I would really like to place into Spanish L5, so that I don't have to take Spanish everyday.
Does anyone know what the placement test is like?
I've the essay is most important... Is there any multiple choice? Does it get into subjunctive? Should I just review the day before or should I start now?
First: that's a really awful reason to want to be in L5 Spanish.
Second: I haven't taken it, but there are barely ever multiple choice questions on college exams. I would be shocked if you weren't expected to show knowledge of the subjunctive before entering Yale's advanced language classes.
Third: "Studying" for placement exams is a bad idea. It's all right to brush up the day before, but the point of the placement exam is to place you in the class where your present abilities will allow you to succeed. Don't worry; if you don't place into L5, that means you would have been struggling to keep up in it.
In my defense, I'm just not interested in spending my time at Yale studying Spanish. I did a lot of Spanish in high school, but got 4's on both APs. I enjoyed literature, so placing into level 5 would let me take that kind of culture/lit course. But going for grammar 5 times a week is a pain to schedule, is annoying, and there are so many other courses that I would absolutely love to take. In which case, I think studying for a placement test (as in reviewing/relearning some little things for a week before) is justified.
I just don't really feel the langauge requirment and I don't want to be stuck taking everyday Spanish (instead of 3 courses I would prefer) for an entire year.
I was really just wondering if anyone had taken any of yale's language placement tests, and knew good things to review. (should I practice any listening or reading comp, or is it mostly fill-in-blanks and essays kind of thing?)
Also, according to my really good friend at Yale, your comment about no multiple choice in college is blantantly false. He's seen them a lot in math, and a little in bio and history in only one year at Yale)
Okay, revision: non-Sc/QR exams that include multiple choice are considered ridiculously easy (though that might not be true) and I've heard the multiple-choice format ridiculed and dismissed by more than one professor. There are guts anywhere, even in history.
As for not wanting to have to take a foreign language, I guess I just can't empathize. In the worst case scenario, realize that L3/L4 level classes *will* involve literature. But it'll be easier. And even if you have class every day, the material will be easier if you were on the brink of placing into L5. But anyway, I got the impression from your post that you were one of those people who hasn't actually had that much Spanish and is going to try to learn themselves up a level as opposed to just review, which is why I got snippy.
I've only taken the Arabic placement test, which (to my memory) didn't have a speaking or listening section. It was about equally distributed across reading comp, grammatical fill-in-the-blanks, and writing. They might have a listening comp for Spanish--they had us in the same room with the Hebrew exam, so that might have just been impractical in my situation...
I took the placement test for French. I'm going to assume that most placement tests are the same. They don't test writing or speaking. They mostly test comprehension. For French, we listened to recordings and had to answer multiple choice questions pertaining to the things we heard.
That doesn't mean it's easy, and I believe the cutoff for L5 is really low (hence not easy). Most of the things I heard I couldn't really understand and even then I didn't see how the multiple choice options corresponded with the things we heard. But I got into L5 so I'm sure you can be fine. No need to brush up on grammar. Just listen to things in Spanish.
As to multiple choice problems, you will see them in some classes. I had them in Chem second semester, but you still had to work out the problems and it's not like they were easy.
As to the placement exams, for the popular languages, like French and Spanish, they're not going to give you writing and fill in the blanks and have people sift through hundreds of exams reading people's essays and stuff. They don't have the time. I'm going to assume that not many people are proficient enough in Arabic to take the placement exam so they have the resources to do that.
haha, alright thanks!
arg... listening...
Good to know, placing into L5 would be great, L4 will be fine, and lower would be a pain.
I've have heard that some of the L5 spanish courses are on the easier side.
L5 classes aren't "hard" if you know the material. If you know how to comprehend, speak, and write you'll be fine. You'll just be practicing and getting better.
Does scoring a 5 on AP Spanish Language automatically get you placed into L5? I made a 5, but if I hypothetically bombed the Spanish placement exam, will I be placed into a lower level?
I think the Placement test takes precedent. That, or the department won't let you take the placement test because you scored a 5 already. A 5 on the AP does get you into L5 automatically.
i have a good enough AP score to place into an L5 class- do i have to officially send this score via collegeboard or can i just show the dept that slip of paper with my grades that i got mailed the year i took the AP? thanks in advance
They should already know if you sent the AP score to Yale in your application. The admissions office should forward that to them. I'm 100% sure you don't have to send it through CB to the dep't itself. But do ask how they get the scores, if you're interested.
