Anyone ever take an online CEFR practice/placement test? I’d like to hear from someone who has done the actual test to see how similar the difficulty of questions is.
I just did the one at PrepMyFuture - Campagne - DELF DALF Suisse
I got a higher score than I would expect. Obviously I feel in need of a reality check.
What are your experiences? I’m sure there are other, similar, online evaluations for other languages, if you’re curious to try them out.
I find that the comprehensive CEFR online tests tend to be a bit optimistic, perhaps by one level. They mostly quiz you on your grammar and not your oral skills.
But I looked at the test you took and it had a lot of listening questions, which is good. Maybe it is more accurate then? How are the French B1 and B2 tests set up? The only ones (official) I’ve looked at for the Instituto Cervantes Spanish ones are C1 and C2 and they have these exercises where you have to put the paragraphs in order, something that seems hard to do without specific practice.
I remember taking some of the online Spanish tests after not speaking much Spanish for like 2 years and I would be getting C2’s so I think they are kind of generous. Maybe the French ones are different, however.
I took a Swedish online test before the actual test a few montbs ago and should get the results soon. I’ll let you know.
@Keke_eo
That would be much appreciated =)
I see on your profile that you have taken a couple other tests, as well. Did you find them to be fairly accurate evalutions of your level, at the time?
For Finnish and Esperanto I did only sample tests (book/cd) provided by the test organizations. The sample tests are just a guide for selecting the right level. Swedish is the only one where I’ve done an oline test beforehand which tries to measure the estimated level.
I remember using one earlier test preparation / level measurement service called Dialang. It was an EU project, requiring java. The last time I looked for it, the server part had been closed down. That system had a very nice and accurate way of determine level of knowledge based on knowledge of vocabulary. It would show four words and ask you to pick the odd one out (which word doesn’t belong). e.g. 3 animals and one fruit, 3 verbs and one pronoun, 3 past tense and one future etc. From memory it supported about 15 languages.
OK - I got my results the other day.
The online sample test that I did before the Swedish exam is detailed at Testa dina språkkunskaper - Folkuniversitetet and can be taken at http://spraktest.folkuniversitetet.se/ . It can test for English, Swedish, Spanish, German, French and Italian.
My results of that test were:
Writing Self assessment: B1
Vocabulary and grammar Self assessment: B1
Reading Test result: B1
Listening Test result: B2
Spoken production Self assessment: B1
Spoken interaction Self assessment: B1
My actual results on the Finnish government CEFR test of Swedish were:
Writing Test result: B1
Reading comprehension Test result: B1
Listening comprehension Test result: B2
Speaking: Test result: B1
So, based on my experience (a sample size of 1) the Swedish folkuniversitet sample tests are very accurate for the tests done in Finland. Note, the Finnish government CEFR exam at B1/B2 level does not use an interview - speech production is measured by analysing responses to simulated pre-recorded conversations. Vocabulary is no longer assesed separately either (earlier it was).
Congratulations on your test results, and thanks for posting them! I’m going to check out that practice test you referred to.
Such online tests normally include just the reading part. Examining organizations, on the other hand, normally provide you with free samples, which you could use to proof yourself and get used to the form of a given exam.
For instance, here is what I used (well, part of what I used) to prepare for German TestDaF (B2/C1 exam): Modelltests für den papierbasierten TestDaF