Placement or Promotion Appeal Policy

ALP Essay Exam Scores

• The ALP Essay Exam is a measure of a student’s ability to apply his or her knowledge of English grammar and vocabulary in the context of an academic essay in which the writer explains and justifies a particular point of view through the introduction, organization and elaboration of specific examples.
• The standard of excellence against which essays are judged is very high:

Level 10:  An essay written at this level is nearly as good as one produced by an educated native speaker of English. It makes a clear argument, and any errors in English usage that it contains are minor and are few and far between.
Level 9:  An essay written at this level approaches native-level work, may contain convincing argumentation, but is marred by an accumulation of minor errors.
Level 8:  An essay written at this level is basically satisfactory, showing a clear organization of ideas and substantial control of English usage, but is clearly written by a non-native user of English.
Level 7:  An essay written at this level attempts sophisticated language and argumentation, but falls short in multiple ways (grammatical, lexical, rhetorical), causing confusion in the mind of the reader.

• The ALP Essay Exam scores are determined in a process of careful reading and consultation among several senior faculty members.  
• Every essay is evaluated by two independent readers. 
• Should there be any question in these readers’ minds about the appropriate placement, a third senior faculty member, the Associate Director, or the Director will also read the essay and consult with his or her colleagues to come to consensus. 

ALP Essay Exam Score Appeals

• Students may not make direct appeal for review of ALP Essay Exam scores to the ALP.
• ALP Essay Exam results may be appealed only at the official request of an undergraduate or graduate admissions officer or academic advisor.

Appeals must be made within one week of the student receiving official notification of results.

1. Student makes an appointment to see an admissions officer or academic advisor in their home school.
2. The admissions officer/advisor contacts ALP Test (alptest@columbia.edu) to make an appeal. The email should contain the following information:
       - Department
       - Name of Academic Advisor/Admissions Officer
       - Student name
       - UNI (if applicable)
       - Date of ALP Essay Exam
3. The original essay is re-reviewed by new readers.
4. ALP Test reports the results back to student and the admissions officer/advisor within one week.

• If that request comes after the first week of classes in a given semester, the result of the appeal will apply to placement into or exemption from an ALP course for the subsequent term.   

Only in the most unusual circumstances will students be asked to sit for the exam again.

Initial placement into ALP classes:

• Placement into ALP classes is double-checked by course instructors during the first week of classes.  
• Official re-assignment of level is done only by the Associate Director or Director in consultation with the principal instructor for the course.
• Changes of level are not possible beyond the first week of classes, and are only made at the discretion of the Associate Director or Director.
• Students arriving after the first week of classes will be admitted and placed only at the discretion of the ALP Associate Director or Director.

End-of-term course promotions:

• Are the product of careful consultation among faculty members, the Associate Director and the Director and are based on work done throughout the semester and final exams.
• Only in the most unusual of circumstances may appeals be made to the Dean of Students, and then only within one week of the student receiving official notification of results.

One-on-one consultations

These may be scheduled between current matriculated Columbia University students and the ALP Associate Directors.  

To schedule an appointment email the ALP Associate Director for Intensive and Part-Time Programs (Mary Pickett, mp3045@columbia.edu). They will contact the student with available times.

Such meetings are for the purpose of academic and linguistic advisement only, not for appeal of placement test results or course promotions.