The University of Chicago

FLPC Policies

Exam scheduling

  • The FLPC exams are administered twice per year, each one on a weekday evening, once early in Autumn Quarter and again in Spring Quarter around 7th Exact exam dates are published on the Office of Language Assessment website in early October and early February.
  • It is not possible to accommodate individual schedules.
  • The OLA has the right to reschedule the exams in the case of inclement weather, campus emergencies, or changes to the academic schedule.

Eligibility

FLPC exams are intended for students who have learned an additional language and would like to certify their proficiency. They are not administered to test takers who attended school since childhood where the target language has been the primary language of communication OR were enrolled as a fulltime student at an accredited post-secondary institution where the target language was the language of instruction.

The Practical exams and the Advanced exams have different eligibility criteria. Check the pages for Practical exams and Advanced exams for more information.

Registration

Registration fee

  • The registration fee is temporarily waived for College students and Humanities Division graduate students.
  • For other test takers, the registration fee is $90.

Registration timeline

  • Registration is open for five weeks before the exam on the OLA website.
  • Registration closes two weeks before the exam.

Late registration

Late registration is not allowed.

Cancellation and refund

  • Test takers can cancel a registration without any charges until 7 days before the exam. For those who pay for the exam themselves, any cancellation after that will result in an additional charge of $30. For students from the College and the Humanities Division, we reserve the right to refuse their registration in the future.
  • If test takers are still interested in taking the exam, they can register for it in the next test administration cycle.

Number of exams permitted per test administration cycle

  • For each test administration cycle, test takers may take two exams, as long as the exams are in two different languages and at two different exam levels (i.e., one Practical and one Advanced). For example, they are allowed to take a French Practical and a Chinese Advanced. However, they are not allowed to take a French Practical and a German Practical in the same test administration cycle as all Practical exams are administered at the same time on the same day.

Exam preparation

  • Language proficiency improves through consistent and frequent practice communicating in the language. The best way to prepare is through frequent exposure to the exam language (e.g., by reading and speaking) prior to the exam.
  • Test takers can learn more about the format of the tasks that may appear in the exams They are also strongly encouraged to review the English exam here to become familiar with the task types on the exam while keeping in mind that the actual exam will be in-person and in paper-and-pencil format, depending on current public health protocols.

Accommodation

  • Students who need an accommodation for the FLPC Exam must provide an Accommodation Determination Letter from Student Disability Services (SDS). Once the test coordinator receives the Determination Letter, they will contact the student to arrange a time and place to take the exam if necessary or make additional arrangements.
  • Students should arrange for SDS to submit their Accommodation Determination to OLA at the time of registration or as soon as possible thereafter, and no later than the registration deadline, i.e., 7 days before the exam date. If the OLA is unable to provide a last-minute accommodation, the student will either have to take the exam without the accommodation or wait to take the exam in a subsequent administration.

On test day

Written portion (i.e., Listening, Reading, and Writing)

  • On the scheduled exam day, test takers take the reading, listening and writing components of the exam. They have up to 2.5 hours to complete these components.
  • The exams are administered by trained proctors.
What to bring

Here’s what you’ll need to bring to the testing room:

  • valid, acceptable identification (ID). Test takers must bring their University of Chicago ID card.
  • pens/pencils and erasers (if needed)

Test takers may bring water, juice, or soft drinks into the testing room. However, they cannot bring any food or other drinks unless they have an approved health accommodation. They will need to request accommodations from SDS before registering for the test and might take the test at a different time.

Arrival/Check-in
  • You must arrive at the designated testing room at least 10 minutes before the exam start time to check in.
  • If test takers arrive after the exam start time, they will not be able to take the exam. Registration will not be refunded (see the Cancellation policy.)
General guidelines on testing procedures

Note: Exams that are held virtually are subject to the same policies as those administered in-person.

