Who takes the LOTE Chinese test?

Students who have completed two years of coursework (or one year of accelerated coursework) in Chinese (Simplified) before the end of grade eight may be eligible to take the Second Language Proficiency (SLP) exam to earn two high school credits. Your child’s school can tell you whether they offer the test and whether your child can take it.

What is on the test?

On the Second Language Proficiency (SLP) exam, students are required to:

• Have conversations in the language being tested (speaking section)

• Listen to the test administrator speak in the language being tested and answer multiple-choice questions

• Read a text in the language being tested and answer multiple-choice questions

• Write two essays in the language being tested

How is the test scored?

Test administrators (usually the foreign language teacher at the students’ school) use rubrics to score the Speaking and Writing sections of the exam. The Listening and Reading sections of the exam are multiple-choice, and they are scanned and machine-scored. The final score is the sum of points earned on all four sections, and students pass the exam with a score of 65 or more out of 100.

65 is the passing grade.