Placements

Placement Information

Learn about the Assessment Center and the placement process at SWC!

Learn More about Placements and Prerequisite Services by visiting us in the Cesar Chavez Building in 68-107 or visit our Virtual Lobby (link below).

What Are Placements?

At Southwestern College, we are dedicated to placing you in courses that best fit you, so that you can be successful.

Placements are how we determine which math, English, and English as a Second Language courses may be necessary for you when you come here.

Tests are no longer required or used in placement. Our placement process is based on multiple measures of your ability to succeed in college level classes.

We work to help you find the environments where you are best supported in achieving success. You can expect to be placed so that you can complete a transfer-level course in math and English within your first year of enrollment. Our team will work with you to figure out exactly which courses are best for you.

Have you already attended another college and want to continue your study here? Check out our Prerequisites website for instructions on having your external coursework evaluated.

Placement and Prerequisites Petitions and Forms

Types of Placements

New Students with US High School

In general, new students who completed high school in the United States will be placed into mathematics and English course sequences based on one or more of the following:

unweighted overall high school grade point average (HS GPA)
courses taken in high school
grades in high school courses

This information will be collected on your application when you apply to Southwestern College.

No US High School Transcript

You need to complete the Southwestern College Math, English and ESL Placement Tool if you are in one of the following groups:

You completed high school outside of the United States.
You attended less than two years of high school in the United States.
You completed a high school equivalency like the GED or HiSet or left high school without finishing.

ESL Placement

You have a right to take credit English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. If you want to take English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, you need to complete an Math, English and ESL Placement Tool

If you have problems or questions about the ESL Guided Self Placement, use the ENTER PLACEMENT AND PREREQUISITES LOBBY or SWCAssessment@swccd.edu to get help.

Current & Returning Students

If you are a Southwestern College student who was placed into non-transferable developmental courses in mathematics and English based on an assessment test before Fall 2019, you have a right to get a new placement that allows you to enroll in a transfer level math or English course.

You can begin this process by completing the Southwestern College Math, English and ESL Placement Tool.

How Do I Check My Placement Results?

Log in to MySWC and navigate to WebAdvisor for Students.
Click on "Academic Profile".
Click on "SWC Assessment Placement Results".
View your placement results. They will tell you the classes that are open to you in the math, English, and ESL course sequences.

Note: If you have any corequisite support requirements. Instructions for enrolling in corequisite support sections can be found below.

If you still do not have placements, see the sections below for instructions about how to proceed.

Virtual Chat

We are here to support each of our student’s needs. Chat live on Cranium Café by finding an online staff member below. To learn more, visit the Virtual Welcome Center. Our student service specialists have their hours of availability listed on their profile cards. If a team member's hours are not reflective of their availability, they are likely supporting another student. We give each of our students the individual attention and time they deserve. Thank you for your patience.

ENTER PLACEMENT AND PREREQUISITES LOBBY

If you are interested in more information about the English as a Second Language (ESL) Program, please chat with our ESL Student Advocate Specialist.

Sí usted esta interesado en más información de Inglés Como Segunda Lengua (ESL) hable con nuestra ESL Student Advocate Specialist.

Most students can expect to be placed into a mathematics and English at the transfer level.

If you have a strong history of academic performance, you will most likely be able to enroll in the transfer course directly.

If you are likely to benefit from additional help in passing a transfer level course, you will have a placement that requires you to take a co-requisite course along with the transfer level course. The corequisite support provides you with just-in-instruction in key foundational concepts that may be weak or need review as well as a focus on effective study skills in the discipline. Research suggests that you are more likely to pass the transfer course in your first attempt with the support given in the corequisite course.

Math Placements
You will get placements for two different mathematics pathways. Which placement pathway a student needs to follow is informed by their intended field of study:

Students who are pursuing fields of study that do not require knowledge of higher level algebra and calculus will be able to take transfer level math classes that focus on statistics or other types of mathematical reasoning that meet the requirements for their chosen field of study. This sequence is called Statistics / Liberal Arts Mathematics (SLAM). All SLAM students have access to at least one transferable course in the SLAM pathway. We recommend enrolling in a transferable math course in your first semester. Students in certain majors who have not completed intermediate algebra before can petition to take MATH 60 Intermediate Algebra I.

