When you are looking into taking an English language course abroad, you will find out that the language schools require you to take a level test. This is the case with all private language schools, with no exception. However, the test shouldn’t be viewed in the way you may initially think. It’s not a test to see whether you are good enough, it’s a test to examine and review your genuine level so that you can be placed in the correct group accordingly. That is why in most cases the test has to be done in person on the first day at the school. This avoids the temptation to use books or friends to help you - it gives a true representation of your level in use.

The test is usually part written and part spoken. So there will often be a paper with easy questions to start with, leading on to questions with more difficult expressions and tenses. The idea is that you just complete what you can and where you stop is an indication that perhaps you haven’t covered that particular grammar, tense or vocabulary before. And hey presto, you’re placed at the level you need to start learning from!

It is, of course, not an exact science. There are cases where a student may have a higher level of written English than spoken. The student may have studied a lot in their own country, mastering the grammar, understanding the tenses and the conjugations, but may never have had a good opportunity to put that knowledge into practise, hence giving them a more limited ability in their spoken level.

Your level of spoken English is usually determined with a short analysis in the form of a chat with the Director of Studies or one of the head teachers. They will ask questions to help you display a variety of language skills you may have. If your levels of spoken and written English are similar, then you would be easier to place. If they vary, then the school may suggest a couple of extra English language exercises to give you to get your levels more balanced.

There are sometimes, for whatever reason, cases where the school might get the placement wrong. You may start a class and feel it’s too advanced for you or too easy. This can sometimes happen if on your first day you are struck with a bit of first day nerves, or maybe you got lucky on your written test answers but in ‘real life’ the class situation was a bit more intimidating. If this happens and you feel you are in the wrong class, a quick chat with the Director of Studies after your first lesson would be all you need to put things straight and be moved to another class.

Moving students to other classes to better suit their level is something that is usually not a problem when there are plenty of students in the school at one time. However, if you find you are in a small school at a very quiet time of the season and there are no other students of your level to be placed with, then the school would usually offer you some one to one lessons up to the value of the course you have paid for, until a suitable group of your level becomes available.

So you see, Mondays at an English language school are very busy days spent trying to place students as best they can in the correct class. Most schools do an excellent job and its just one of the ways their skills, experience and care for students makes them a good school and why we at Gemini Courses would choose to work with them.

See our list of destinations and click on the links to read more about each school.