Language placement interview

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WestPointHopeful2025

New Member
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Oct 12, 2020
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Hello all,

I recently placed very high in German during the placements online. It says an interview is required by faculty to confirm test results. My question is: if I mess up on the interview or they don’t like what they see will I be given the choice of my second or third language choice, or will I just be placed in my second choice?

Do any current cadets/old grads have any experience with this?

Thanks guys.
 
I have a similar question, do plebes have to take the language their first semester if they placed high enough?
 
They are just confirming your proficiency. If you don't do well they will likely just put you in a lower level German course. They're just trying to see how advanced you are in it. Wenn du hast Fragen, ich war im Deutschklasse hier fuer zwei Semester (albeit introductory...).

bt18 said:
I have a similar question, do plebes have to take the language their first semester if they placed high enough?
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Most cadets take languages their yearling year. I'm not sure exactly what you're asking, but everyone takes two semesters of language regardless of their proficiency. You will just be put in a higher level class or take a different language if that's what you so choose.
 
prospective2019 said:
They are just confirming your proficiency. If you don't do well they will likely just put you in a lower level German course. They're just trying to see how advanced you are in it. Wenn du hast Fragen, ich war im Deutschklasse hier fuer zwei Semester (albeit introductory...).


Most cadets take languages their yearling year. I'm not sure exactly what you're asking, but everyone takes two semesters of language regardless of their proficiency. You will just be put in a higher level class or take a different language if that's what you so choose.
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Awesome, so I will still be able to continue studying German if they have to put me at a lower level even though I have prior experience in the language? I read that if you have prior experience in a language and you do not show profiency at whatever your prior experience level is, you do not get to take the language at a more basic level.
 
WestPointHopeful2025 said:
Awesome, so I will still be able to continue studying German if they have to put me at a lower level even though I have prior experience in the language? I read that if you have prior experience in a language and you do not show profiency at whatever your prior experience level is, you do not get to take the language at a more basic level.
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Yes you will! They would love to have you in the German program. Not many kids with prior experience in the language.
 
My DS speaks German. He had a second (in person/virtual) speaking interview during his plebe year to validate the results of the online test and was placed into 400 level German classes for next year. They were thrilled to have a German speaker, although getting bumped to the 400s sounds like they were more thrilled than they ought to be or he has time to be. haha. That might be your bigger "issue" than being placed down.
 
I remember my placement interview for German. Three officers grilled me on the difference between the DDR (East Germany) and the BRD (West Germany). By that time it was over, I was so "verwirrt (confused),, that when they told me to wait outside, I left and went back to the barracks. It was a "surprise" when a member of the CBT cadre showed up asking why I had disobeyed an order and left.

Thirty plus years later, given our language at home is German,, my older DD aced the interview and was placed as a plebe in a senior level class on German film. She did very well. The younger DD "bluffed" her way through the interview and was placed in a junior level class which covered film in the former DDR (which had a vibrant film industry) and struggled but still passed. Different paths - I was placed in a lower level than my ability, one DD also in a lower level and one in a higher level than their abilities, but all leading to the same result - good German language education.
 
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