NYU Foreign language exam

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Adam1914, Feb 24, 2004.

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  1. Adam1914

    Adam1914 New Member

    I am a new student at Excelsior (applaud!) and I have been working as a translator/interpretor for some years now but without a degree so because of this forum I was inspired to start a program and begin to travel down the long road hopefully to a PHD someday.

    My question is about the NYU foreign language exam, I am certain that I saw a few posts on it before and just wondered from anyone who took these exams the level of difficulty and maybe a basic breakdown of what to expect on the exam. I would like to thank all who post on this site, and a special shout out to Dr. John Bear whose books got me looking into DL in the first place. Thank you all

    Adam
     
  2. Adam1914

    Adam1914 New Member

    TEFL course

    I almost forgot, I took an online TEFL (that's Teaching English as a Foreign language for all you acronym rookies:D ) I was wondering could that be applied somehow, someway as credits with Excelsior?
     
  3. Orson

    Orson New Member

    Hello Adam -

    Yes, congratulations (and worthy kudo to the above, too.)
    Yes, there have been such posts.
    http://www.degreeinfo.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11668&highlight=NYU+and+proficiency+or+language+and+exams

    I'd PM a few such posters such as Giancarlo (an Excelsior student from Italy - journalist in Brazil, now in France - see bottom of above thread). I've had friendly communications with him - although I know there are others with more recent NYU foreign language proficiency experience...Perhaps they will weigh in?
    AH! hee's one of his posts,

    "Hi James,
    Thank you for your useful info. The CLEP Spanish seems much easier than the equivalent New York University Foreign Language proficiency exam, which, on the other hand, is worth up to 16 credits. The NYU exams are entirely based on written answers, translations (from and into the target language) and composition. According to what you wrote about CLEP Spanish test, I should have no problem in getting those 12 credits; on the contrary, taking the NYU exam would imply in some serious studying. The only 'little' problem for me is that there is no CLEP test center in Brazil and, because all CLEP tests are now computer based, ETS doesn’t allow anymore any provisional arrangement for taking the test, which was quite common in the previous era of the pencil based tests…
    Bests,
    Giancarlo"
    Posted 11-24-2002
    ------------------------ and another ----

    " New York University foreign languages proficiency exams

    Last week I have taken a New York University proficiency exam in Italian, worth 16 semester-credit. If you are enrolled at Excelsior College (which is my case), TESC or COSC, and know a foreign language, it's a good way to earn credits.
    The exam works as follows. First, you can decide to take a 12-credit or a 16-credit exam. The 12-credit requires you to: 1. listen to a tape and write the answers to some questions in the target language; 2. write a short 150-word essay in the target language; 3. /4. Translate from and into English a short text. You have two hours to complete the exam, that's worth up to 12 lower level semester credits, depending on how well you do.
    The second part of the exam, one hour-length and worth up to 4 upper level credits, consists in writing a more complex 350-word essay.
    This exam is available for literally dozens of languages, and can be taken both at NYU in New York, or worldwide, finding an appropriate proctor - NYU demonstrated to be quite flexible on that.
    To tell it straight, it's not a walk in the park. The exam itself is not complicated, but you MUST be quite proficient in the target language, both spoken and written, otherwise no deal: there are no multiple-choice questions to help you. But if you know any foreign language, it's a very good choice. This is the second proficiency exam I take - the other one was in Portuguese, and worked the same way - earning 32 credits in two mornings.
    Bests.
    Giancarlo"

    Posted 09-09-2001
    ------------------------

    MarkIsrael appears to have experience with them, too - or his wife Rosie has!
    http://www.degreeinfo.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7960&highlight=NYU+and+proficiency+or+language+and+exams

    Otherwise, there are also FLATS to consider
    http://www.degreeinfo.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8086&highlight=NYU+and+proficiency+or+language+and+exams

    Good hunting!

    --Orson
    PS Let me ask what others are wondering: what are you target language(s) for credit?
     
  4. Adam1914

    Adam1914 New Member

    Thank you so much for the speedy (gonzales) reply! This is what has caused me to love this site, I truly appreciate it, and the info was exactly what I was looking for.

