International Student English (ISE) Exam

The ISE Exam is a free placement exam given to assess the English proficiency of international students at USC. After taking the ISE Exam, students are either released from any ALI requirement or receive an ALI course placement(s). There is no fee for taking the exam.

Students who do not meet the university’s English language proficiency requirement will be required to take the ISE Exam. If you are required to take the ISE Exam, it may be stated in your USC admission letter and/or you will have an ALI Hold on your registration portal.

Please note: Some individual programs may require students to complete the ISE Exam regardless of the exemption criteria. Please refer to your intended program(s) for information about their English-language proficiency requirements.

Overview of the ISE Exam:

The ISE Exam has two parts: writing skills and speaking skills. These parts are typically given on the same day, but may also be given on two different days.

Writing skills are assessed by a written exam. Students are allowed 50 minutes to write on a given topic. Students are evaluated on their ability to write a well-organized essay using grammatically accurate and academically appropriate English. Students must bring their personal laptop with the LockDown Browser downloaded to write their essays. The Written Exam is administered in person at the USC University Park Campus.

Oral skills are assessed through a 12-minute Zoom interview conducted by two interviewers. During the interview, students will respond to questions related to a a range of selected topics, reflections on their ISE written exam, and visual prompts. Evaluation criteria include fluency, pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar.

The ISE Exam will be offered in August for students beginning their studies in the fall semester, January for the spring semester and May for the summer session. The ISE Exam may only be taken once in the span of one academic year (i.e., after two regular semesters).

If you are unable to attend any of the ISE Exam dates that are currently posted on our website, you may check back on or after the last exam date posted for additional test dates. We recommend that you take the exam as soon as possible. Students will not be able to register for any classes until after they receive their exam results. Exam results are sent via email within 1-3 business days after completion of the exam.

Before you Sign Up

New students must certify enrollment and register for a USC email address before they will be able to sign up for the ISE Exam.

• Undergraduate students must submit their Enrollment Commitment Deposit.
• Graduate students must submit an Intent to Enroll form.

Before signing up for the ISE Exam, new students must also have a picture on file with the USCard Office. Students don’t need their actual USCard to take the exam. It can take two to five business days before your picture is available and you can sign up for the exam, so please submit a picture as early as possible.

If you have any difficulties submitting a photo, please email askali@usc.edu.

Students who meet certain conditions may not be required to take the ISE Exam.