Exams for Graduate Students
ELLIOTT SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS EXAMS
As an ESIA graduate student, you are required to take both a diagnostic exam to gauge your initial language proficiency and an exit exam (sometimes called a FLEX exam) to confirm that you have met the proficiency requirements for graduation.
When you enroll in the Elliott School, you are required to take a short diagnostic exam during your orientation. The exam determines how close you are to passing the exit exam and what sort of preparation you should make between the exams. There is no minimum profeciency requirement for the diagnostic exam.
You must pass the exit exam during the last two semesters of your final year at GW. The exit exam consists of two parts:
- Reading Proficiency: A written exam, 90 minutes long, scheduled only once per semester
- Oral Proficiency: A short 10-15 minute interview with one of our German faculty, scheduled individually after completing the written portion of the exam
The Reading Proficiency Exam
The purpose of the reading proficiency exam is to determine how well you can read and understand German prose without the help of a dictionary. At no point are you required to demonstrate any skill other than the ability to understand what you read in the exam.
The exam consists of articles dealing with basic issues in politics, history, current events, socio-economics, and/or military affairs. Each article will be followed by a series of short-answer questions, written in English which require a few sentences to answer (also in English). Students will have 90 minutes to complete this section of the exam.
The Oral Proficiency Exam
This consists of a 10-15 minute interview with one of our full-time German faculty. The tester will warm you up with a series of simple questions (such as where you live, work, etc.) and then move on to more substantive topics (such as coping with an everyday situation, describing current events, etc.). To reach the appropriate score, you must demonstrate the ability to narrate, describe, and explain concrete and factual topics in a cogent manner with an acceptable number of mistakes.
The best ways to do well on the oral proficiency exam are to: 1.) talk a lot, 2.) phrase you answers using only the vocabulary you know, 3.) focus more on speaking comfortably than stopping to ensure flawless grammar, 4.) engage the tester in conversation, and 5.) don't be afraid to ask for clarification or repitition of a question.
The Elliott School requires that all German students receive a score of Advanced on the reading proficiency exam and a score of Intermediate High on the oral proficiency exam.
COLUMBIAN COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES EXAMS
Some of the Columbian College M.A. and Ph.D. programs require graduate students to be proficient in a foreign language. These TOOL exams are now administered by the GW Language Center. For any questions concerning the TOOL exam, please contact the Language Center at (202) 994-6333.
