College Writing Program

College Writing Program (CWP) Placement Policy

View new policy, effective fall 2012

Course challenges are not permitted. Any student who does not have a recorded score for the writing section of the SAT or does not have an ACT score will be asked to write a placement essay administered by the College Writing Program during orientation. The student will be placed in a composition course in accordance with the College Writing Program's judgment of the competence level of that essay.

Placement in CWP 099
Students who score below 400 on the Writing section of their SAT exam or 16 or less on the ACT should register for CWP 099 "Developmental Writing." Upon successful completion of the course, these students must register for and achieve a grade of "C" or better in CWP 101 "College Writing I" and CWP 102 "College Writing II" in order to fulfill the Basic Communication Requirement.

Placement in CWP 101

• Students who score 400-590 on the Writing section of their SAT exam or 17-24 on the ACT must register for CWP 101. Upon achieving a grade of "C" or better, these students must register for and achieve a grade of "C" or better in CWP 102 in order to fulfill the Basic Communication Requirement.
   
• Students who score 400-440 on the SAT, students who score 17-19 on the ACT, and students who are repeating CWP 101 will receive a required Tutoring Contract from their CWP instructor.

Placement in CWP 102

• Students who score 600-690 on the Writing section of their SAT exam, or 25-27 on the ACT, or 3 on the AP Language and Composition or Literature and Composition exam or score 4 on the International Baccalaureate Group1/Language AI Higher Level exam may register for CWP 102.  They will be exempt from CWP 101 but will not receive 3 semester hours of credit for CWP 101.  Upon achieving a grade of "C" or better in CWP 102, students will have fulfilled the Basic Communication Requirement, but will have only 3 semester hours of college credit.
   
• Students who are repeating CWP 102 will receive a required Tutoring Contract from their CWP 102 instructor.

Exemption from the Basic Communication Requirement

• Those students who score 700 and above on the Writing section of their SAT exam, 28-31 on the ACT or have a score of 4 or 5 on the AP Language and Composition or the Literature and Composition exam will be exempt from the Basic Communication Requirement, but will not receive 6 semester hours of credit for the requirement.
   
• Exemption from the Basic Communication Requirement (but not 6 semester hours of credit) can also be achieved by an International Baccalaureate diploma or a score of 5 on the International Baccalaureate Group1/Language AI Higher Level Exam.