Prerequisites and Registration

UNC Math Policy

• Formal prerequisites, as outlined in the UNC-CH Catalog, must be completed prior to enrolling into Math courses;
• Undergraduate Admissions will post course credit on Connect Carolina student accounts, after receiving official transcripts and/or standardized test scores;
  • Questions about receipt/processing of transcripts or standardized test scores may be directed towards Undergraduate Admissions at unchelp@admissions.unc.edu or 919-966-3621
  • Questions about the processing of the Math Department ALEKS Placement Test or Calculus Placement Test scores may be directed to Erin Willis at ewillis3@email.unc.edu
• If a student is enrolled in a prerequisite course at UNC at the time of registration, ConnectCarolina will give them permission to register. If a student will take the prerequisite class elsewhere (e.g. community college or other 4-year institution), then ConnectCarolina will not give them permission to register. The student will need to wait until the class is completed and credit is transferred in order to register.

Advising

A summary with general advising information for undergraduate students in the Department of Mathematics can be found in these slides.

Information includes an overview of the math major, course overviews, graduate classes, graduate school, departmental opportunities, and careers in mathematics.

Closed Course Information

***There will be no Math Department Closed Course Request Forms available for Spring 2023***

The last day to add to the ConnectCarolina waitlist is Wednesday, December 7th. If you are hoping to enroll in a class that is closed, please add yourself to the waitlist and continue to watch enrollments to see if any vacancies occur.

If you are still interested in a closed math class and have not rolled in from the waitlist by the first day of class, then you may consider attending the first week of class (with instructor permission) to see if the closed class status changes. There must be chairs available for you to sit-in a class; sitting on the floor is not permitted. There are no other waitlist options available for Spring 2023.

Placement Information

Students entering UNC-Chapel Hill as first-year students are encouraged to take a standardized math exam (e.g. ACT, AP, IB) before the end of their senior year of high school, if they plan to take a class in the precalculus/calculus sequence or a STEM class that requires a math background. Please note these scores must be sent to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Office of Undergraduate Admissions, so that they will be available for placement purposes during summer registration.

Students who have completed MAT171 or MAT172 in the NC Community College system or have math transfer credit from other universities with a grade of C or higher can get math placement credit that way and do not need standardized math exam scores. Transcripts must be submitted to UNC-CH admissions.

Students who do not have standardized math exam scores or transfer credit can take the ALEKS placement test. Students who know calculus but have not taken the AP test can take the Calculus placement tests.

Students who do not have any placement scores or transfer credit in their Connect Carolina account will not be able to register for courses like MATH 130, MATH 231, and CHEM 101 that require math prerequisites, but may enroll in MATH 110 and earn placement credit this way.

Placement Methods

Noteworthy Placement Considerations

• MATH 115, 116, 117, 118, and 119 all satisfy the General Education Quantitative Reasoning (QR) requirement and are open to all students (no prerequisites).
• The AP Statistics Exam is not accepted for math credit or placement
• For students who took International Baccalaureate tests prior to 2021, credits are granted for IB Mathematics and Further Mathematics but not for Mathematical Studies. Please see this table for details.
• For SAT scores, only scores for the SAT 2 Math Subject Level Test (Level 1 and Level 2) are accepted for placement. Scores on the math portion of the regular SAT 1 are not accepted for placement. A score of 590-800 on the MATH Subject Level 1 test confers credit for MATH 110P. A score of 570-630 on the MATH Subject Level 2 test confers credit for MATH 110P. A score of 640-800 on the MATH Subject Level 2 test confers credit for MATH 110P and MATH 129P.
• For students who enrolled prior to Fall 2019, different cut-off scores applied. In particular, a score of 520 on the SAT subject test Math Level 1 and 2 conferred credit for Math 110P, a score of 600 on the SAT subject test Math Level 2 conferred credit for Math 129P, and a score of 27 on the ACT Math test was needed to confer credit for Math 110.
• Additional information on exams accepted for placement credit is given here.

Placement Tests Offered at UNC

The Mathematics Department offers Calculus placement tests each semester on the last business day before classes begin. The departmental calculus placement exam is open only to students who already have been placed into MATH 231 or above. This exam is not a means to award credit. Rather, it is a means to appropriately place students within the calculus sequence.

The Math Department also offers an ALEKS placement test for Algebra and Precalculus. This test is intended for students who do not already have placement scores via the ACT or SAT Math Subject Test, but any student may take it. Students can take ALEKS at any time using online proctoring.

For course-specific placement questions not answered here, contact Dr. Linda Green.