Preparing for Course Registration

Prior to taking placement assessments in my.UIC.edu, you are required to activate your portal account (Net ID and Enterprise ID). If you have not already done so, follow the instructions under “First Time Portal Users” to activate your portal account before logging into my.UIC.edu.

If you have previously activated your portal account, click on login under “Existing Portal Users.”

Placement assessments are required in certain subjects. Information regarding placements was enclosed in the packet sent to you by the Office of Admissions. First-year students will be unable to register for New Student Advising and Registration without first taking placement assessments in English, Math, and for some students, Chemistry and Physics. Transfer students may be required to take certain placements depending on incoming credit. The Chemistry placement is only required if Chemistry is needed for your major or Educational Goal. The Physics placement is only required for students who intend on taking calculus-based physics. The Spanish Placement is required if you plan to enroll in any Spanish course at UIC, regardless of any incoming credit. Additional placement assessment information is enclosed in the packet sent to you by the Office of Admissions.

To take your placement assessments:

1. Log into my.UIC.edu and select the UIC Connect tab.
2. Navigate to the Pathway to Enrollment tab.
3. Select the “Placement Assessment” portlet, located on the lower right side of the page, to learn more about the placement assessment process.
4. Respond accurately to the questionnaire regarding placements in my.UIC.edu.
5. Take the appropriate placement assessments.
6. Results are viewable within the portal within three days for all multiple-choice assessments. Assessments that require review may take up to 14 business days for a placement (placements with essays for example).

It is recommended that you take the necessary placements as soon as possible.

To learn more directly from the placement website, visit here: testing.uic.edu/placement-testing/first-year-students

If you need to submit a help ticket, visit here: help.osss.uic.edu/placement-testing

Important note about retaking the Math placement:

If you are unsatisfied with your placement score and wish to retake, you have free access to the required ALEKS Learning Module and up to four free retakes. These retakes can be attempted before the first Friday of Week 1 of the term at 5 p.m. when the placement assessment closes. Five hours of work on a learning module are required before each retake and 48 hours must pass before having access to each retake. The highest placement is MATH 180.

Important note about AP, IB, A-Level, and Dual Credit:

If you took an AP, IB, or A-level exam or have Dual Credit in some of these areas, you may have earned university credit. You must send the original exam results and/or transcripts to UIC to have these be added to your degree audit. For more information on AP, IB, and A-level, please visit catalog.uic.edu/ucat/degree-programs/academic-standing. For checking transfer course equivalency, view www.transferology.com/school/uic.

Upon entering UIC, you may or may not have an idea about your major area of study. We suggest that all first-year students begin by focusing on college and General Education requirements, and use these courses to explore various areas of interest. For transfer students, we recommend reviewing remaining college and General Education requirements, and enrolling the a mix of those and major courses.

College Requirements

All students must complete University Writing, Foreign Language, and Quantitative Reasoning requirements. Placement assessments should be taken in each of these areas before attending New Student Advising and Registration so that you are able to enroll in the courses you need to ensure a timely graduation. For more information about degree requirements, please refer to the New Student Academic Guide.

University Writing

Students must start where their placement assessment or ACT score dictates, pending any potential college credits you may have (you can confirm this information with your advisor during New Student Advising or by checking the New Student Academic Guide). Students must continue the University Writing sequence until successfully completing English 161.

Foreign Language

Students must complete the equivalent of the fourth semester of college-level foreign language (for example, through a 104 of a language). If you have a background in a foreign language, you should take a placement assessment in that language prior to attending New Student Advising. If a placement assessment is not offered in your language, speak with an advisor at New Student Advising. For more information on the Foreign Language Requirement, please review the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Catalog page.

Quantitative Reasoning

Students must start where their placement assessment score dictates and must complete a certain level of math, statistics or logic in order to satisfy this requirement. Some students may have potential college credits incoming from test-based credit or dual enrollment. The appropriate course will depend on your major or educational goal.

General Education Requirements

All students must fulfill the General Education requirements in order to graduate. Students have the flexibility to choose which course they would like to take within the required General Education categories:

• Analyzing the Natural World (2 courses with lab)
• Exploring World Cultures (1 course)
• Understanding the Creative Arts (1 course)
• Understanding the Individual and Society (1 course)
• Understanding the Past (1 course)
• Understanding U.S. Society (1 course)

These areas will be discussed in greater detail at New Student Advising and Registration; in the meantime, familiarize yourself with the General Education requirements by reviewing the Undergraduate Catalog and LAS General Education website.

