legends · 4 min read ·
Placement Test, Level 1
A language placement test is taken by a candidate who has lived in every example sentence.
**Harwick Language Institute · Placement Test · Level 1 · Candidate No. 0907**
*Instructions: Read each passage carefully. Answer all questions in English. Do not use a dictionary.*
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**Part A: Vocabulary.** Match the word in the first column to its meaning.
1. *tarn* — a) a small mountain lake b) a bird's nest c) a kind of boat
2. *lintel* — a) a horizontal beam over a door b) a loaf of bread c) a stone bench
3. *vesper* — a) an evening prayer b) a type of fish c) a candle
*Candidate's answers: 1) a 2) a 3) a. Marking note: correct. Candidate has written in the margin, "I know all these. I used to live beside the tarn."*
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**Part B: Translation.** Translate the following sentence into English.
*"Nach der Tür, wo das Licht endet, wartet deine Mutter."*
*Candidate's answer: After the door, where the light ends, your mother is sitting.*
*Marking note: correct. Candidate has added in pencil, below, "She has been there since 1989. She says she isn't cross."*
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**Part C: Comprehension.** Read the passage and answer the questions.
*The house at the end of Cinder Row had been empty since the autumn. Its windows were boarded, and the garden had grown up through the path. On the night the new family arrived, the youngest daughter stood at the gate and counted the windows. There were seven, and she was sure there had once been eight. She told her mother this. Her mother said that was impossible, and went inside to light the stove.*
1. How many windows does the house have?
2. Why does the youngest daughter think there were eight?
3. What does the mother do when the daughter says this?
*Candidate's answers: 1) Seven, though there should be eight. 2) Because she counted them before, when she lived there. 3) The mother goes inside and lights the stove, and then the candidate writes: "She is still lighting it. She has been lighting it every night."*
*Marking note: question 2 is answered beyond the passage. Candidate has not been asked to explain her own history.*
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**Part D: Writing.** Write a short paragraph (80–100 words) describing a place you know well.
*Candidate's response:*
*I know a flat on the third floor, over the chemist. It has a kitchen with a window that faces the back of the church, and a bedroom with one door that doesn't quite close. I know it because I have lived there for forty years, and I know every stair, every creak, and every place on the carpet where the pattern changes, because I stand there every morning, listening for my name to be called from the room at the back. It hasn't been called since 1989. I'm still listening for the bell.*
*Marking note: paragraph exceeds word limit and does not describe a place. Candidate has been asked to rewrite.*
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**Examiner's note (Harwick, 14 Oct)**
Candidate 0907 submitted her test at 09:00. She completed all parts in twelve minutes. She was marked as Level 1, which is the lowest level the Institute offers. She asked whether she could be placed in a higher class. She said she already knows the language, and that her mother taught it to her, very carefully, from a book with no title.
We have no record of a candidate with this number. The enrolment form lists an address that is the same as the test centre. The candidate's signature is in pencil.
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**Candidate's letter (received 20 Oct)**
*Dear Harwick,*
*Thank you for placing me in Level 1. I'm happy to be in a class with the other students. I'm sorry for the paragraph. I was asked to describe a place I know well, and I couldn't stop thinking about the room at the back, where I used to sit with my mother while she read the words out loud, and I had to repeat them after her.*
*I've been coming to the class every week. Nobody else seems to be able to hear the teacher. She speaks very quietly, in the same language I learned at home, and she keeps asking us to repeat the same sentence, over and over, until we get the stress right.*
*The sentence is "Please come in. You're late, but I've kept the door open."*
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**Institute note (Harwick, 27 Oct)**
Candidate 0907 has been enrolled in Level 1 for the duration of the course. Her attendance is recorded as 100%. Her written work is consistently accurate, though she has been asked to remove the marginal notes.
*Teacher's note: Candidate 0907 moved up to Level 2 at the end of term. Her final test was marked 100%. The examiner's only comment reads: correct, as always. The Level 1 class has been removed from the timetable.*