Excelsior - NYU Foreign Language Exam?

[NAP]

I prefer the BYU FLATS exam over the NYU exam. It's just so much cheaper. $50 plus whatever your testing center charges.

They offer quite a few languages: Foreign Language Achievement Testing Service--BYU

I'm taking the Indonesian version tomorrow!

Looks great!

How do the credits, upper-level, and costs compare for you at NYU, BYU, and ACTFL?

I'm sure you will do well tomorrow and take another big step toward your degree!

[wb.john]

Looks great!

How do the credits, upper-level, and costs compare for you at NYU, BYU, and ACTFL?

I'm sure you will do well tomorrow and take another big step toward your degree!

NYU has the advantage of giving 4 UL over the BYU. Its greater difficulty gives it better professional standing. The BYU exam doesn't gives only 12 lower level and no upper level. The ACTFL isn't too expensive to take, but it seems much more difficult, at least for me. I'd like to be able to do it some time in the future.

I just took the Indonesian version today, and I didn't enjoy it so much. The test seemed designed to be tricky. The listening part was unsurprisingly difficult, but I was told not to mess with the CD player, so I couldn't repeat any of the questions. I didn't have any measure of time available to me. That made me anxious, though I ended up finishing with an hour remaining. I never have the energy to go back and check everything. This is the first test I have taken where I need to wait to see my score. That is excruciating.

Of course if I end up getting a satisfactory score, I'll have nothing but good things to say about the exam.

[NAP]

NYU has the advantage of giving 4 UL over the BYU. Its greater difficulty gives it better professional standing. The BYU exam doesn't gives only 12 lower level and no upper level. The ACTFL isn't too expensive to take, but it seems much more difficult, at least for me. I'd like to be able to do it some time in the future.

I just took the Indonesian version today, and I didn't enjoy it so much. The test seemed designed to be tricky. The listening part was unsurprisingly difficult, but I was told not to mess with the CD player, so I couldn't repeat any of the questions. I didn't have any measure of time available to me. That made me anxious, though I ended up finishing with an hour remaining. I never have the energy to go back and check everything. This is the first test I have taken where I need to wait to see my score. That is excruciating.

Of course if I end up getting a satisfactory score, I'll have nothing but good things to say about the exam.

I can't believe that you found a test for so many languages which costs less than a CLEP!

Waiting for the results is hard. How long did they say it would take to get your score?

From reading BYU quickly and your experience, it sounds like it is similar to the CLEP. This may mean that the BYU would not duplicate credit for the ACTFL. What do you think?

[WeAintGotNoBadges]

NYU has the advantage of giving 4 UL over the BYU. Its greater difficulty gives it better professional standing. The BYU exam doesn't gives only 12 lower level and no upper level. The ACTFL isn't too expensive to take, but it seems much more difficult, at least for me. I'd like to be able to do it some time in the future.

I just took the Indonesian version today, and I didn't enjoy it so much. The test seemed designed to be tricky. The listening part was unsurprisingly difficult, but I was told not to mess with the CD player, so I couldn't repeat any of the questions. I didn't have any measure of time available to me. That made me anxious, though I ended up finishing with an hour remaining. I never have the energy to go back and check everything. This is the first test I have taken where I need to wait to see my score. That is excruciating.

Of course if I end up getting a satisfactory score, I'll have nothing but good things to say about the exam.

I looked it up with the link that you provided to the exams and the FAQ implies that native speakers are barred from taking them.

[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="4"][SIZE="2"]6) [SIZE="3"][SIZE="2"]Q: I am a native speaker of [language] and would like to receive credit for my language. Can I use these tests for this purpose?
A: At BYU we do not allow native speakers of a given language to receive lower-division credit for that language. We have no jurisdiction over other institutions and their policies for language credit. You should discuss this issue with your institution.[/SIZE][/SIZE] [/SIZE][/SIZE][/COLOR]

I think that this would limit the testing range and thus the upper credits that an outside institution would award. Did you check with your school how they'll credit you?

W.

[WeAintGotNoBadges]

"I receive 12 Lower Level Credits for French CLEP, 10 Lower Levels Credits for French ACTFL LTI OPI, 2 Upper Levels Credits for French ACTFL LTI OPI"

Hmmm.... I looked deeper into this (I booked the CLEP exam). Does that mean that even if you get the max credits of 12 LL for the French CLEP and 10 LL + 2 UL for the French OPI, you cannot fullfill the second depth requirement (ending short one UL credit) with a language option as your depth? Or do I misunderstand the depth requirement for an EC BS with major?

W.

[wb.john]

I can't believe that you found a test for so many languages which costs less than a CLEP!

Waiting for the results is hard. How long did they say it would take to get your score?

From reading BYU quickly and your experience, it sounds like it is similar to the CLEP. This may mean that the BYU would not duplicate credit for the ACTFL. What do you think?

I know! Isn't it great? Especially for those curious folk who take an interest in languages such as Maori and Navajo.

Some where on their website is an option to put in a request for new exams. I requested Malay, Esperanto and Tausug. Oops... I forgot to request Javanese.

I initially found the exams using this resource:
Foreign Language Assessment Directory
which seems like a fairly comprehensive list of language exams, for credit, or otherwise.

