Skip to content

Placement Exams

FALL 2025 ADMITS

For deadlines and information about the 4 placement exams offered at UC Merced:

  • See Step 6 on the Admitted Students site under the Next Steps tab       AND

  • See the new Placement site that launched in March 2025.

You will have access to placement exams 5-7 business days after you submit your Statement of Intent to Register (SIR) and commit to attend UC Merced.

All placement exams must be completed before your first semester at UC Merced.

 

 

4 PLACEMENT EXAMS FOR FIRST YEAR ADMITS

Your connect.ucmerced.edu checklist shows which placement exams are required based on your major.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  If you are in any of the following majors, it is recommended that you take all 4 placement exams:

  • Undeclared
  • Undeclared--Engineering
  • Undeclared--Natural Sciences
  • Undeclared--School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts (SSHA)

 

First year admits may need to take 4 placement exams:

  • UC Merced Writing Readiness Review    (new exam for Fall 2022 and after admits)
  • UC Merced math placement exam
  • UC Merced chemistry placement exam
  • UC Merced computer science & engineering (CSE)  placement exam

Read the information about each placement exam (see sections below) to determine which placement exams you are required to take.

You will receive messages on your UC Merced email about the placement exams after you submit your Statement of Intent to Register (SIR).

 

UC MERCED PLACEMENT EXAMS:  OVERVIEW

Results from the 4 placement exams determine your eligibility for certain classes at UC Merced.

WRITING, CHEMISTRY, CSE:

  • If you miss the placement exam deadline or choose not to take the placement exam, you will automatically be placed in the preparatory class in WRI, CHEM, or CSE.

MATH--Starting Fall 2025:

  • If you miss the placement exam deadline or choose not to take the math placement exam, you will not be able to register for any precalculus (MATH 005) or calculus I class (MATH 011 or 021) at UC Merced.
  • You will also not be able to enroll in CHEM 002.

 

All placement exams are:

  • One-time-only exams
  • Free
  • Available only during certain dates

There is no disadvantage to taking the placement exams!

  • This is especially true if you are exploring different majors or might later choose to do a double major or optional minor.

If you take a placement exam and later receive AP or IB scores that place you into a more advanced class:  you will be allowed to take the more advanced class.

If you take a placement exam but complete a transferable college course before you begin at UC Merced that places you into a more advanced class and submit the official transcript to UC Merced before July 1 (August 15 if summer class):  you will be allowed to take the more advanced class.

 

WHAT COURSE CAN I TAKE AT UC MERCED?

 

  • To see how IB exams count toward specific classes UC Merced:

 

 

WRITING READINESS REVIEW

All UC schools require first years in every major to complete the Entry Level Writing Requirement (ELWR) by the end of their second semester at the UC school.

The Writing Readiness Review helps you satisfy ELWR before you arrive at UC Merced.

The Writing Readiness Review is hosted on Qualtrics and does NOT appear on your UC Merced Cat Courses site.

You will receive a message on your UC Merced email with the Qualtrics link to the Writing Readiness Review after you are admitted and submit a Statement of Intent to Register (SIR).

Other ways to satisfy ELWR can be found here.

Based on your Writing Readiness Review score, you will place into Writing 1 (WRI 001, Academic Writing, 4 units) or Writing 10 (WRI 010, College Reading & Composition, 4 units).

If you place into Writing 1, you must take that class in your first semester at UC Merced.

 

If you are a fall semester admit who took a California community college course during high school that is the equivalent of Writing 1 (check the ASSIST site for transferability), request the official college transcript be sent to UC Merced before July 1.

If you are a fall semester admit who earned an AP English exam score that satisfies Writing 1, request that College Board send the official AP exam score to UC Merced before July 1.

 

 

MATH PLACEMENT EXAM

Required for first years in every major.

*NEW* Starting Fall 2025, you must have a math placement exam score to enroll in any of the precalculus (MATH 005) or calculus I classes (MATH 011 or 021).  You will also need a math placement score to enroll in CHEM 002

For more information and possible exemptions, see the Math Placement FAQ.

To access the exam, see the Math Placement Exam Instructions.

The Math Center Resources site may be helpful to review precalculus and calculus topics.

The Math Placement Exam is hosted through UC San Diego, does NOT appear on your UC Merced Cat Courses site, and can be accessed at https://mdtpassessment.ucsd.edu/login. 

You will receive an email with the access code to take the Math Placement Exam through UC San Diego after you have been admitted and submit your Statement of Intent to Register (SIR) to UC Merced.

To log in to take the exam, you will need to enter your UC Merced student ID number (9-digit number) and your first and last name as they appear on your UC application.

If you need a new access code, email nsstudentservices@ucmerced.edu.

 

 

CHEMISTRY PLACEMENT EXAM

Required for first years in all majors in the School of Engineering and School of Natural Sciences.

Required for all pre-health (pre-med, pre-nursing, pre-dentistry, etc.) students.

Required for all first years who may later change to engineering, science, or pre-health.

For more information and possible exemptions, see the Chem Placement FAQ.

To access the exam, see the Chem Placement Exam Instructions.

The Chemistry Placement Exam will be available on your UC Merced Cat Courses site.

Read the emails about placement exams that you receive after you submit your SIR to UC Merced.

 

 

COMPUTER SCIENCE & ENGINEERING PLACEMENT EXAM

Required for all first years in the Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) major.

Starting Fall 2024:  required for all first years in the Applied Math major (every emphasis).

Required for all first years who may declare CSE or Applied Math majors in the future.

Helpful for Management & Business Economics (MBE) majors.  On 10/19/21, MBE faculty approved the use of a passing score on the CSE placement exam to satisfy the CSE 005 requirement in the MBE major.

Exam determines placement in the new CSE major course sequence (CSE 022-CSE 024) that began in Fall 2020.

For more information, see this site.

To access the exam, see About CSE Placement Exam.

The CSE Placement Exam will be available on your UC Merced Cat Courses site.

Read the emails that you receive about placement exams after you submit your SIR to UC Merced.