Foreign Language Requirements at US Universities

Many US universities have a foreign language requirement for graduation. Most of them will allow you to use Chinese/ Malay/ Tamil/ Hindi/ whatever language you took as a second language in high school to skip this requirement.

For those who learnt Chinese, it seems that your Singapore-Cambridge GCE 'O' Levels are not always accepted as an exemption criteria.

For example, Stanford requires students to take either the SAT II Chinese test and get 630 or above, or score 4, 5 on the Chinese AP exams. I know its true that taking Chinese SAT/ AP will carry little or no weight on your application to college if you studied Chinese as a second language in high school, but if you are considering to study in US, you might want to take the Chinese SAT anyway, since most US schools accept a good score on the SAT to allow you to exempt from the foreign language.

The CollegeBoard's recommended prep for the Chinese SAT II is "Study of Chinese as a second or foreign language for two to four years in high school, or the equivalent, and Gradual development of competence in the language over a period of years." It also says "You should have at least two years strong preperation in the language, but the more the better".

Seeing Singaporeans who did Chinese in Singapore should have at least 10 years studying the Chinese Language, I'll say you shouldn't have much problem with it. Just try and take it when you take your other SATs like Math and Chemistry. It doesn't cost too much more to take an additional Chinese Language test once you've paid the baseline registration fee, so you might consider taking it. Otherwise, you'll have to take the school's internal placement test once you decide to go there. Taking the SAT will probably save you some administrative work at least, for not too much additional cost or additional work.

From Wellesley College's website:

Foreign Language Requirement

1. You can satisfy the foreign language requirement in the following ways: by receiving a score of 690 or better on an SAT-II test or a 5 on an A.P. exam (4 for students who began before fall 2006); or by successfully completing two units of language study at the second-year level (in the same department) or one unit of language study at the third-year level.

2. All introductory and intermediate languages listed in the College Bulletin as "(1-2)" are full-year courses. This means that you will lose credit for the first semester in these courses unless you successfully complete the second semester. In reviewing your grade report, make sure that you have been granted the appropriate credit.

3. You cannot receive credit for more than two years of modern foreign language at the introductory level.

From Princeton University's website:

Foreign Language

Proficiency in a foreign language is required for graduation under the A.B. program. Many undergraduates satisfy the foreign language requirement by demonstrating proficiency when they enter the University; proficiency is demonstrated by documenting the results of AP tests or SAT Subject Tests, or by taking placement tests administered by academic departments at Princeton. Those tests can also determine whether a student is eligible to elect advanced courses (200 and 300 level). See the individual department entries for further information.

Foreign language study is required through successful completion of courses numbered 107 (or 108) in Arabic, Chinese, Czech, French, German, modern or classical Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Persian, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, or Turkish if taken at Princeton, or through demonstration of an equivalent level of competence. When an undergraduate begins a language at Princeton, three or four terms of study will usually be necessary. If continuing a language begun elsewhere, the student is placed at an appropriate level. At the end of any term beyond the first, a student may take a departmentally administered test and may thereby fulfill the language requirement. All A.B. candidates should begin meeting this requirement as soon as possible because students are expected to develop proficiency in a foreign language by the end of junior year.

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The CollegeBoard offers the following SAT Subject Language tests:
French, German, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Latin, Korean.

For those who took Malay or Hindi or otherwise, I think you will have to take an internal placement test offered by your school instead - check with each individual school about this.