  • During the exam, test takers should keep all belongings in a bag. The only items on the desk should be writing utensils, the exam booklet, and ID card.
  • Test takers may bring water or soft drinks but must consume it quietly without disturbing other test takers. Eating is not permitted during the exam unless test takers have an approved health accommodation.
  • Cell phones and other electronic devices should be on airplane mode so as not to disrupt the exam.
  • The exam is handwritten, unless announced otherwise.
  • No dictionaries or translators, electronic or otherwise, or other language references may be used during any part of the exam, written or spoken.
Exam security
  • Test takers may not remove any materials from the testing room, including note paper. If they do, they will receive a “Fail” on the exam and will not be allowed to register for future exams.
  • Recording, photographing, or replicating the exam in any way is strictly forbidden. Such behavior will result in immediate dismissal and a failing grade on the exam.
  • Violations of any of these policies in addition to any of the University’s policies regarding academic integrity will be reported to test takers’ academic advisor.
Breaks
  • Test takers may take a break during the exam after the reading and listening components and before the writing component to use the restroom or get a drink of water.
  • Breaks should last no longer than 5 minutes and all mobile devices must remain in the testing room.
Academic honesty
  • Rules around academic misconduct apply when test takers take the exams. The OLA reserves the right to investigate suspicious behavior on the exam and evaluate it on a case-by-case basis, including anything deemed suspicious by a proctor, a grader or the OLA. Examples of unacceptable behavior include but are not limited to plagiarism, copying from other test takers, and using resources during the exam such as dictionaries or translators.
  • A proctor has the authority to dismiss a test taker from the exam if, in the proctor’s opinion, the test taker’s behavior warrants such dismissal.

Speaking portion

  • Several days after the written exam, test takers will receive instructions via email about scheduling the speaking exam. This component of the exam is administered individually via Zoom and takes approximately 20 minutes.
  • All test takers who take the written exam must also take the speaking component of the exam for the test to be considered complete.
  • If a test taker does not respond after two attempts to contact them (either from the exam coordinator or from the individual conducting the Speaking component), their speaking grade will be reported as 0% and they will fail the exam.
  • If a test taker does not show up to their speaking appointment, their speaking grade will be reported as 0% and they will fail the exam.
  • Test takers who need to reschedule their speaking component should contact the individual conducting the Speaking component at least 24 hours before the scheduled meeting.
  • The Speaking component may take place either virtually or in-person, depending on the grader’s preference and current public health protocols.
  • The speaking component of the exam will be recorded via Zoom.

Results

Passing criteria

Test takers’ performance will be classified into the following categories, namely Fail, Pass, High Pass, and High Pass with Honors, based on the percentage of correct responses.

Performance level Criteria
Fail Below 65% in any of the four language skills (i.e., speaking, listening, reading, or writing)
Pass Lowest score across the four language skills between 65% – 75%
High Pass Lowest score across the four language skills between 76% – 90%
High Pass with Honors 91% or above in all four language skills

Score reports

  • Score reports are sent to test takers via email.
  • Test takers who passed the exams will also receive a certification describing their ability in each language skill.
  • Passing grades will also be reported to the Registrar, if test takers are current UChicago students. Their UChicago transcript will include information about the exam language, exam level, and performance level (i.e., Pass, High Pass, or High Pass with Honors).

Retention of test responses

  • The OLA will store test responses, including written responses and speaking recordings, for five years. After that, they will be securely destroyed.

Exam retakes

  • Test takers may only take a given exam (e.g., German Advanced or French Practical) once within a twelve-month period. This means if they take it in the Spring Quarter, they cannot take it again until the next Spring Quarter.
  • The OLA does not offer retakes for any part of the exam, nor can we reschedule the exam for individual test takers.

Appeals process

  • If a student wishes to appeal a score, the student may request the appeal from the OLA. The student must submit the appeal request via email to flpc@uchicago.edu no later than ninety (90) days after the date on which the student took that portion of the exam. In situations where an exam was only read by one grader (i.e., situations where the grade was not within 3% of a grade threshold), the exam will be submitted to a second reader.  Following the grading policy above, the final grade will be the higher of the two grades.  If the exam has already been graded by two readers (i.e., the score is within 3% of a scoring threshold), it will not be rescored a third time without a written request from either the student’s area Dean of Students or academic advisor.  If such a request is received, the exam will be submitted to a third reader and the highest of the three scores will be the final score.