Students who plan on majoring in Business, Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (BSTEM) and related fields will be directed to course sequences that include higher level algebra and calculus courses to prepare them for the work they will do in their chosen field of study. All BSTEM students have access to at least one transferable course in the BSTEM pathway. We recommend enrolling in a transferable math course in your first semester.. Students in BSTEM majors who have not completed intermediate algebra before can petition to take MATH 72 Intermediate Algebra I & II.

Placement within each course sequence will depend on the kinds of math classes that you took in high school, the grades that you received in those courses, and your unweighted overall high school GPA. All students are eligible to take transferable courses in each pathway. We recommend that you enroll in a transferable math course in their first semester at Southwestern College.

English Placements
You will receive a recommendation to take transfer-level English course (English 115) either with or without a required corequisite support class (English 45 or NC-165). If you are recommended to take the concurrent support course, the course is required when you take English 115. Certain students may be eligible to opt out of the support course. We recommend that you complete English 115 or ESL 115A in your first year at Southwestern College.
If you are trying to enroll in a section of English 115 with the English 45 corequisite support course, you need to look for sections of English 115 with a “P” in the section number, such as ENGL-115-P99. If your placement says English 115 with English 45, you are not currently eligible for sections of English 115 without the “P” in the section number. You will also need to enroll in the section of English 45 that has the same section number. For example, if you enroll in ENGL-115-P99, you need to enroll in ENGL-45-P99.

If you are trying to enroll in a section of a transfer level math course with corequisite support course, you need to look for sections of your math class with an“S” in the section number. For example, if you want to enroll in MATH-100 with support, look for sections with numbers like MATH-100-S99. Students with a corequisite support placements are not eligible for sections of MATH-100, in this case, without the “S” in the section number. You will also need to enroll in the section of MATH 82 that has the same section number as your section of MATH 100. For example, if you enroll in MATH-100-S99, you need to enroll in MATH-82-S99. The sections of the transfer level course and the corequisite support course are linked. Students are not allowed to "mix and match" sections. This same pattern is true for the following pairings:
- MATH-100 with its corequisite support course MATH-82.
- MATH 101 with its corequisite support course MATH-83.
- MATH-104 with its corequisite support course MATH-86.
- MATH-110 with its corequisite support course MATH-82.
- MATH-118 with its corequisite support course MATH-82.
- MATH-119 with its corequisite support course MATH-84.
- MATH-120 with its corequisite support course MATH-85.
- MATH-121 with its corequisite support course MATH-85.
If following these instructions did not solve your problem, you can contact us using the virtual chat and email links below.
You may be able to be placed into the Southwestern College English and/ or math sequence based on the college courses that you already took.

If you completed math and English courses at another college or university (with a grade of “C” or better, or “Credit”) that are equivalent to Southwestern College courses, to have your courses evaluated for prerequisite equivalency submit an External Course Prerequisite Evaluation Request. More detailed instructions can be found on the Prerequisites website.
If you took classes with modified content, you will be placed by the same procedures as other students. However, we strongly recommend that you talk with a counselor in Disability Support Services.

Individualized accommodations are available to meet the needs of students with disabilities. Please contact Disability Support Services at (619) 482-6512 or TTY (619) 492-6470 for help with accommodations.
You can request a re-evaluation or your Math and/ or English Placement using the Placement Re-evaluation Request process. This process allows you to request that we take another look at you placement. Typical reasons that placements get re-evaluated are:
- You entered some information like your GPA, high school courses or grades incorrectly on your CCCApply application
- You made a mistake on your Guided Self Placement Survey for Math and English
- You need to provide additional information about courses taken that may affect your placements in Math and/ or English
- You have other documentable reasons to have your placements in Math and/or English re-evaluated
In the Placement Re-evaluation Request Process, it is the responsibility of the student to show evidence that the original placement is incorrect. Providing supporting documentation, like a transcript, is highly recommended, if not required, for a successful placement re-evaluation request.

Once your request is received via the online form, you should get a response within 3-5 business days.

Get In Touch

We are here to support you! Please reach out and let us know how we can help.