Juniors at all California's 900-plus high schools will have the option of taking a college placement test for the first time this year to find out if they are ready for academic work at a California State University campus.

The good news is that if they fail, they'll still have their senior year to prepare instead of taking time-consuming remedial classes in college.

The new assessment for college proficiency in math and English is being tacked onto the state-mandated California Standards Test given to high school juniors in the spring. Taking the CSU part of the test is voluntary and would add one hour and 45 minutes to the 10-hour exam, which is administered over several days between February and August.

Currently, students take the CSU placement tests after they are admitted to a campus. If they fail, they are required to take non-credit remedial courses as freshmen.

The early assessment program is the first of its kind in the nation. CSU expects about 100,000 high school seniors will take the test this year.

Administering college placement tests in high school is a major national milestone, said Stanford University education Professor Michael Kirst, co-author of a study calling on high schools and universities to coordinate in setting academic standards.

``High school students lack clear and comprehensive signals about what they need to know and do to succeed in college,'' Kirst said. ``This is the largest national initiative in the country to connect K-12 standards with four-year college placement standards. Nothing like this has ever been done before in recent history and it will be watched as an important national experiment.''

The early testing program is the state university system's best hope for meeting its goal of having 90 percent of its freshmen college-ready in math and science by 2007, the system's chief academic officer told CSU trustees Wednesday. It is far from meeting that goal.

``Unless we can help students earlier in their educational career, we simply won't come close,'' said David Spence, chief academic officer.

Only 42 percent of CSU freshmen were proficient in both math and English for fall 2003, so 58 percent needed remedial classes.

Many students who fail the math proficiency test did not take math during their senior year, Spence said. Some students, who are high achievers in math, do not need it. But even some who pass the CSU math placement test in high school will be given only a conditional exemption and be advised to take advanced algebra as high school seniors.

An important part of the CSU initiative, Kirst said, ``is overcoming the `senior slump.'

``CSU will prescribe things for senior year, and make it a more intense year of academic preparation for college.''

After the juniors take the test, they and their schools will know by Aug. 15 whether they are ready for college classes or if they need remedial help.

CSU and high school faculty members are developing courses and other activities to help students who aren't proficient to reach that goal before entering college, Spence said.