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Placement Procedure

Who must take a placement test?

  • If you have never learned any French, you clearly do not have to take a placement test. Your only booking option then is an A1.1 course.
  • If you have learned some French in the past, a placement test is mandatory. The result will indicate at which level you can continue at the Language Center.
  • Exception: Students who have successfully completed a French course at the Language Center in the previous semester and have gained a grade of 8 or higher can book a class on the next level without an additional test (follow-up registration). However, this is limited to a certain period of time, as specified in the email notifications sent out to those eligible for follow-up registration.

What does the placement test for French look like?

The placement test for French consists of an online-test (c-test) and a writing test on ILIAS. After the completion of the c-test you will receive a link to the ILIAS course along with the password for joining that course. Please complete the writing test directly after you have finished the c-test.

1. Online C-test (cloze test)

A C-test consists of a set of multiple cloze texts in which the second half of every other word is missing starting from the second sentence. You will try to complete the gaps so that the text makes sense. This can be done by combining your knowledge of vocabulary and grammar as well as by “intelligent guessing”. If you are interested in the design of the test, you can take 5-minute trial test anonymously. This only works as a first impression of the c-test.

Please note: The result of the online test will be shown directly after the test, but this is not your final placement result.

Winter Semester 2024/25

1. The C-test will be online from Monday, 9 September 2024. Please complete the c-test by Monday 14 October 2024.

ATTENTION: Please use only letters of the German alphabet for entering your personal data. Don’t use Umlauts ('Ä/ä', 'Ü/ü', 'Ö/ö') and special letters such as 'ß' and foreign language letters and accents. 

Please note: The result of the online C-Tests will be displayed to you directly after this test, but it is only a partial result, not the final placement result!

2. Writing test

Winter Semester 2024/25

After completing the c-test an e-mail will be sent to you containing the link and the necessary password for the ILIAS course. After the c-test please directly complete the writing test within 60 minutes and without using any auxiliary means.

External candidates: If you are neither a student nor a staff member of  Philipps University, please send an e-mail to once you have completed the c-test. You will receive the writing test (pdf) by e-mail. Please either complete it online or print it, complete it and e-mail back the scanned copy to .

If you have any questions about the test procedure please send an e-mail, including your phone number, to . You will find further information on the registration here.

Placement results

Winter Semester 2024/25

From Tuesday, 15 October 2024, approx. 5:00 p.m. you can also request your test result HERE (R= Consultation, K= No course offered, e.g. because only one part of the test was taken). Next to the score you find a link to the course offer; you can choose from all courses with a corresponding placement result.

For consultation and questions about your placement result, please contact the coordinator for French, Ariane Wenz by e-mail stating your telephone number or contact Ariane Wenz during her consultation hours on Wednesday, 16 October 2024, 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM.