Page 48 - Rules & Regulations

Appendix C

Regulations for the Promotion Examinations of the PYP Courses

English Preparatory Year Program (PYP)
Placement

The PYP English placement process is designed to optimize the student experience and
maximize our students’ performance by placing them in the most suitable level for their language
ability.

Students are placed directly into the first level of the English Preparatory Year Program (PYP)
through the EPT (English Placement Test [Qiyas]) or the PSU In-house Placement Exam.*
There are two exceptions to this:
1. Students who are identified as having low-level English language proficiency – Common
European Framework of Reference A1 (CEFR) are entered into the Intensive English
Program (IEP) as outlined on page four.
2. Students who demonstrate a high degree of language ability are afforded the opportunity
to be exempt from one or more PYP courses as outlined in the tables on pages five and
six.

Any exemption from a PYP course is determined through the PSU English Promotion Test or
international tests such as IELTS or the Internet Based TOEFL (IBT).

This document is effective from the beginning of academic year 2017-2018.
The process for placement is detailed in the tables that follow.
PSU English Placement Exam Structure

English Placement Test (National Center for Assessment - NCA - QIYAS) and PSU
In-house Placement Exam
The English Placement Test (EPT) produced by the National Center for Assessment is a
Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) linked placement test designed to identify
language learner ability from a range of A1 to B2. The PSU In-house Placement Exam has been
developed along the same lines.
Content

The tests consist of eighty questions in three sections, structure, reading comprehension and
compositional analysis. The maximum allotted time is 90 minutes.

Distribution
The level and range of the questions is distributed according to the needs of Prince Sultan
University’s PYP program. PSU’s PYP learning outcomes are aligned to CEFR B1(010-020
exit) and B2 (030-040 exit). Therefore, the test is set up to identify and align to these key areas.

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Undergraduate Study and Examinations