Previous College Credit

If you have previously taken courses at another institution or are expecting college credit from AP or IB exams taken, it is recommended that you review your degree audit located in my.UIC.edu. Degree audits are specific to you and allow you to view how your previous credit applies toward your UIC degree. For information on how to access and read your degree audit, please review the video series located at the bottom of this page.

If credit is not showing up on your audit as anticipated, please verify you have submitted official college transcripts or official score reports to UIC Admissions.

In addition to having a major, some students choose to pursue an educational goal in a pre-professional area such as pre-law or a pre-health field. Pre-professional educational goals are not majors in LAS. The various professional programs often require specific coursework be completed prior to applying, and most require a bachelor’s degree prior to admission. Students can often satisfy prerequisites for pre-professional programs with General Education and/or major requirements for a degree in LAS.

Students with an interest in a pre-health or pre-law field should add an educational goal to ensure that they receive pertinent information applicable to their area of interest. This can be done on the appropriate Pre-Professional Advising website: LAS Pre-Health Advising or LAS Pre-Law Advising under the Educational Goal link. Students should speak with an LAS Academic Advisor at New Student Advising and Registration about adding other types of educational goals.

Please visit the Pre-Professional Studies section of the Undergraduate Catalog or New Student Academic Guide for information on the course requirements for each of the pre-professional programs.

After you have completed your placement assessments, you can access your results, obtain information on how to interpret the results, and learn how to prepare for your first semester at UIC through UIC Connect. You will find advising and planning for your first semester to be much easier if you review this information prior to new student advising and registration.

To check placement results:

1. Visit my.UIC.edu.
2. Log in by clicking on “login” under Existing Portal Users.
3. Click on the UIC Connect tab.
4. Navigate to the Pathway to Enrollment tab.
5. Click on the Placement Assessment portlet.
6. Click “View Available Assessment Results”.

Once you have this information, you may begin planning your course schedule for your first semester.

Utilize these letters from the college to better understand what your placements mean:

First-Year Assessment Letter

Transfer Assessment Letter

Readmit Assessment Letter

First Year Students: An LAS academic advisor will provide you course recommendations based on your previous college credit, placement results, and selected major and educational goal at your schedule New Student Advising and Registration session. For some requirements, you will have the flexibility to pick a course of your choosing within certain parameters. Prior to your New Student Advising and Registration session, it is recommended that you choose 2-3 courses from each of the general education categories that interest you.

Transfer Students: Please utilize the resources on this page to find courses that fit your remaining requirements (general education courses, major courses, courses of interest) and register for them prior to attending your new student advising and registration appointment. See below for information on accessing and utilizing your Degree Audit.

Once you have found a couple of courses from each category that sound interesting, check the Course Descriptions for pre-requisites (courses you must take first in order to be properly prepared). Most courses designed for first-year students will be at the 100 level, such as: SOC 100, POLS 101, THTR 109, and HIST 103.

Not all courses will be offered or open every semester. To see what is available in a particular semester:

1. Log into my.UIC.edu.
2. On the “Welcome” tab, scroll down and select “XE Registration/View Classes”.
3. Select “Browse Classes” for the current term.
4. Search for classes using a variety of search fields. For general education courses,
   1. Select “Advanced Search” to view the “Attribute” search field.
   2. Within the “Attribute” box, select the General Education Category of interest.

To help you in determining the number of credit hours you wish to take in your first semester, consider the following:

• A semester hour is the university’s unit of academic credit. Typical courses are three credit hours. Many science or math courses are four or five credit hours because they include a discussion or lab component.
• A minimum of 120 credit hours are needed for graduation.
• In order to be a full-time student, you must register for at least 12 credit hours in the fall semester and 12 credit hours in the spring semester. If you take fewer than 12 credit hours in either the fall or spring semester, you will be considered a part-time student. We recommend registering for 15 credit hours your first semester at UIC. Averaging 15 credit hours a term increases your ability to stay on track to graduate in four years.
• Students are expected to study at least 3 hours outside of class for every hour of class. For example, if you register for 15 credit hours, you should plan on a minimum of 45 hours of study time per week in addition to class time. It is important to balance any outside work and other commitments with your academic load.

XE Registration is located via my.uic.edu by either locating it on your home page or searching for it in the search bar.

After locating XE Registration, click the portlet and you will see “Browse for Classes,” “Register for Classes,” “Plan Ahead,” and much more! For instructions on how to use XE Registration, visit the Registrar’s website here.

There you will find information on how to search and register, how to enter a course registration number (or CRN for short), how to navigate error messages and linked courses, and more.

If you need additional course registration assistance, please utilize Registration Services at

• Phone: 312-996-4350, option 3 (available Mon-Fri 9 am to 4 pm)
  Email: registration@uic.edu