I am so excited to announce that for the first time ever, All Saints students will be taking the National Spanish Exam! The NSE is the most widely used set of Spanish proficiency tests in the US, with more than 150,000 middle school and high school students participating in 2014 alone.
The test measures listening comprehension skills, reading comprehension skills, vocabulary and grammar according to national standards for Spanish language learners. There are several different categories for each level, so that students who have more exposure to Spanish (for example, if Spanish is spoken at home) are ranked against their peers instead of with those who are learning it in a typical school setting. Because students at All Saints have so much Spanish in elementary grades, the exam will classify them as OE (having outside experience).
I am preparing a study guide for the students who will be taking the exam that will include much of the vocabulary and brief explanations of the grammar that will be covered. To give you an idea of how rigorous the exam is, I still have two-thirds of the grammar standards left to cover and I am already at 29 pages and nearly 3,000 words!
I won't lie--the exam is hard. Most of the students who are taking it are in high school (there are plenty of sophomores and juniors taking the level 1). Additionally, many schools only allow their top students to take it (often an A average is required for eligibility). Finally, our students will be competing in the same group as those who have Spanish spoken at home. An "average" score on this exam is actually far higher than an average Spanish student would be capable of achieving. But having worked with the students at All Saints this last semester, I am convinced that they will excel.
The exam will be taken in the spring, probably in late March. Once our time grows closer, I will be looking for some parents to help proctor the exam. In the meantime, if you would like to practice with previous exams or use some games and links to help practice, they are available here: http://www.nationalspanishexam.org/index.php/exam-preparation/online-practice-exercises The link offers many types of practice, including listening comprehension and reading comprehension exercises.
I am excited about all that our students have learned, and look forward to seeing that reflected in this exam.
