Testing Services Staff among the First to Welcome New Students to the Forty Acres

There’s little that’s lazy or hazy about the days of summer for Connie Williams, Mellanie Patterson, and Student Testing Services (STS) staff, who will be putting a face to UT Austin for hundreds of incoming freshmen and their parents over the next several weeks. In the course of six four-day summer orientation sessions, STS staff members will counsel 1700 students and administer 12,000 placement tests that most students need before they can register for their first semester of classes.

For staff members, orientation culminates weeks of planning and preparation to provide critical counseling and testing services during the first two days of the four-day orientation week. Each incoming student receives a Cumulative Score Report and Test Schedule that contains the results of national tests received by DIIA, instructions for petitioning for credit by examination, and testing schedules.

Staff members are available in Jester East to provide group and individual counseling and to provide registration assistance for placement tests in foreign languages, mathematics, chemistry, and government. Staff members provide timely scoring of placement exams, so that students can access results quickly—by the afternoon of the second day—while they are still on campus.

Williams, STS supervisor, was pleased with the inaugural session last week, with five more to follow in turn, beginning June 17, 24, and 30 and July 8 and 14. For STS staff and eager volunteers from other components of DIIA, the endless summer is an annual event.