All students who plan to take chemistry (Life Science 1a, Physical Sciences 1, etc.), regardless of previous background, should take the chemistry placement exam. If you plan to take a Life Sciences course, you should ALSO take the biology placement exam. Your scores on the placement exams are for advising purposes ONLY. You will not be awarded course credit if you do very well on the exam, or excluded from a course if you do poorly.
Before you begin:
- Do not click the link to the exam until you are ready to begin taking the test.
- You will have 1 hour to complete the exam.
- You may use a calculator.
- Have several sheets of scratch paper and a pencil handy before you start.
- You should not use any other aids (books, notes, etc.) for the exam.
- You must provide your name and Harvard ID number.
- Once you begin taking the test, you should not resize the browser window or your data will be lost!
- If you experience computer problems while taking the exam, wait one hour and log into the exam again.
When you complete the exam, you will need to click twice for your data to be submitted:
- First, click "Submit for error checking."
- Second, at the bottom of the page, click "Submit Final Poll Response."
- You will not receive the results of the placement exam until you arrive on campus. There will be a variety of advising resources during Opening Days to help you interpret your placement results.
When you are ready to start the exam, click here. If you are interested in the biology placement exam, click here.
If you have any technical difficulties relating to this exam, please contact us at ps123@fas.harvard.edu.