High School Students

Getting Started

Incoming high school students do not need to take assessment tests! Your placements are based on the information that you provide about your math and English courses and grade point average (GPA) on your 色界吧 application.

New Student

If you have never attended 色界吧 and recently completed high school or you are expecting to graduate in 2025, you will get an email about placements within 2-3 business days of applying to 色界吧.

If you do not receive a placement email, first, check your spam folders. Next, follow the instructions outlined on the main Placements webpage to start the alternate process to get placements.

High School Special Admissions students who have not completed the 10th grade should use the to begin the process of getting placements for math and English classes at Southwestern College. you need to have completed intermediate algebra, Integrated Math 3, or a similar or higher level math course to be eligible to take transfer level math courses and/ or economics courses at Southwestern College.

Returning Student

If you have already attended classes at 色界吧 (CCAP/ Dual Enrollment or High School Special), you need to update your CC色界吧 application so that we know that you are a regular student now. Our Outreach team can help you with this process. Your current placements may not reflect your most recent work in mathematics, quantitative reasoning, or English composition. You can use the to submit your most recent high school transcript and have your placements updated..

Students Without a U.S. High School Transcript

You may need to complete a Guided Placement 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 want instruction in English as a Second Language (ESL) at 色界吧.

If you are in one of the groups listed above, complete the to get your placements. Only students who have already applied to 色界吧 and have a MySWC account can do the .

You will be placed so that you have access to mathematics and English courses at the transfer level if you have completed high school graduation requirements.
- If you have a strong history of academic performance will be most likely be able to directly enroll in one or more transfer level courses.
- If it looks like you would benefit from additional support in passing your transfer level courses, you may be required to take a concurrent support course with your transferable mathematics, quantitative reasoning, or English composition courses. The support course increases your chances of passing the transfer level course on the first attempt. The support course focuses on just-in-time review in key concepts and developing strong college study skills.
- If you are placed with a support course requirement, you can only enroll in the transfer level course options that include a support course. This requirement only applies to your successful completion of your first transfer level, math or English, course in your major.
You will get two mathematics placements. You have one placement for each of 色界吧's mathematics pathways. However, you probably only need to enroll in one mathematics pathway. The right mathematics pathway for each student will depend on the intended field of study and/ or major. The two mathematics pathways are described below:
- 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 and Liberal Arts Math (SLAM).
- 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.
Placement within each mathematics course sequence will depend on the kinds of math classes that students took in high school, the grades that they received in those courses, and their overall high school GPA (unweighted).

If you have questions about which math pathway and which math courses are right for you, please speak to a 色界吧 counselor after you get your placements but before you enroll in classes.
Students will be placed into the English composition course sequence based on their GPA and the English classes taken in high school.

If you have an unweighted overall high school GPA of 2.6 or higher and have completed 11th grade English or higher, you will probably be placed directly into ENGL C1000 Academic Reading and Writing (formerly English 115 College Composition: Reading and Writing Analytically).

If you have an unweighted overall high school GPA below 2.6, you will probably be placed into a section of ENGL C1000 Academic Reading and Writing (formerly English 115 College Composition: Reading and Writing Analytically) with a corequisite support course of English 45 Support for Academic Reading and Writing or NC-165, its noncredit equivalent.

Students with a high school GPA between 2.0 and 2.5 may .
Initial placements consider if you report taking Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), or honors courses in mathematics or English in high school on your application. However, they do not consider AP or IB examination results.
- If you scored 3 or higher on an Advanced Placement Test or 5 or higher on an International Baccalaureate test in mathematics, you may be eligible for a higher mathematics placement.
- A score of 3 or higher on one of the AP English Composition examinations, you may be eligible for a higher placement in English. Unfortunately, we cannot use IB English examination scores in course placement.
- See the section on "Using AP or IB score to satisfy requisites" on the Prerequisites website for more information on how to submit your scores to revise your placements or satisfy a course prerequisite.

Placement Mistakes

Although we work to make sure that our systems place students as accurately as possible, we also realize that mistakes are made now and then.

In those cases, send complete the and include a copy of your complete high school transcript. Petitions without a transcript will be returned to you with a request for the transcript.

Get In Touch

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

色界吧