Guided Placement Survey
The Guided Placement Survey helps UConn undergraduate students decide which first-year writing course they should take first.
Students must complete the Guided Placement Survey to receive a recommendation for their initial writing courses. UConn does not use standardized test scores to place students in first-year writing courses.
Incoming international and multilingual students (first-year and transfer) whose home language is not English, and students admitted to the Hartford campus who have not yet earned UConn credits for English writing courses, are required to complete the Guided Placement Survey to determine their readiness and placement. The First-Year Writing Program strongly encourages all undergraduate students to take the survey to find the course match that is best for them.
About the Survey
The survey will take you approximately 30 minutes to an hour to complete.
The guided placement survey is not a writing skills test, so there is no need to study for it. Your results are not scored based on right or wrong answers. The best responses are the responses that represent you.
Survey Questions
You’ll respond to questions about:
- Your confidence in and anxieties around writing.
- Your typical writing practices.
- Past writing projects you’ve completed for school.
- The writing you do in non-academic contexts.
- Yourself as a student and a writer.
You will also be introduced to materials you might encounter in first-year-writing courses, including:
- Brief examples of texts you might engage with.
- Assignments or projects you might be asked to undertake.
- Samples of student work from our courses.
- Examples of the kind of feedback offered by peers and instructors.
Course Recommendations
The First-Year Writing Program will offer you course match recommendations once you complete the survey. It will also ask you which of the course recommendations you believe is your best match and documents your choice for your advisors.
Please complete the survey before you meet with your advisor for course enrollment.
Regional Campus Students
First-year writing courses are offered at all UConn campuses. When taking the Guided Placement Survey, please select the regional campus to which you have been accepted. Students must select from the courses offered at the campus listed in your admissions letter, even if you anticipate moving to another campus. Your advisor can discuss your campus admission in more detail.
Visit the course descriptions page or the Undergraduate Catalog website to find out which first-year writing courses are offered at each campus.