French CLEP

[cookderosa]

I'm looking for feedback from anyone who has taken the French exam this cycle (3/1/2015-current)? I had a parent contact me through Facebook. Her child's French tutor told her there were numerous errors on the French exam as well as the sample exam on the College Board website. Apparently she contacted CB and they blew her off- but that brings up an important question. First, can anyone chime in regarding errors on that exam? Second, has anyone here reached out to CB regarding errors on exams? And to what end?

[timokito]

I took the french clep in February, I didn't see any errors but I know what exactly the tutor is talking about. The only thing I will say is that the questions are very tricky, I will that it would be very hard to pass if you are not fluent or close to fluent in french. I believe that the test is more for people who are fluent but thats just my opinion. Again you only need a 60 to pass if I'm correct.

[cookderosa]

I took the french clep in February, I didn't see any errors but I know what exactly the tutor is talking about. The only thing I will say is that the questions are very tricky, I will that it would be very hard to pass if you are not fluent or close to fluent in french. I believe that the test is more for people who are fluent but thats just my opinion. Again you only need a 60 to pass if I'm correct.

Can you expand a bit for me? What is she talking about?

[BGSU_Alum_86]

My older daughter took it in the first quarter of 2015. She is certainly not fluent (took French for 3-4 years between middle school and high school) and took it as a senior in college. I believe she utilized DuoLingo for much of her studying. Her school required a 50 for the credit she needed and she got just that! She was so relieved, but never mentioned anything 'off' about the test.

I do recall hearing some testers make comment on the different dialects of each of the foreign language exams (spanish, french and german). Maybe that is what the person is talking about?

[KayV]

I didn't see/ hear errors on the free sample questions. What sorts of errors are they talking about?
(I have a master's degree in French and used to live in France, for what it's worth).

[Johann]

Never taken the CLEP - wouldn't have done me any good here in Canada - but I've read comments from some Americans who have taken the CLEP. Most common complaint - person who recorded the oral portion of the test had a decidedly French-Canadian accent. I can see how this could be disconcerting to people who had learned standard (le bon français de la France) French. There are several French-Canadian accents, and I have no idea which was used. Montreal? OK. Eastern Townships? Maybe, with a little luck. New Brunswick? Impenetrable, unless you've lived there since childhood!

I have no idea if this CLEP variance persists today.

J.

[cookderosa]

I didn't see/ hear errors on the free sample questions. What sorts of errors are they talking about?
(I have a master's degree in French and used to live in France, for what it's worth).

Ok, this is exactly what I wanted to hear. I'm going to share that with her now, thank you very much!

[korben996]

I'll be taking the exam within the next 2 months, so I'm interested in this myself. I'll come back and share an update once I take the exam. I've been using a variety of print and online/software study materials to prepare which I've listed below. I really want to avoid having to take 2 years of a foreign language to graduate. I took French in high school, but most of it hasn't been retained so it's almost like learning from scratch. I'm using a ton of different study materials as I'd rather be over-prepared than unprepared, especially with the amount of people saying it is very difficult.

Print Materials:

• Barron's SAT French Subject Test

• Princeton Review's SAT French Subject Test

• Allons-y! Le français par Ãtapes (textbook)

• Quick Study for French

• Bien sûr: Intermediate French for Communication.

Online/Software:

• Rosetta Store: French 1, 2, 3 (downloaded for free)

• Tex's French Grammar

• Elementary French @ Carnegie Mellon (MOOC)

• Resource: French in Action

CollegeBoard also lists a number of resources to review on their website: https://clep.collegeboard.org/exam/frenc.../resources

[cookderosa]

Off this thread, KayV did a very very very thorough review of the practice test with me, and I am convinced that the tutor who brought this up was possibly (quite likely) not as skilled at French as KayV

I'd love Feedback, but I'm confident that the exam is accurate for now.

[KayV]

If anyone else would like more of an explanation, feel free to PM me. I err on the side of caution with copyright law and public posting.