First year exam
The exam lasts 2 hours and 50 minutes and is based on your general
knowledge of English. The level is Intermediate/Upper Intermediate or B1+ on
the European scale. As regards the grammar the exam is based on New English
File Intermediate Digital Student’s Book and Workbook (with key) by C. Oxenden
and C. Latham- Koenig (Oxford University Press). If you studied English at
school you should already be at, beyond or near this level (!).
There are 3 sections in the exam.
First there is a grammar section with 2 exercises. One has 15 sentences and
you have to decide if they are right or wrong and correct the ones that are
wrong. There may be more than one mistake in each sentence. The second is a
text with 15 spaces and you have to put one word in each space. You need to pass both exercises.
The second section is reading comprehension with a text from a newspaper, a
synonym exercise based on words underlined in the text, and then questions
about what the text says and the meaning.
The third section is a writing section. You have to write a short
composition on a general topic or a letter.
Each section is worth 30 points and you have to pass all the sections with
at least 18 points. Later there is an oral exam in which you will be asked to
talk first briefly about yourself and your life, and then about a book that you
have read in English and comment on any language items the teacher asks you
about. You can explain the items in
English, suggest a synonym or translate the context sentence into Italian.
There are two ways to do the exam:
