Notes

Foreign Language Testing is one of the best ways to rack in tons of credit hours in college for a few reasons:
1. This is something used every single day. We speak in a language every time we talk. By learning a language before entering school and actively using it, passing the foreign language exam will be a breeze. This is the only subject you can learn now and successfully pass it with flying colors next year. It's super easy to incorporate languages into your life. Try foreign music.
2. Many colleges reward up to 16, if not more, credit hours depending on the score of the exam. We will discuss the various exams in a few. If you learn 2 languages and get 16 credit hours for each exam, that will be more than a years worth of college complete. Since Foreign language can count for both free electives and general ed electives, its a very useful way to get credit hours.
3. Given the number of credit hours one can earn, they are one of the cheapest ways to get lots of college credit. Not to mention, if you fail an exam, you can take another one from a different provider without needing to study hard as content will be very similar.

Before we dive into testing, let us tell you the #1 best way to learn any language. This method has truly changed the lives of our students and we're confident it will change yours too.

Formulating stories is the best way to learn a language. Here's how you do it.

The first thing you'll need to do is find a language partner. While this is not necessary, it helps.
The second thing is to make stories about everyday things in the language. The number of stories should be at least 100.
The third thing is to incorporate a question and answer aspect to it.
The fourth is to use your language partner to record the story. This means they record themselves reading the story in their native language.
The fifth step is to read the story while you listen to it so you can familiarize yourself with the structure. This way you will learn the grammar naturally which is 100x more potent.

Let's do an example. This story will be based on shopping. Normally there will be the translation under the words but this is for demonstration purposes.

Charles went to the store. He needed milk and vanilla cookies to make his homemade ice cream.
When he arrived at the store, he noticed there was a sale for the vanilla cookies in the weekly ad.
Instead of 1 pack for $4, the vanilla cookies were $1 per pack.
He grabbed a copy of the weekly ad and went to the snacks department.
Instead of getting one pack of vanilla cookies, he got 4 packs for the price of $1 each.
He got the last of the vanilla cookies.

Next he went to buy some whole milk.
When he got to the milk section, he noticed that all the dairy milk was sold and that there wouldn't be any more until tomorrow.
Charles thought to himself....what can I get instead?
He then saw some coconut milk in the milk section.
He never tried coconut milk before but he loves coconuts.
Charles got 1 quart of coconut milk and placed it in his cart.
The coconut milk costs $3 per quart.

Charles proceeded to checkout.
His items costed him $7.28 with taxes included.
He left the store and proceeded to go home.
Once he arrived, he mixed the ingredients in an ice cream mixer.
After the mixture froze, Charles tried the ice cream.
It was the best ice cream he had.

Here is the Q and A section.

Where did Charles go? To the store. Charles went to the store.
What did Charles want? Milk and vanilla cookies. Charles wanted milk and vanilla cookies.
Why did Charles want milk and vanilla cookies? To make homemade ice cream. Charles wanted milk and vanilla cookies to make homemade ice cream.
Were the milk and vanilla cookies on sale? No. The milk and vanilla cookies were not on sale. Only the vanilla cookies were on sale.
How many packs of vanilla cookies did Charles purchase? 4 packs. Charles purchased 4 packs of vanilla cookies.
What did Charles do after he got the vanilla cookies? He went to get some milk. Charles went to get some milk.

Did they have the milk Charles wanted? No. They did not have the milk Charles wanted.
What type of milk did Charles get? Coconut milk. Charles got coconut milk.

How much were the groceries? $7.28. The groceries were $7.28
What did Charles do after he left the store? He proceeded home. Charles proceeded home.
What did he do when he got home? He mixed the ingredients into the mixer. Charles mixed the ingredients into the mixer.

How did the ice cream taste? Very good. It was the best ice cream he ever had.

That is an example. It is the most effective way because you learn grammar and sentence structure without thinking at all. You simply go along with the story. Of course you want to change to 1st person from time to time like: How much were my groceries? My groceries were $7.28.
This is so you incorporate all aspects of grammar. It's best to get a native speaker to record themselves saying so you can read while they speak. If you can't find a native speaker, you can say it yourself but put the text into translate and let it play so you can hear the words to make sure you pronounce it correctly.
The overall goal is to slowly over time use less and less translation. That's why stories work. We've had many clients learn multiple languages at the same time from this method.

Unlimited Spanish by Oscar is a fabulous resource for those looking to learn Spanish. It incorporated the story model we just discussed and the results are impressive.

Now many have asked us... what to do if the language is like Russian where you cant speak the alphabet without learning it? Simply, you write the Russian characters and under it you put the most similar sound.
DA means yes in Russian but it looks like this.... (DA) so under it, you will put da.


Now let's talk about foreign language testing
While there are two main foreign language testing exam services, there are many other services out there.

FLATS (Foreign Language Achievement Testing Services)

This exam is made by BYU out of new york but is able to be taken and transferred to schools nationwide. You can be awarded up to 12 credit hours. If you took 2-4 of these exams, it could cover all of your electives.
•The cost is $50 an exam
• There are more than 50+ exam options so it covers every major language
• No immediate result (test results are mailed out to the institution you specify)
• 6-month retest waiting period is policy so do your best
• The price $8.3* per credit hour if you test and earn 6 credit hours
The website to apply to these exams are below in the description.


The next one is
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)
Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) Exams

• Remote option available so you can take exam at home
• 15-40-minute interview via phone
• Earn up to 16 credit hours
• Most languages are available (75+)
• Pricing varies from $50 to >$200
• 90-day retest waiting period
• Results usually same day, but could take some time (depending on the language)
• Scores are valid for 2 years after test date
• $6.25-$25* per credit hour and this price was Calculated using total price divided by 8 credit hours which is the average score)
• This exam is able to transfer to hundreds of universities nationwide (recognized by ACE)
• Credits awarded via Credly Badges and transcript sent via Credly's Acclaim



A question that has been asked a lot: If Spanish is my native language, can I still take a Spanish language exam? The answer is yes. You can take any exam of your choice but if you take a Spanish exam, you will not be able to take another Spanish exam from a different provider because the credits would overlap. The only exception to this is if you scored poorly and are able to get more credits if you score a higher score. Meaning if you scored a 70 on your first exam and received one credit, then you can retake, make a 90, for 3 credits.

It makes no sense to take foreign language classes if you can learn on your own, preferably a language you love, and test at your pleasure. The value is there and it's fantastic.

Audios mi amigo.