2025-2026 Undergraduate ENTRY LEVEL PLACEMENT IN ENGLISH (UG ELPE)

If you missed the regular Fall 2025 Undergraduate ELPE, the EMS Program will hold a makeup UG ELPE for undergraduate students in March 2026. The UG ELPE will take place online; eligible students will be notified by email.

Undergraduates: please see this information.

Graduate students: please see this page.

GRADUATE STUDENTS - Grad ELPE and ITA Evals

  • The Entry Level Placement in English for graduate students (Grad ELPE) is required of all incoming international students whose first language is other than English. Some international graduate students are exempt from needing to take this exam by the Office of Graduate Admissions, for example, those who completed all years of an undergraduate degree at an approved English medium institution. Exemptions are determined by the Graduate Division and are made available to the EMS Program by the end of July each year. The Grad ELPE took place online on August 29, 2025.  The Fall Grad ELPE placement process is complete. 

  • Note: The makeup Grad ELPE placement process was held in person only on December 8th (oral) and December 9th (written). The makeup Grad ELPE placement process is complete. If you missed the Fall Grad ELPE and makeup Grad ELPE placement processes, please monitor your email for more information from the Grad ELPE Committee regarding future placement dates. 

 

  • All international graduate students whose first or dominant language is not English and who are likely to take on TA teaching responsibilities are required to participate in the ITA English Language Evaluation and Certification process. There are no exemptions on the basis of test scores or having completed a degree at an institution through an English medium of instruction. Nor are students exempted on the basis of U.S. residency or citizenship. All ITA Evaluations took place online via Zoom, Wednesday, September 3, 2025 - Monday, September 8, 2025.  

    • Note: All prospective LING 4 students are required to attend the LING 4 Orientation Meeting to learn about enrollment in LING 4. The mandatory LING 4 Orientation Meeting took place on Monday, September 29th, at 5-6pm on Zoom. Please review this page for information regarding future ITA evaluations.

 

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS -- UG ELPE

The Entry Level Placement in English (UG ELPE) is required of undergraduate international students whose first language is other than English and who have not yet satisfied the UC Entry Level Writing Requirement (ELWR). Information on the ELWR can be found here: https://www.ucop.edu/elwr/.

If you are not sure whether you have to take the UG ELPE or if you have additional questions that are not answered in the FAQs, please contact EMS/Linguistics Placement.