Spanish Placement Exam

A student interested in testing into the second level of Spanish must make arrangements to take the placement exam in the Spring of their eighth grade year. The test is offered every May and covers the major grammatical and vocabulary points taught in our level one course. The Spanish Placement consists of two parts: a 100 point objective exam and an oral interview.

The Objective Part of the exam consists of the following parts:

  1. Listening comprehension
  2. Uses of ser and estar
  3. Verb forms
  4. Adjectives
  5. Question words and answers
  6. Prepositions of position
  7. Directions
  8. Vocabulary identification in context
  9. Telling time
  10. Word sets (which of four words does NOT fit the set)
  11. Reading comprehension

The oral interview will consist of 10 questious asking about general information based on the items given n the Objective Test.

To prepare for the Objective Exam, students should have mastered:

A. Verb forms:

  1. the forms and uses of ser and estar;
  2. the present tense forms of all regular Spanish verbs in all three conjugations;
  3. the present tense forms of stem-changing verbs;
  4. the present tense forms of the following irregular verbs: ir, tener, venir, ver, hacer, ser, estar, saber, poner, decir and dar;
  5. the use of hay;
  6. special expressions using tener and hacer;
  7. commands using Ud. and Uds.;
  8. uses of gustar;
  9. the immediate future using_ ir + a + infinitive_;
  10. the future using pensar;
  11. the preterite of regular verbs and the irregular verbs listed above.

B. Nouns:

  1. singular and plural formation;
  2. concept of gender;
  3. months, seasons, dates.

C. Adjectives:

  1. the rules of agreement;
  2. position;
  3. singular and plural forms;
  4. numbers;
  5. possessive adjectives and their uses.

D. Prepositions

  1. prepositions of place (detrás de; al lado de, etc.);
  2. pronouns following prepositions.

In addition students should be familiar with the vocabulary of:

  1. telling time;
  2. discussing weather;
  3. naming items in the classroom, school, home, city, family;
  4. giving and receiving directions ;
  5. discussing likes and dislikes;
  6. describing people and things;
  7. asking and answering questions;
  8. cardinal numbers from 1 to 1,000,000.

A student passing into CP Spanish Two must pass both parts of the exam with a minimum combined score of 70%. A student passing into Honors Spanish Two must pass both parts of the exam with a combined score of no lower than 88%.