Spanish is, according to Education First, the second most spoken language in the world, and that is recognized by College Board. The Spanish CLEP test is a practical way to gain college credits proving that you can carry yourself accordingly through conversations with native Spanish speakers and understand passages in said language.
This test will assess if you are well versed on the romance language and will place you in one of two categories depending on your scores: Level 1 (50 points) or Level 2 (63 points or higher).
This exam will be divided into a Listening section of 40% and a Reading section of 60%, with sub-sections in each area.
Chunk on comprehension of short oral exchanges such as greetings and simple descriptions using the verb ser and estar (To Be); be aware! because as you may realize, they are two different verbs in Spanish. Also, you will have to answer questions with the interrogative words (Por qué, quién, dónde, cuándo) as well as simple yes/no questions. Easy peasy, right?
Chunk on comprehension of longer conversations or announcements on diverse topics. Questions in this section will be fairly similar to the ones on the previous section, but you have to be more attentive of the course of the conversation or narrative, for they will be longer (Approximately 1min). Examples of what you might find in this section are: airport announcements, anecdotes, historical facts, interviews, explanations, news, etc.
The questions might change in format as you move along with the test. Some of the questions will require you to put lists in order according to what was said in the conversation, complete charts, or choose from a series of pictures to indicate what the speaker was talking about.
Completing short sentences using prepositions (a, ante, bajo, cabe, con, contra, de, desde, durante, en, entre, hacia, hasta, mediante, para, por, según, sin, sobre, tras) verb conjugations (present, past, future, continuous tenses –ando –endo, etc), articles (el, la, los, las, un, una, unos), etc. For this section you will also need to be familiar with vocabulary such as places (biblioteca, salon de clases, peluquería, casa) feelings (feliz, triste, asustado, nervioso), times of the day (día, tarde, noche), etc.
Completing passages and paragraphs on diverse topics with the correct conjugations and words according to the context. The difficulty level increases in this section because you will need to be able to identify the context of the passage. Apart from that, don’t be afraid! It is recommended for you to read magazine articles, newspapers, academic articles, and novels to practice for this section. I know it sounds complicated, but you will have the opportunity to develop better comprehension skills if you start facing the language as a whole, instead of practicing it piece by piece.
Consists on a higher level reading comprehension where the student will have to answer questions based mainly on context. Remember what I told you earlier about context? Well, this is the time to put it into practice. Throughout this section you will find announcements, passages, extracts from academic articles and, unlike the rest of the sections, questions will focus more on context than grammar.
So, in this section you will be challenged with answering questions such as “¿Cuál es el tema central de este parrafo?” (which is the main theme of this paragraph?), “¿A qué se refieren con…?” (what do they mean by…?), or “Interpreta la siguente frase” (interpret the following phrase). Therefore, in this section you will have the opportunity to show that you truly have a holistic comprehension of the language.
Now that you understand what you are facing, there are some things to bear in mind:
• Conjugations: remember that in Spanish conjugations vary not only from tense to tense, but also according to every pronoun, unlike English. So be always attentive to the when’s and the who’s.
For example, it is not the same to say “Nosotros estamos” as “Ellos estan” (verb to Be). In english, most of the times “we” and “you” are conjugated equally “We are” “You are”, whereas in Spanish both have different formulas.
• Sentence Structure: in this particular case it is important for you to get into full Spanish mode every time you try to speak and write. Why? Well, you see, Spanish speakers tend to say most of the things the other way around. They play with the order of the words, and they play with our minds!
• Accents: this is of the utmost importance. An accent or lack thereof in Spanish might modify the meaning of a whole sentence; “el robo” is not the same thing as “él robó”. In the first example I am talking about the theft, whereas in the second I am stating that he stole. Mind-blowing, huh?
So, are you ready to test the waters? Take this practice quiz and judge your preparation level before diving into deeper study. All test questions are in a multiple-choice format, with one correct answer and four incorrect options. The following are samples of the types of questions that may appear on the exam.
Note: Please do keep in mind that we can’t guarantee the accuracy of this quiz, so we do recommend you also run through a full-length practice exam. The CollegeBoard offers a good one that we’ll share in the resources section below.
(Narrator) Fuimos a las calles a preguntarles a las personas cuál era su opinión con respecto al nuevo hotel en el centro de la ciudad.
(Carmen) Realmente, yo considero que es un hotel muy bonito. Su arquitectura y diseño son muy modernos y te hacen sentir como si estuvieses de viaje por Europa. Este hotel demuestra que todavía hay gente interesada en invertir en nuestro país, lo cual, en mi opinión, es justo lo que necesitamos. Hay que revivir el turismo como fuente principal de ingresos y así nuestra economía será cada vez más fuerte. ¡Buen trabajo!
(Luis) ¡No me gusta para nada! Yo trabajo en la oficina postal, en el centro de la ciudad y ahora el tráfico para llegar a mi trabajo se ha triplicado. Me parece innecesario agregar más complicaciones al centro de la ciudad, que ya de por si es el lugar más congestionado de todos. ¿Por qué no construyen un hotel a las afueras? Sería mucho mejor tener un lugar a donde escapar los fines de semana, sin calles sucias ni ruidos molestos.
Correct Answer: A. A Carmen.
Explanation: Now it is time to compare the opinions of two different individuals in regards of a new hotel in town. The key factor to understand this question is not to look for a cookie-cutter answer among the options, but to be able to grasp the perception of the individuals according to the adjectives they are using to describe the hotel and assess its perks and disadvantages. Who likes it the most? You tell me!