    Actually I have two languages, French, and Arabic. French from the days in Uni. (didn't finish though:( ) and as for Arabic I spent around three years in Egypt teaching, so I went through two centers of advanced classical Arabic and became fluent in all of the skills (thats reading, writing, listening, and speaking for all you "language skills" rookies :D ) so I was advised to look at the World language and literature concentration at Excelsior.

    By the way any ideas on how to obtain credits at Excelsior for the TEFL cert.?

    I will try and contact Giancarlo as soon as possible and keep you posted as I slowly trek down the road to the title Dr. Adam (sounds so much better than Adam one I believe ;) ) Thank you again and keep on aiding the people, you are appreciated.
     
  5. MarkIsrael@aol.com

    [email protected] New Member

    I think you should start by doing the CLEP in French:
    http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/clep/ex_clf.html
    and the FLATS in Arabic:
    http://hrc.byu.edu/FLATS.html

    These will give you 12 lower-level credits in each language, and are very cheap. (BYU takes quite a while to send out and grade the FLATS, though.)

    Then, to claim the additional 4 upper-level credits, you can write the essay portion only ("4-point (1 hour)") of the more expensive NYU exams:
    http://www2.scps.nyu.edu/dyncon/acfl/gene_prof.html

    All of the exams should be child's play for native speakers or those with native-like proficiency. My wife Rosie completed the 3-hour NYU exam in 1 hour.

    Whom is your TEFL certificate from? You'll probably have to claim the credit by portfolio:
    http://www.excelsior.edu/exams/xms_opts.htm
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 24, 2004
  6. Adam1914

    Adam1914 New Member

    Thanks so much, all the posts have been right on time and exactly what I need to get started. The TEFL cert. is from a company out of the UK called i-to-i TEFL, so I will look into the portfolio option for that.

    I will get started looking into all the tests that you have mentioned. Thanks again and I will keep you up to speed on how things progress.

    Adam
     
  7. Orson

    Orson New Member

    You've got more credit to claim!

    Adam-

    Another way to speed you along is through portfolio credit. With your years in Egypt, you may have a dozen credits in various subject you owe yourselfto gain credit for!

    For example, thru Thomas Edison and Charter Oak College; complete and then transfer to Excelsior
    http://www.tesc.edu/plasearch/
    search "Egypt" and "Arabic." Be creative: you might try "translation," "teaching" ot "language teaching."

    Searching "Arabic" I found "History & Civilization I & II [arabic survey]" "Arabic Language: Advanced" (check on duplication of credit for this against Marks advice above; check with Excelsior); and "Sufism: Islamic Mysticism."

    I know I've missed items of interest to your path!

    And be sure not to miss these articles helpfully posted at degreeinfo.com
    http://www.degreeinfo.com/articles.html
    especially those on portfolio credit by Kristin Hirst, and more at the bottom of the page.

    --Orson
     
  8. Adam1914

    Adam1914 New Member

    Wow! I never even thought that I could get so many credits by taking the portfolio direction. Sounds like a very simple way to clock alot of credits. I actually have diplomas also from the Arabic institutes that I studied in.

    That reminds me, to get credit for a foreign diploma from a private institute like those, what would be the procedure in getting those documents authenticated for Excelsior? I am no longer in Egypt so going there is not an option. Any help on that would also be appreciated.

    Adam
     
  9. Excelsior uses ECE (www.ece.org) to perform the evaluations. Here's what they require from Egypt:

    "Photocopies of official educational credentials issued in English or Arabic beginning with the final year of secondary school. Send those which apply to your educational history:

    At any time during the evaluation process, ECE reserves the right to request original documents and/or documents sent directly to ECE by issuing institutions.

    If you submit Arabic documents, please also provide English translations for each document submitted. You may prepare the translations yourself, as long as they are complete, literal, word-for-word, and in the same format as the native language document."

    For Excelsior note that you'll probably need the Course-by-Course evaluation. It's not cheap, not quick (unless you pay an express fee) and rarely generous, but if you have some time and a couple of hundred dollars to spend it may yield you some credit.

    Cheers,
    Mark
     
  10. Adam1914

    Adam1914 New Member

    Question on waiting period

    I am now in that period where I am waiting on all my transcripts to come to Excelsior for evaluation. I have been following up on it every week, my old college verified to me that they had sent them out but when I go to Excelsior's to check the update it still says waiting and have not received.

    So my question is will it continue to say: "Received: Nothing" until the evaluation is done in 6 to 8 weeks, or are they just slow to update?