I'm guessing about two weeks for the score. I'm fairly certain it wouldn't duplicate the ACTFL, as there is no speaking segment.

I looked it up with the link that you provided to the exams and the FAQ implies that native speakers are barred from taking them.

[COLOR="Blue"][SIZE="4"][SIZE="2"]6) [SIZE="3"][SIZE="2"]Q: I am a native speaker of [language] and would like to receive credit for my language. Can I use these tests for this purpose?
A: At BYU we do not allow native speakers of a given language to receive lower-division credit for that language. We have no jurisdiction over other institutions and their policies for language credit. You should discuss this issue with your institution.[/SIZE][/SIZE] [/SIZE][/SIZE][/COLOR]

I think that this would limit the testing range and thus the upper credits that an outside institution would award. Did you check with your school how they'll credit you?

W.

Well, I'm not a native speaker. I haven't inquired as to how Excelsior will treat this exam. I'm still in the application process. I am going off second hand information that I found somewhere on the internet.

Excelsior may have decided to accept FLATS - DegreeInfo Distance Learning - online degree forum

If I was a native speaker, I would probably just take the test and not tell any one that I was a native speaker.

I imagine if you told them you were a native speaker, they would allow you to take the exam, but it would be up to your own college to decide to grant you credit for it or not.

[WeAintGotNoBadges]

Well, I'm not a native speaker. I haven't inquired as to how Excelsior will treat this exam. I'm still in the application process. I am going off second hand information that I found somewhere on the internet.

Excelsior may have decided to accept FLATS - DegreeInfo Distance Learning - online degree forum

If I was a native speaker, I would probably just take the test and not tell any one that I was a native speaker.

I imagine if you told them you were a native speaker, they would allow you to take the exam, but it would be up to your own college to decide to grant you credit for it or not.

It's not clear from the link if the person who started the thread (7 years ago) got these 12 credits in lower credits or another combination. If the former, it certainly makes this exam a good alternative for languages not available with CLEP.

Good luck with your exam,

W.

[NAP]

I could be wrong, but I don't remember anyone having mentioned any issues with being a native speaker taking an exam for any of the Big Three. If there has been, I'm sure it would have been discussed on the forum somewhere. (It looks like Zefrench did not have a problem getting it accepted.)

"I receive 12 Lower Level Credits for French CLEP, 10 Lower Levels Credits for French ACTFL LTI OPI, 2 Upper Levels Credits for French ACTFL LTI OPI"

Hmmm.... I looked deeper into this (I booked the CLEP exam). Does that mean that even if you get the max credits of 12 LL for the French CLEP and 10 LL + 2 UL for the French OPI, you cannot fullfill the second depth requirement (ending short one UL credit) with a language option as your depth? Or do I misunderstand the depth requirement for an EC BS with major?

W.

A depth is 12 credits with at least 3 upper-level.

If you look at the chart at the bottom of this linked page, it appears that currently any of the ACTFL exams could grant enough credits for a depth with the highest of 5 levels of proficiency (not easy, but possible).

ACTFL Certified Proficiency Testing Programs (oral and written) - American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages

[WeAintGotNoBadges]

I could be wrong, but I don't remember anyone having mentioned any issues with being a native speaker taking an exam for any of the Big Three. If there has been, I'm sure it would have been discussed on the forum somewhere. (It looks like Zefrench did not have a problem getting it accepted.)



A depth is 12 credits with at least 3 upper-level.

If you look at the chart at the bottom of this linked page, it appears that currently any of the ACTFL exams could grant enough credits for a depth with the highest of 5 levels of proficiency (not easy, but possible).

ACTFL Certified Proficiency Testing Programs (oral and written) - American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages

For BYU, I was referring to their policy toward their own students in regard to BYU's exam. The inference is that the exam is not geared toward testing full proficiency and that this could impact how external institutions treat it.

In regard to the OPI exam, there is a discrepancy between what is mentioned on the ACTFL web site (8 LL + 4 UL for advanced high/superior) and what the ACE web site says.
Credit Recommendation: In the lower division baccalaureate/associate degree category, 10 semester hours and in the upper division baccalaureate degree category, 2 semester hours in Foreign Language (Advanced High/Superior).

This has been confirmed by ZeFrench, who has reported getting 10 LL and 2 UL credits at EC for his OPI exam.

It's important to me simply because although I can use the CLEP credits for other requirements, the OPI would leave me shy 1 UL credit to satisfy depth 2 (unless I have completely misunderstood this and I can mix and match humanities credits to fullfill that requirement).

:confused:

EDIT: I checked with Excelsior and they go with whatever ACE says, so the max that one can get is 10 lower and 2 upper credits for the ACTFL OPI. The other option for fullfilling a depth would be the NYU exam (a max of 12 lower + 4 upper credits) .

W.

[zefrench]

My native tongue is french (Canadian), and I did not have any problem taking the CLEP or the ACTFL as far as acceptence of credit with Excelsior or acceptance to take a test.

The ACTFL interviewer was from France, but once we agreed on using standard French, there was no slang impediments.

Note that I did not take those credits as a depth, but rather as an easy source of elective credits.