How is it decided whether I am placed in ECLT101 or 102?

There are several ways in which this is determined:

• any student who enters the Department of Rhetoric and Composition by having passed the ELPET examination is automatically placed in RHET102.
• any student who passes the Intensive English Program (IEP), or English 100 into the Department of Rhetoric and Composition will be placed by those units into RHET101 or 102. These results are posted at the end of any given semester.
• certain diplomas (like the International Baccalaureate, or the Advanced Placement examination) may automatically place a student into RHET 102 or RHET201. Details may be obtained from Ms. Fahima in the Registrar's Office, telephone: 2797 5006.
• any student who enters the Department of Rhetoric and Composition 100 level courses by having passed the TOEFL examination will automatically be placed in RHET101 but will be eligible to sit for the English Writing Ability Test (EWAT) administered by the IPART Testing Services. (Check the Announcements for the exact place, date and time.)

Once I have been placed in RHET101, is it possible for me to show that I am capable of doing ECLT102?

Students who feel they have been misplaces may request on the first day of clases that they be given a in-class essay assignment that intends to measure whether or not you have been correctly placed (by TOEFL, ELPET, English 100 or IEP). If the essay shows that you should be placed in RHET 102, we will allow you to register for RHET102.

If I have been placed in RHET102 and take the English Writing Ability Test (EWAT), can I be moved down into RHET101?

Students who have been placed in RHET102 (by the IEP, or English 100, or by ELPET) and take an in-class essay on the first day of classes will be told if they have tested at the RHET101 level. We will recommend that the student move down to RHET101 but we will not force them to do so. We feel that the student should be mature enough to understand that we are doing this for his/her benefit and that if the student fails the RHET02 that semester they will not really have gained anything.

When and how do I request to take the in-class essay?

If you are already registered in an RHET 101 or 102 section, you will proceed to your class and you should ask the instructor to administer the in-class esay some time in the first two days of classes (please make sure to attend because there will be no make-up exam. We have to move students before the end of the Drop and Add period.)

However, if you have entered AUC on the TOEFL examination, we will ask you to register for a session for the English Writing Ability Test (EWAT) sometime before you start classes. Check the Announcements page on this website for details.

Why do you distinguish between students in RHET101 and 102?

Over the past 25 years we have noticed that although some students pass the requisite language examinations to get into the regular academic programs at AUC, they have problems in adjusting to the writing and critical thinking required for academic courses at AUC. These students need more work, not so much in English, as in "developing greater proficiency in critical expository writing, critical reading, and greater fluency in expression" as it is stated in the RHET 101 course description. We want these students to succeed early on in their academic careers and feel that RHET101 will give them the reinforcement they need at the beginning of their studies at AUC.