Admission Requirements and Deadlines

Requirements for Degree Undergraduate Students

All students must sit for an Arabic Language Placement exam during their freshman year unless they have submitted a Thanawiyya Amma certificate or its equivalent before the date of the last placement exam for any given academic year. Based on the placement exam score, students will either be exempted from required Arabic Language courses or be required to take one or two sequenced courses in Modern Standard Arabic to meet the University’s Arabic-language requirement for their bachelor’s degree. Students exempted from Arabic may still opt to register in elective Arabic courses.

Students required to sit for the Arabic language placement exam:

All non-Thanawiya Amma students are required to sit for the Arabic language placement exam, which is only administered by the AUC Department of Arabic Language Instruction to determine their Arabic language level. Based on the result of the Arabic language placement exam, students will fall into one of the following categories:

1. Exempted from Arabic language courses
2. Required to take one Arabic language course (3 credits)
3. Required to take two Arabic language courses (6 credits)

Students exempted from the Arabic language placement exam and Arabic language courses:

1. Thanawiya Amma holders or equivalent
2. Non-Thanawiya Amma holders who have passed the Arabic test administered by the Egyptian Ministry of Education prior to enrolling at AUC
3. Grade-11 non-Thanawiya Amma holders who have passed the Arabic test
   administered by Cairo University and who are enrolled at AUC as of Fall 2022,
   provided that the test results are submitted within one year of enrollment at
   AUC.
4. Holders of the IGCSE/GCSE degrees who have also achieved a minimum grade of C in the IGCSE's Arabic as a First Language exam

Transfer Equivalency Courses

Holders of the certificates below should follow the table to decide on the Arabic language placement exam and the Arabic language courses.

Effective Fall 2018 

Exempted from the Arabic Language Exam and Arabic Language Courses

Requirements for Graduate Students

ALNG also provides a proficiency placement exam service for other departments in AUC. Departments using this service are urged to ask their applicants to take the Arabic placement exam upon their admission. Because the ALI proficiency placement test is open on scheduled days and times each semester, the respective department should:

1. Visit the ALNG webpage regularly to check the exam info and instructions.
2. Send the applicant(s) info (student name, ID, and affiliated department) to alng@aucegypt.edu prior to the exam.

After the exam, ALNG will send the level of the applicant to his/her department. Because each department may have different rubrics/scores for the required level of Arabic, please note that it is the applicant’s department to decide whether s/he is exempted from Arabic or a number of courses should be taken to meet the rubrics. So, applicants need to contact their departments to know the result of their Arabic exam and translate their Arabic level into a numeric score.

Requirements for Study Abroad and Non-degree Students

• Applicants who are not seeking an AUC degree, but wishing to take AUC courses for academic credit may be admitted as non-degree students if they meet the minimum requirements for AUC admission. 

• Non-degree and study-abroad students should follow the instructions below to assure a smooth registration process: Fill out and submit the Preliminary Course Planning Form and the Background Form and then you will receive the online exam once you submit the below forms.

International students applying for the ALNG through the exchange program: 

Be informed that the maximum number of credits for exchange students is 15 for undergraduates and 9 for graduate. Students exceeding the maximum number of credits will have to pay for the extra credits. Please note that it is the responsibility of the exchange students to inform the IPO about the number of Arabic courses/credits that are registered by ALI.

Admissions Deadlines

For more information about the admission deadlines, click here.