• you are a native speaking student but do not possess an SAT or ACT score
• you have not yet earned credit for ENG 100 Composition I (3)
• you have not been awarded the equivalent of ENG 100 Composition I (3) through a transfer credit evaluation from the UH Hilo Admissions Office

Please see the Writing Placement Assessment page for more information and to register for this exam.

UH Hilo Math Placement Assessment

Students should take the Math Placement Assessment if they are majoring in, or possibly majoring in, Agriculture, Business, Psychology or any science and do not have transferable pre-requisite math credits from another college or university; math placement scores from UH community colleges will be honored.

A student may take the UH Hilo Math Placement Assessment only once¹. The exam is a one-hour timed exam. More details about this assessment are provided on the Math Placement Assessment website.

¹ A student who believes s/he is misplaced must contact the Math Department Chair.

The UH Hilo Math Placement Assessment is not required to register for MATH 100 Survey Of Math (3) , MATH 103 Intro to College Algebra (3) , MATH111 [Course Info Not Available], or MATH121 [Course Info Not Available].

Note: The Mathematics Department does not currently accept COMPASS, ACCUPLACER, or exam scores from other institutions.

Students who have already taken the assessment can view their placement recommendation at any time by logging back into the assessment site.

**Scores will be uploaded to student records by Kilohana staff in the order it is received on Mondays and Thursdays. If Monday or Thursday is a holiday the scores will be uploaded as soon as possible on the next working day after the holiday.

Scores are entered Monday through Friday (once daily; excluding holidays) during Orientation week and Early Advising/Early Registration week during each regular semester.

After your score is entered on to your student record you can register for the course you are placed into. Taking your assessment early is strongly advised to allow the Coordinator time to enter your score on to your student record.

UH Hilo Chemistry Placement Assessment

Note: Effective May 21, 2020, students who need to complete Chemistry 161 are no longer required to take the Chemistry Placement Assessment. Instead students must complete one of the following pre-requisite options in order to register for Chemistry 161. These options are:

Option 1

Complete the Math Placement Assessment with a recommendation of Math 140 or higher

or

Option 2

Previously earn a letter grade of C or better in Math 125 or higher. This excludes Math 271, Math x99, and Math 496

Students who previously took the Chemistry Assessment can view their placement score at any time by logging back into the assessment site on Laulima .

UH Hilo English Language Placement Assessment

Students who are non-native speakers of English entering UH Hilo for the first time must take both parts of this on-site assessment (it is not available online). Please bring photo I.D. Students may be eligible for a waiver if they meet certain requirements; a detailed description of waiver eligibility and the sign-up form can be found on the English Language Placement Assessment web page.

UH Hilo Hawaiian Language Placement Assessment

Students who have previously studied Hawaiian language and believe they may be prepared for coursework beyond introductory HAW 101 Elementary Hawaiian I (4) should take this assessment. To learn more, contact Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani (the College of Hawaiian Language) at (808) 932-7222.

UH Hilo Japanese Language Placement Assessment

Students with previous knowledge of Japanese language are required to take a placement assessment before they register for any JPNS language course. The JPNS 101 Elementary Japanese I (4) course is the only course that is intended for students who have no experience in the language. For questions about Japanese language placement test, please contact the Japanese Studies program coordinator, Dr. Masafumi “Masa” Honda.