<p>The test length depends on the person.</p>
<p>Most students will be finished in fifteen-twenty minutes.</p>
<p>Others will take an hour and a half.</p>
<p>It took me an hour and a half. Basically, students who took the language at the AP level end up making it to Part II which is speaking. In order to get to Part II, it takes you a pretty good while to get through Part I. (Part II isn’t really all that long. It’s a few minutes of speaking.) Students who took the minimum requirement in high school (2-3 years) will typically be given a much smaller number of questions in Part I. It’s just the way the test is designed. It thoroughly makes sure you know material before pushing you onto Part II.</p>
<p>I’ve been told that ALL colleges at USC require foreign language proficiency. They all have different requirements for this. Nursing has an extremely low requirement, so your son would probably place out of the requirement when taking the test.</p>
<p>With that being said, he should try his best. If he decides to switch majors (most students do), then he might have a higher requirement. The College of Arts and Sciences requires all students to finish 122 of a language. That could be the equivalent of three semesters for languages like French, Spanish, and German or two semesters for classes like Italian and Chinese.</p>
<p>If you want to wait, you can take the test in August, but after the beginning of the semester, they don’t offer tests again until something like November. I work in the Lang Department and that’s literally one of the most common questions. You also do much better on it when the material is fresh.</p>