Official Greek Proficiency Exams

[tryyourbest]

WKA,

Thanks - which exam did you enter, it doesn't seem to bear any relation to the old Γ level or the new Β2 level?

It sounds more like the English CPE - putting paragraphs in order etc? I've never seen an exercise in 10 years of past papers where you have to put a paragraph in order.

You said that most people had finished two essays in 30 minutes - that's amazing I can finish two, but need the full quota of time...

In the new exam you have to do a listening comprehension and take notes - this is really, really hard.

I'm just reading that the exam was easy - perhaps it's about the period of time they've been in Greece studying?

I see it as anything other than difficult...it's not basic Greek...Is it the same exam...!?

Chris

[wka]

Try - sorry for the late reply, I don't have internet anymore! I did the old Δ level, which is equivalent to the current Γ1 level, and easier than the Γ2 level, of course. Yes, we had to put paragraphs in order but it was REALLY easy - you couldn't get it wrong if you could read the paragraphs. We had listening comprehension in the old exam too of course but we didn't have to take notes, just answer questions about the conversations we heard (they were all radio interview type situations). In the exam I took last year, we had reading comprehension, listening comprehension, speaking, and writing - pretty standard stuff, although what exercises they put you through vary with every exam. The bottom line is that if you can communicate at the level at which you are being tested, you will not find any of the exercises difficult - but if you are testing at an inappropriate level, it will show in your score. I hope that makes sense. As for my personal level, I am totally fluent in Greek, I've been studying it for years, so you should not be surprised that I would find it easy - if you find yourself struggling to understand newspaper articles, you definitely don't want to take the Γ levels - there's no advantage to taking a high level and scoring poorly - much better to take a lower level and score high, and then study for a higher level for next year, I think.

[lindavdriet]

I am planning to take level 1 test next year can you please tell me more about it?

[wka]

Lindavriet - I have never taken Level A1 (I presume that's what you mean by "level 1") so I can't give you specifics, but I'm sure if you read the posts about the tests in general, you will find the answers to most common questions; and try clicking the link for more info as that is the site that handles the exams. Just remember, you're being tested in four areas: how well you understand when other people are talking to each other, how well you understand when reading a text, how well you can write a text, and how well you can make yourself understood when speaking to others. You don't want to neglect any of these areas -- most people have one or two areas that they're better at than others, so if you can identify which areas you need to work on you can focus your studying better.

Maybe someone here has taken the Level A1 exam and can help you with more specifics.

[lindavdriet]

thank you for the info I will def do more research