Foreign Launguage Exam

PresidentFetz

USAFA 2017 Appointee
5-Year Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2013
Messages
25
So....I haven't taken Spanish in 2 years. As far as I know, I bombed that test. I took it about a month ago. Anyone else do that? Haha
 
Ditto here, but I'm not too worried about it since I don't even want to take Spanish anyway.
 
Just took it! Let's just say... there's very little chance I'm testing out of anything. But that's OK... I haven't taken Spanish since sophomore year, and I've only had a year of Russian. It was kind of fun to try to figure them out!

Just because I'm that type, I was sad that we weren't shown how we did--and for all I know, may never see the results. Ah well...
 
Okay. where does it tell you the password to access the test? I must not have written it down.
 
Where were we supposed to be told to take the test? I do not remember ever seeing it...
 
As far as I know, I bombed that test. I took it about a month ago. Anyone else do that? Haha

Ditto here, but I'm not too worried about it since I don't even want to take Spanish anyway.

Just took it! Let's just say... there's very little chance I'm testing out of anything. But that's OK... I haven't taken Spanish since sophomore year, and I've only had a year of Russian.


Not quite the attitude USAFA is looking for. You should do your best and do not attempt to 'game' the system. The test is designed to measure your linguistic aptitude. Spanish is not a strategic language due to the abundance of Spanish speakers in the United States. However, the test results may effect which language that you get placed into.

My son, who took 4 years of Spanish (including AP) was placed into Arabic. Seeing that he more engineering minded, I was concerned that he would struggle with Arabic. Currently, he is a Civil Engineering major pursuing a minor in Arabic. Go figure.
 
Rook - it's in the Instructions to Appointees booklet, along with the test link. That link and the one available via the portal are the same.

Ambition - same; it's in the Instructions to Appointees booklet, and also on the web.

Dad - I can't speak for the others, but let me reassure you on my account! I LOVE languages, and I would never dream of trying to 'game' the system! I took Spanish for 5 years and only stopped because the class times no longer worked (it was an online class and would have interfered with playing sports). However, I was able to take Arabic these last two years and Russian this year (my school just started offering it.)

So... I absolutely did do my best on that test! I'm hoping to get a Russian minor while majoring in some sort of engineering, though I also put down Arabic on my preferences list. (Root system... so weird, but so interesting.)
 
Dad, you are quite wrong. I did not bomb the test on purpose; I merely expressed the fact that I was not worried about if I had a poor result because 1. I haven't touched Spanish for a long time and 2. It is not my first choice language.

You need to be a little more careful before implying people are trying to "game" things, but I understand where you are coming from so no hard feelings mate. :thumb:

EDIT: I was also under the impression that this wasn't the test to measure linguistic aptitude, but rather a measure of how advanced one was in a particular language for placement purposes. The language aptitude exam is taken during BCT correct?
 
You need to be a little more careful before implying people are trying to "game" things,

Actually, you said that "I didn't even want to take Spanish anyways." That can be interpreted as gaming the system to not get Spanish as your language. Regardless, the media we are using does not capture the vocal intonations and inflection cues that we use in verbal conversation. I assure you that my intention was not to flame anyone, but to remind you and the others that the little things DO matter. I was also posting for the lurkers to encourage them to always do their best and not be satisfied with a sub-par performance.

I merely expressed the fact that I was not worried about if I had a poor result because 1. I haven't touched Spanish for a long time and 2. It is not my first choice language.

A poor score on the Spanish test, if it is an accurate picture of your proficiency, should not reflect negatively on you in any way. If you haven't taken Spanish for a while, I would expect you to have a tough time on the test. Unfortunately, your original post only stated that you did not do well and that "you were not worried about it." As you, Invisibility, and PresidentFetz are a class of 2017 Appointees, I full confidence that all of you did do your best on that test. That is the type of person USAFA offers Appointments to. My concern is that if Johnny 2018 read your post, he might think that he didn't need to give his best effort on the placement test. Again, my purpose was to articulate the importance of giving USAFA an accurate reading of where you are in regard the Spanish language to the lurkers on this site.
 
Dad, like I said, I know you had good intentions and you didn't offend me. I can see how my posts may have been interpreted differently through the cyberspace filter than how I originally intended them to be. No worries at all.
 
Hey it's all good. Same here, I just felt nervous because I know I didn't perform very well. I just wanted to see if others were in the same boat is all.
 
My DS had 4 years of Spanish but didn't even take the online test, knew he didn't want to do Spanish (thought it was a placement exam). There were no repercussions. He took Russian and enjoyed it, but glad he's an Engineer because he is done with languages now.
 
My DS had 4 years of Spanish but didn't even take the online test, knew he didn't want to do Spanish (thought it was a placement exam). There were no repercussions. He took Russian and enjoyed it, but glad he's an Engineer because he is done with languages now.

Sometimes the needs of the AF go the other way. Our son had 5 years of Spanish from middle school through high school. He went to the Academy planning on taking something different as a change of pace. After he took the language placement test during BCT, they put him in......Spanish. :frown:

He made the most of it, though, and ended up with a Spanish minor by taking relatively few Spanish courses at the Academy. It has actually been a good thing for him since he has been stationed in Del Rio for the last couple of years! :biggrin:

Stealth_81
 
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