First day of the term: Placement exam (Prueba)

While we are already mid-way through the semester already, I would like to write about the first day of the term when we had the placement exam.

First day of the class at Centro Compultense para la Enseñanza del Español:

On the first day of the class, there is a placement exam. Typically it starts with a welcome speech by the dean of the Centro Compultense para la Enseñanza del Español. For the Semestre de Invierno de 2011, the placement exam was help at 15:00 at the big auditorium located right in front of the principal entrance of the Facultad de Filología (Edificio A).  Afterwards, students will be guided to different classrooms to take a placement exam.

What is a placement exam like?

The placement exam consists of

1)    Written exam (60-90mins)

Grammar section: 
-multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, finding errors in a text

Writing section: 
-choice of 1 of the 2 topics given. 15-20 lines.

2)    Oral exam (5-10 mins)

As soon as you are done with the written exam, you go to a different classroom where an examiner is waiting. In my case, I had a general conversation with an examiner about what I did over the winter break, and difficulties I find when I study Spanish and what I would like to improve this semester.

The placement exam is done for all of the students, including the students who have been taking the classes in the previous semesters, and of course the new students. This means that for students who already studied a semester at Centro Compultense para la Enseñanza del Español and have completed a certain level of class in the previous semester also need to be present for the placement exam regardless of the class level they were placed previously. For example, a student has completed the Spanish classes in B1-3 last semester can be placed in any level depending on the result of the placement exam (either up the level or down the level). Therefore, it is important to show your best ability on the placement exam!