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Current SPAN/PORT 321 and 206 Students:

Registration

  1. Register at https://enrollment.byu.edu/registrar/challenge-exams. Once registered, the Department will verify that you are enrolled in the class, then you can reserve a time to take the exam.
    It may take up to 72 hours after registering for the Challenge Exam before you can sign up for a specific time slot.
  2. Reserve a time at https://signups.byu.edu/. Choose the bundle of classes (PORT 101, 102, 206, 211, 212 or SPAN 105, 106, 206, 211, 212).

Students enrolled in SPAN/PORT 321 and/or SPAN/PORT 206 will receive an email, after the add/drop deadline, with registration information.

Fall Semester: Request the exam starting Friday, September 13th through Wednesday, November 6th, 2024. DO NOT REQUEST THE EXAM BEFORE SEPTEMBER 13th OR TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES WILL FOLLOW! This might cause complications with the exam-taking process.

Take the exam starting Monday, September 16th through Wednesday, November 13th, 2024.

All exams must be completed by November 13th. NO LATE EXAM REQUESTS WILL BE APPROVED.

Grades will be released after December 2nd, 2024.

Requirements

Read the Policies document to check your eligibility for the Challenge Exam.

Challenge Exam Policies

In order to take this exam, students must be enrolled in a BYU Spanish or Portuguese class. In order to receive the graded credits, students must complete that course. Once students have graduated, they are no longer eligible for challenging any additional credit at BYU unless it is specific to the graduate program to which the students have been admitted. This applies to graduate students and postbaccalaureate students.

Most returned missionaries should take PORT 321 or SPAN 321. Returned missionaries who wish to strengthen their language skills may start with SPAN 206 or PORT 206 and may take the Challenge Exam for up to 12 credit hours.

Native speakers cannot take the exam for their native language (Spanish or Portuguese) if they also completed the equivalent of high school in that same language.

The exam MUST be taken during your FIRST Spanish/Portuguese class at BYU or your FIRST Spanish/Portuguese class after your mission.

According to University policy, if a student has taken an exam at another university, through BYU's Off-Campus Testing Office, or has IB or AP credit, the student may still take the exam at BYU. The Challenge Exam will not replace those former grades or credits.  All test credits will be added to student’s total credits earned.

Non-BYU students may take the Challenge Exam if they register for and take SPAN or PORT 321 as a visiting student. If they do not wish to take 321, there is also an off-campus credit exam available (the FLATS exam), but it is only 12 credit hours and is a pass/fail exam. Please contact Foreign Language Achievement Testing Service at 801-422-3512 or visit their website for more information.

Taking the Exam

The exam is a two-hour, timed exam taken in the Humanities Testing Lab in B-153 JFSB.

Students may only take the exam one time.

Preparing for the Exam

The WebCLIPS program is helpful for reviewing grammar concepts. You can also review study tips for the Challenge Exam below.

Challenge Exam Study Tips

Scores and Credits:

The Challenge Exam tests skills relevant to 100- and 200-level courses. You do not need these credits for the language certificate, minor, or major. You will not need take these courses if you choose not to take the exam or choose not to accept these grades.

Graded credit may be awarded for the following courses (the Department may change this course list without notice to students):

Spanish

  • SPAN 105 (4 credits)
  • SPAN 106 (4 credits)
  • SPAN 206 (4 credits) *students enrolled in SPAN 206 will not receive credit for SPAN 206 through the Challenge Exam
  • SPAN 211R (2 credits)
  • SPAN 212R (2 credits)

Portuguese

  • PORT 101 (4 credits)
  • PORT 102 (4 credits)
  • PORT 201 (4 credits)
  • PORT 211R (2 credits)
  • PORT 212R (2 credits)

You decide which credits you want to put on your transcript. The graded credits you accept WILL affect your overall GPA and your total credit hours but WILL NOT affect credit caps for scholarships, applying to programs, etc. If you do not accept the grade(s), then you do not receive credit for the course(s).

If it is your first semester/term at BYU, the scores you have accepted will appear a few days after this semester/term grades are posted. If it is not your first semester/term at BYU, your scores will appear within three weeks.

Challenge Exam credits are taken into account when priority registration dates are calculated so long as the credit has already been posted to the student’s record when the calculation is made.

Challenge Exam credits DO NOT COUNT towards the requirement for students to declare a major by the time they have earned 60 credit hours or prohibit them from changing their major when they reach 75 credit hours. Additionally, students are not charged a higher “Advanced Study Tuition” rate for having too many credit hours because of Challenge Exam credits. Although, Challenge Exam credits ARE COUNTED in the student's total BYU credit hours and GPA's on their transcripts.