Test-out Exams

Need more of a challenge? If you believe your placement or AP score doesn’t accurately reflect your chemistry ability level, you may take a test-out exam for a particular chemistry course.

As you register for classes, you’ll need to sign up for the chemistry course corresponding to your placement level. If you take and pass the test-out exam for that course, you’ll be moved into the next highest course.

When deciding to take a test-out exam, please keep in mind that "testing-out" of a course means that you can demonstrate mastery and recall skills learned in that course. Simply passing a class in high school should never be considered a guarantee that you will not need to retake that class in college. Your performance on any AP, placement, or test-out exam is meant to serve as a measure of what you learned and can remember from your high school coursework.

Registration

To register for a chemistry test-out exam, reach out to Professor Tsunghsuch Wu at 608.342.7302 or chemistry@uwplatt.edu. Please provide your name, email, phone number, name of course you desire to test-out of, and the date of the exam you are registering for. Register at least 24 hours prior to the date of the exam.

Chemistry test-out exams are typically three hours long and include two components:

  • A two-hour, multiple-choice written portion
  • A one-hour laboratory practical (expect for CHEMSTRY 1020, which has no laboratory component)

For any given exam, both components must be taken at the same time and can only be taken once. You are strongly encouraged to carefully review the relevant material before you take the test. The chemistry program doesn’t provide any review materials for test-out exams. If you are attempting a test-out exam for a course you’re already taking, you must complete the test-out by the fifth day of class.

Please bring a pencil with eraser, calculator, a current photo ID, and cash or check made out to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville for the appropriate amount listed below.

Test-Out Exam Fees

A $20 per credit fee is required. Cash or check payments can be paid on the day of the exam, before it begins.

  • CHEMSTRY 1020: Introductory Chemistry with no laboratory practical ($40)
  • CHEMSTRY 1050: General Chemistry including the laboratory practical ($100)
  • CHEMSTRY 1140: General Chemistry including the laboratory practical ($80)

Chemistry Program Test-Out Policies

  • Test-out exams are administered by the UW-Platteville Chemistry Department and take place on the UW-Platteville campus.
  • You may not take a test-out exam for a UW-Platteville chemistry course in which you have already been assigned a grade. You are, however, still eligible to take a test-out exam for a course from which you have withdrawn.
  • You will earn credit for a course if you score 70% or better on the test-out exam for that course.
  • A test-out exam can only be completed once.
  • The Chemistry program adheres to the guidelines related to test-out exams as printed in the university undergraduate catalog.

Topics covered by course

CHEMSTRY 1020 Introductory Chemistry (2 credits)
Measurements, atomic and molecular structure, periodicity, stoichiometry, states of matter, intermolecular forces, and solutions. This course does not have a laboratory portion.

CHEMSTRY 1050 General Chemistry (5 credits)
Naming organic and inorganic compounds, measurements, atomic and molecular structure, periodicity, stoichiometry, states of matter, intermolecular forces, and solutions. This course contains a laboratory portion.

CHEMSTRY 1140 General Chemistry (4 credits)
Basic theory and concepts, atomic structure, periodic properties, stoichiometry, gas laws, thermochemistry, solutions, chemical bonds, and oxidation-reduction. This course contains a laboratory portion.