CAS Online Placement Exams

Please be sure to read this information in its entirety before registering for a Math placement exam. Students must register to take an exam. No exceptions.

The Math placement exams on this website are only for math courses denoted MATH-UA, offered by the Math Department at the College of Arts and Science. These placement exams are NOT for courses denoted as MA-UY. To place into a MA-UY course, please visit the Math Department website for the Tandon School of Engineering.

Consult the Calculus Prerequisites and Advanced Placement webpage before registering for an exam, because you may already satisfy the prerequisites to enroll in a Calculus course.

Students do not receive academic credit for passing a Math Placement Exam. These exams are only to place you into the appropriate MATH-UA mathematics course. Exam results do not show up on your official transcript and they do not affect your GPA.

Please contact the Math Placement Coordinator at mathplac@cims.nyu.edu if you have any questions.

Exams Given

  • Place into MATH-UA 121 Calculus I or MATH-UA 131 Math for Economics I
  • Place into MATH-UA 122 Calculus II *
  • Place into MATH-UA 123 Calculus III *
  • Place out of MATH-UA 123 Calculus III *
  • Place into MATH-UA 132 Math for Economics II *
  • Place into MATH-UA 133 Math for Economics III *
  • Place out of MATH-UA 133 Math for Economics III *

The Calculus/MFE I Placement Exam is an online unproctored exam. If you register for this exam, you will be able to take it at any time once you receive confirmation from the Math Department.

All other Math placement exams are proctored and require selecting a specific exam date and time during registration. Proctored exams are denoted with a star * .

Registering for an exam

If you need to take the Calculus/MFE I Placement Exam, please click here to register

Please click here to register for any other Math placement or outplacement exam (Calculus II, Calculus III, MFE II, MFE III).

Rules & Regulations

  1. After you register for the Calculus/MFE I Placement Exam, you will receive an email confirmation with further instructions within approximately three business days.
  2. After you register for any other Math Placement Exam, you will receive an email confirmation with further instructions approximately one week before the exam date.
  3. The Placement Coordinator reserves the right to cancel or reschedule any proctored exam session.
  4. Proctored exam spots are limited. We cannot guarantee that you will receive your first preferred exam spot.
  5. For proctored exams, please log on to Zoom 10 minutes before the scheduled start time. You will need to reschedule your exam if you log on to Zoom after the scheduled start time.
  6. The Calculus/MFE I and Calculus II placement exams have a maximum exam duration of one hour. All other Math placement exams have a maximum exam duration of two hours. 
    • If you have time accommodations provided to you by the Moses Center, please email proof of accommodations to mathplac@cims.nyu.edu. Approved time accommodations may be automatically included to your exam. 
  7. No calculators, formula sheets, notes, textbooks or other aids are allowed during the exam.
  8. You may take the same Math placement exam a maximum of 2 times, but you must wait 3 months in between attempts. 
  9. Exams results are typically emailed to students within 3 business days after the exam. Exams results are reported on a pass/fail basis. We do not provide number or grade scores. 

Exam Preparation

Students are expected to complete a review of material and any other preparation for the placement exam before they take the exam. All students, without exception, must prove they have the skills required for the courses they wish to take. 

The purpose of a placement exam is to match a student's current skill set to the appropriate class. Calculus and post-Calculus classes are demanding; there is no review of lower-level material in class, and no time for individual review once the semester begins. Instructors and fellow students assume that everyone in the class has attained the same level of mathematical expertise before registration.

Beyond the resources below, the department does not give tutoring or other help in preparing for the placement exams. Students requiring more than a refresher are advised to take the class in which those topics are taught.

Formula sheets will not be provided for exams.

MATH-UA 121 Calculus I and MATH-UA 131 Math for Economics I Placement Exam

The Calculus I / Mathematics for Economics I placement exam tests for calculus readiness. The exam topics include those taught in high school algebra and precalculus classes, or our MATH-UA 9 Algebra, Trigonometry, and Functions course:

  • linear, quadratic, polynomial, rational, other algebraic, exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric, and absolute value functions
  • graphing the above functions with transformations, and conic sections
  • solving equations, ratios, and inequalities

Sample MATH-UA 9 final exams can be found on the course page linked above, as a source of practice problem. However, the actual placement exam does not resemble a MATH-UA 9 final exam.

To review for the exam, you can look at any textbook with "Precalculus" in the title. This includes: 

  • PreCalculus by Stewart, Redland, and Watson (the current textbook for MATH-UA 9 Algebra, Trigonometry, and Functions). Published by Cengage.
  • Precalculus by Faires and DeFranza (the past textbook for the same course). Published by Cengage.

You may also access freely these electronic resources from Bobst Library. The links below will work from any computer on the NYU network. To access these titles off-campus, you can search for the titles in BobCat (click "View Details", then "Online Version"). You may need to re-authenticate with your NYU NetID and PIN.

Calculus Placement Exams

To place into Calculus II:

Students can place into MATH-UA 122 Calculus II by either taking the prerequisite course MATH-UA 121 Calculus I or by taking the Calculus II Placement Exam. The exam is for placement purposes only, and does not confer academic credit for Calculus I. The exam topics are the same as those from the course description of Calculus I. Students may prepare for the placement exam by studying the Calculus I course page, which includes sample exams.

To place into Calculus III:

Students can place into MATH-UA 123 Calculus III by either taking the prerequisite course MATH-UA 122 Calculus II or by taking the Calculus III Placement Exam. The exam is for placement purposes only, and does not confer academic credit for Calculus II. The exam topics are the same as those from the course description of Calculus II. Students may prepare for the placement exam by studying the Calculus II course page, which includes sample exams.

To place out of Calculus III:

Students can place out of MATH-UA 123 Calculus III by taking the Place out of Calculus III Placement Exam. The exam is for placement purposes only, and does not confer academic credit for Calculus III. The exam topics are the same as those from the course description of Calculus III. Students may prepare for the placement exam by studying the Calculus III course page, which includes sample exams.

Math For Economics Placement Exams

To place into Math for Economics II:

Students can place into MATH-UA 132 Math for Economics II by either taking the prerequisite course MATH-UA 131 Math for Economics I or by taking the Math for Economics II Placement Exam. The exam is for placement purposes only, and does not confer academic credit for Mathematics for Economics I. The exam topics are the same as those from the course description of Mathematics for Economics I. Students may prepare for the placement exam by studying the Mathematics for Economics I course page, which includes sample exams.

To place into Math for Economics III:

Students can place into MATH-UA 133 Mathematics for Economics III by either taking the prerequisite course MATH-UA 132 Math for Economics II or by taking the Mathematics for Economics III Placement Exam. The exam is for placement purposes only, and does not confer academic credit for Mathematics for Economics II. The exam topics are the same as those from the course description of Mathematics for Economics II. Students may prepare for the placement exam by studying the Mathematics for Economics II course page, which includes sample exams.

To place out of Math for Economics III:

Students can place out of MATH-UA 133 Mathematics for Economics III through our placement exam. The exam is for placement purposes only, and does not confer academic credit for Mathematics for Economics III. The exam topics are the same as those from the course description of Mathematics for Economics III. Students may prepare for the placement exam by studying the Math for Economics III course page, which includes a sample exam. There will also be some material from Math for Economics I and II.