Students with home-Korean background   

If you spoke Korean or grew up listening to your parents or relatives speaking Korean at home either in Korea or in the U.S., you are  required  to take the  proficiency  test.  This will help you to see if Advanced Beginners' class or a higher level class is appropriate for you (especially based on your listening comprehension).   

If you would like to continue studying Korean with the same background, you are  required  to take the test.

Students with formal-Korean background

If you have studied Korean formally, you are  required  to take the  proficiency  test regardless of the amount or duration of your study.   Formal study includes courses you took in a high school in the U.S.,  the Defense Language Institute, any summer school in Korea or in the U.S., and Saturday school ("Hangul hakkyo") or church school ("Kyohwe hakkyo") in the U.S.

Students with no background

Students in the College of Arts and Sciences must complete the third quarter of a foreign language with a grade of 2.0 or higher.  If you choose Korean to fulfill your UW foreign language requirement, you need to take  first-year Korean  class for Non-heritage Beginners (Korean 301), and you do not have to take the proficiency test.

Warning : If a student with background enters the Novice Beginners' class, he or she will be dropped from the course. The student may lose an opportunity to take a class at all, if there is no room to transfer to an Advanced Beginners' class.   No student with background is allowed in a Novice Beginners' class and vice versa.