September 20, 2005

Dear Faculty:

I would like to ask you to remind your students of an important requirement – the CUNY Proficiency Examination (CPE).  All undergraduate first-degree students must pass the CPE, regardless of the time they entered the University.  This semester the test will be offered between October 15 and October 28 and students must register online starting September 26. Within the next week or so they will receive a letter providing more information and instructing them how to register.

Students must take the CPE by the time they have accumulated 45 credits, and they are allowed three attempts to pass it.  An absence from the exam is considered a forfeit and counts as one of the three attempts.  The consequences of failure are severe – students who do not pass the CPE within the allotted three attempts cannot graduate and face dismissal from the College, pending appeal.

Please impress upon your students the importance of the CPE and warn them not to ignore the College and University correspondence asking them to take it.  Records are maintained on the number of times students failed or were absent from the CPE.  We do not want students to squander any of the three attempts they are allotted.

The CPE tests students’ ability to understand and think critically about ideas and information they read and to write clearly, logically, and correctly at a level associated with success in upper-division courses.  In Task 1, Analytical Reading and Writing, students are given a 6 to 8-page selection to study one week before the exam and an additional 1 to 1 ½ page selection at the time of testing.  They must write a focused essay, drawing a relationship between specified elements of the two readings and extending it to their own perspective or experience.  The essay is graded in four categories: coherence, summary/explanation, use of references/sources, and language conventions.  In Task 2, Analyzing and Integrating Material from Graphs and Text, students are given a brief reading passage and two charts on the same or similar topics at the time of testing.  In a short written response, they must state the major claim(s) of the reading selection and discuss the extent to which the data in the charts support or challenge the major claim(s).

Please help your students by reminding them to take the CPE upon being notified officially to do so and by keeping in mind the skills that it tests.  If you need further information about the CPE, please contact the Academic Support Center in Kiely 227, X5670, which also provides assistance to students in preparing for the exam.  Thank you.

Sincerely,

Evangelos Gizis

Provost

C:         President James L. Muyskens