Language Tests
BYU–Hawaii students who have learned a second (or third…) language outside of the university classroom—by serving a mission, for example—may take the language aptitude test (Foreign Language Achievement Testing Service also known as FLATS) administered by BYU in Provo for academic credit at BYU–Hawaii. Students may earn up to 12 ungraded credits, corresponding to the 101, 102, and 201 language courses.
The exam is taken online using Proctor360. The total cost is $70 ($50 exam fee + $20 Proctor360).
You must be a current BYU–Hawaii student to apply and take the exam.
Options and Eligibility for available tests
- Students who learned the language on an LDS mission or some similar way opt to take the test for a waiver of GE or other requirements or they may take it for university credit (“P” grades only).
- Heritage language learners, who learned a language at home or otherwise grew up speaking it, are not eligible to earn credit for it via exam. They may still take the test to waive GE or other requirements.
Note: with BYU–Hawaii’s current Holokai modular curriculum program, students may not meet general education (GE) language minor requirements via the FLATS exam. Students completing earlier iterations of GE are able to waive the GE language requirement by exam. Some majors may also have a language requirement; these are typically waivable by language test.
Authorization for Testing
Email the coordinator of world languages (david.beus@byuh.edu) for BYUH authorization documentation.
Languages for which tests are currently available are as follows:Nor
Albanian Arabic Armenian Bulgarian Cambodian Cantonese (Simp) Cantonese (Trad) Cebuano Croatian Czech Danish Dutch Estonian Fijian Finnish French Georgian German | Greek Haitian Creole Hmong Hungarian Icelandic Ilonggo-Hiligaynon Indonesian Italian Japanese Korean Latvian Lithuanian Malagasy Malay Mandarin (Simp) Mandarin (Trad) Mongolian | Norwegian Persian-Farsi Polish Portuguese (Braz) Portuguese (Cont) Romanian Russian Samoan Serbian Spanish Swedish Tagalog Tahitian Thai Tongan Ukranian Vietnamese |
Note: For details, contact the Foreign Language Achievement Testing Service.
Language Self-Evaluation Resource (LASER)
The LASER is an indicator of general language proficiency. It does not offer credits for language courses.
It can be completed at any time using a computer with a stable internet connection, and it takes about an hour to complete. It is designed to help BYUH students:
- select the appropriate language course for their ability
- verify that they are in the correct class
- help them become life-long language learners as they improve their ability to self-assess and self-reflect on their language proficiency.
For more information, visit the LASER website.