The Writing Placement Assessment (WPA) is a one-hour timed essay designed to assess your English reading and writing proficiency. The assessment is used to place you in the level-appropriate English course. We do not want to place you in a course that is too easy because you have come to college to be challenged, to learn and to grow. However, we do not want to place you in an English course that is too hard because we want to support your success at Otis College.

Common Questions

All incoming first-year and transfer students will take the exam unless:

  • Have prior bachelor’s degree (BA/BS) from an accredited institution where instruction was in English, OR
  • Earned an C or better in an accredited college-level writing course, OR
  • Scored 24 or higher on the ACT ELA, OR
  • Scored 529 or higher for the SAT Critical Reading (pre-March 1, 2016), OR
  • Scored 590 or higher on the SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section (post-March 1, 2016), OR
  • Scored 4 or 5 on the AP English Language and Composition or AP English Literature and Composition exams, OR
  • Scored 6 or 7 on IB English A/B HL, OR
  • Earned a C or better in English A Level

Graduate students and visiting exchange students are waived from taking the WPA.

If you earned an C or better in an accredited college-level writing course, or meet any of the criteria above, you are exempted from taking the exam. Contact admissions@otis.edu to obtain the waiver.

If you need to take the WPA, Admissions will send you the link to login. From there, you will set-up your profile and select a date and time to take the WPA.

Contact admissions@otis.edu if you have any questions.

We encourage students to take the WPA as soon as possible. The sooner you complete the WPA, the more choice you will have over your classes and schedule

Proctor-U is an online proctoring service. Otis College is using it to administer the WPA online starting in mid-April. Once you have deposited, Admissions will contact you with the login information.

Here is the Proctor-U Student Quick Guide [Google Slides].

These courses will focus on helping you develop more fluency with reading and writing in English.

Faculty will read the essay and assess it according to the WPA Holistic Rubric  to determine your placement. This scoring guide was updated in Spring 2024.

Yes. You can consult handheld dictionaries during the exam. Spellcheck, online dictionaries, and auto-translation tools are not allowed.

If you think that your placement does not reflect your writing ability, you can appeal your assessment. Complete the appeal process before or during the first week of school.