English Courses

First-Year English Courses 

All students at Lehigh are required to take two courses of first-year English: ENGL 001: Critical Reading and Composition and ENGL 002: Research and Argument. 

For students coming in with Transfer credit for ENGL 001 the appropriate next course is ENGL 002.

For students coming in with AP credit for ENGL 001 or who have placed out of ENGL 001 via the SAT Optional Essay or ACT Optional Writing Test scores, the appropriate next course is ENGL 011: Seminar in Critical Reading and Writing, which will satisfy the first year English requirement. 

English for International Students

New international students will take an English placement test at International Orientation in August. Based on those placement test results as well as other English language documentation, the International Center for Academic and Professional English (ICAPE) will work with students to place them on one of three tracks: 

1. ENGL 001 and 002 only

2. ENGL 001 and 002 with special recitation for international English speakers 

3. ENGL 003: Composition and Literature I for International Writers and ENGL 005: Composition and Literature II for International Writers

English Composition Advanced Placement, ACT, SAT, and IB Policy

All first year students in CAS must take two courses in First Year Writing: ENGL 001: Critical Reading and Composition and ENGL 002: Research and Argument. Students may earn credit for ENGL 001 and 002 in a number of ways detailed below.

Students who earn credit for ENGL 001 via the criteria below will need to take ENGL 011: Seminar in Critical Reading and Writing to fulfill the second course requirement instead of taking ENGL 002. 

To receive credit for  ENGL 001 (3 credits), students must achieve one of the following: 

• a score of 4 on either of the English AP exams
• a score of 5 or higher on the IB exam
• a score of 700-749 on the SAT Evidenced Based Reading Writing exam
• a score of 32-34 on the ACT English exam
• a score of 6 or higher on all three parts of the optional SAT essay exam
• a score of 8 or higher on the ACT Optional Writing Test

To receive credit for ENGL 001 (3 credits) AND ENGL 002 (3 credits), students must achieve:

• a score of 5 on either of the English AP exams
• a score of 750-800 on the SAT Evidenced Based Reading Writing exam
• a score of 35-36 on  the ACT English exam

Exceptions and special cases

• Students in the Eckardt Scholar Program are exempt from all CAS requirements, including FY Writing.
• Students in the IDEAS program fulfill the writing requirement by taking writing-intensive seminars in their program.
• Multilingual students are assessed for proficiency by the International Center for Academic and Professional English.  Those who are deemed sufficiently proficient are placed in English 1 and 2; others are advised to take English 3 and 5.