As a COEIT student, having your aptitude in Math documented before your virtual advising and registration appointment is of the highest priority. If your Math skills are not documented, you will be prevented from registering for any courses in MATH, ENGR, CMSC, or Science. All ENGR and CMSC course require that you be eligible to register in Calculus I. The UMBC Math Placement test is designed to assess a student’s readiness for UMBC MATH and STAT courses, and indicate the highest-level MATH/STAT course that the student is eligible to take. It does not award a student credit toward his/her degree.
All entering COEIT majors – freshmen and transfers – should take the online Math Placement test BEFORE their advising and registration appointment, unless you can meet one of the following criteria:
- You can show an original College Board score report during your Advising and Registration appointment, documenting an AP Calculus AB or BC score of 3 or higher. Official documentation of CLEP or IB scores that qualify a student for credit for MATH151 are also acceptable – see the Appendices of the Undergraduate Catalog for more details. An AP Statistics score alone cannot be used by COEIT majors as a substitute for Math Placement.
- You can produce a transcript showing that you have completed a transferable course – meaning, college-credit-bearing, with an earned grade of “C” or better – in the Calculus sequence: e.g., College Algebra, Pre-Calculus, Calculus I, or higher. Statistics coursework alone cannot be used by COEIT majors as a substitute for Math Placement. If your transferable course is College Algebra or lower you may choose to take the Math Placement exam to see if you would place in Calculus I. Please remember that if you attend a school with a two part Pre-Calculus course you will need to pass the second course with a C or better to be eligible for Calculus I. Students transferring courses from institutions other than Maryland Community Colleges may need to have their Math courses evaluated to determine equivalency.
For Summer Orientation students with pending AP Calculus scores – Please note that College Board AP scores from the current year are not available to students until July, and are not reported electronically to UMBC until mid-to-late July, so we highly recommend that all students who are waiting for current year scores in AP Calculus AB or BC take the Math Placement test. Students with current-year AP Calculus exam scores pending who have a virtual registration and advising appointment in June or July and choose not to take the Math Placement exam will be unable to register for math and science courses until those scores are reported. This delay will limit your ability to enroll in all major courses. Similar score reporting timelines exist for students who plan to use IB or CLEP scores in lieu of Math Placement. If your Math Placement score and your AP/IB/CLEP score give you different levels of course eligibility (e.g., your Math Placement score allows you to take Pre-Calculus, but the credit earned through AP Calculus qualifies you to take Calculus), UMBC will allow you to use the better of those two results. Students attending their advising and registration appointment after AP Tests have been sent should have access to their scores on the College Board website at the time of their appointment.
Transfer students from out of state community colleges and most four year colleges may need to have their Calculus-sequence coursework evaluated by the Department of Mathematics & Statistics before they are allowed to register for courses in science, engineering, computer science, and math. While you are waiting for an official evaluation, you may wish to take the Math Placement test in order to register for classes in a timely manner.
If you feel that your previous Math coursework does not accurately reflect your skills in Algebra or Calculus, or if you have Calculus-based coursework left to complete and your most recent Calculus-sequence course was completed more than one year ago, you may wish to take the Math Placement test.
In other words, when in doubt, TAKE THE MATH PLACEMENT TEST!