<p>Back in my day, the SAT “achievement tests” (later called SAT II tests) could sometimes be used for this purpose. I recall that as I was about to graduate (!) I learned that my score on the Spanish achievement test during high school could have been used to exempt me from language study at Reed. In other words, I would have satisfied this distribution requirement, and perhaps been given “credit” toward my overall degree requirements (total units required) as well. In any case, I studied Russian and German there, so I wasn’t interested in exemption from the language requirement. So nothing was lost from the late arrival of that advice (which may well have been in the catalog, for all I know).</p>