    The second question is when does my first year actually begin, as of the time of my enrollment or after the evaluation is complete?Thank you all again.

    Adam
     
  11. MarkIsrael@aol.com

    [email protected] New Member

    Excelsior updates the "Incoming Transcript Status" the same business day it receives the transcript. The "6-8 weeks" begins after that, although recently it's been doing evaluations more quickly than that.

    I'm afraid your transcript was lost in the mail. That's happened to us a few times. You'll have to ask your old college to re-send. Usually, the sending college wants the phone number of somebody at the receiving college before it will re-send.

    I don't know when your first year begins. You could phone an Excelsior advisor and ask.
     
  12. Adam1914

    Adam1914 New Member

    Ok contacted Excelsior today, and there was just a slight mix up, the transcripts had actually been there about a week:confused: well anyway its been updated and I also have contacted NYU about the exam and BYU about the Flats so the march begins.
     
  13. Adam1914

    Adam1914 New Member

    FLATS exam

    Looking at the links to some of the old posts I noticed there was some discussion on whether or not Excesior accepted the FLATS exams and awarded the credits towards the degree. I noticed that it mentioned in the post that they would place the credits in your bank but not necessarily towards your degree, so what was the final verdict on that?:confused:

    Adam
     
  14. MarkIsrael@aol.com

    [email protected] New Member

    They will award credits toward your degree.

    My wife Rosie has 12 credits toward her degree for the FLATS Portuguese exam. She was apparently the first person to send FLATS results to Excelsior.

    Another DegreeInfo member, Ricardo Marques, subsequently did the FLATS in both Portuguese (his native language) and Italian, on top of the CLEP Spanish; Excelsior awarded him a total of 36 credits.
    http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=90284#post90284
     
  15. Adam1914

    Adam1914 New Member

    Who can proctor the exam??

    I have a question perhaps Mark can answer it for me, I am trying to get the NYU tests scheduled but need to find out exactly who can proctor it. For example at a Prometric center, local college, or library?

    :confused:
     
  16. MarkIsrael@aol.com

    [email protected] New Member

    Local college. (In Rosie's case, the "local college" was Harvard.)
     
  17. Adam1914

    Adam1914 New Member

    Thanks for the info Mark, I will contact Temple University its not too far from me.
     
  18. Adam1914

    Adam1914 New Member

    I was hoping that someone could help me with a question I have, maybe Mark or one of the other members would know. My question is what exactly does the NYU language exam show up as on the Excelsior transcript, or any other exam for that matter? My wife asked and I was clueless.:confused:
     
  19. ong

    ong New Member

    actfl

    instead of NYU exam, why not try the ACTFL OPI test for foreign language.

    according to http://www.languagetesting.com/actfl_article.htm

    you can get upto 6 lower and 6 upper level credit as compare to NYU 12 lower and 4 upper.

    i have confirm this with excelsior.

    the exam cost i think is only usd129 as compare to NYC usd320

    i will be taking the ACTFL OPI for mandarin in june. will do more posting then.
     
  20. MarkIsrael@aol.com

    [email protected] New Member

    Adam1914 asked:

    > My question is what exactly does the NYU language exam
    > show up as on the Excelsior transcript,


    NEW YORK UNIVERSITY LANG EXAMS
    FOREIGN LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY EXAM: SPANISH
    03/SP UPPER LEVEL 4.00 P
    LOWR LEVEL 12.00 P

    > or any other exam for that matter?

    BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
    FOREIGN LANGUAGE ACHIEVEMENT TEST
    02/12 101 PORTUGUESE-BRAZILIAN FIRST-SEMESTER 4.00 P
    CONVERSATION AND GRAMMAR
    102 PORTUGUESE-BRAZILIAN SECOND-SEMESTER 4.00 P
    CONVERSATION AND GRAMMAR
    201 INERMEDIAYTE GRAMMAR 4.00 P

    GRE SUBJECT TESTS
    02/12 PSYCHOLOGY (570) 12.00 P

    DANTES SUBJECT STANDARD TEST
    03/09 SG 508 HERE'S TO YOUR HEALTH (60) 3.00 A

    THOMAS EDISON STATE COLLEGE
    03/FA PSY 270 PSYCHOLOGY OF WOMEN 3.00 P
     

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