From making your appointment for the test to understanding how to obtain the results of your performance, everything about the Portuguese A2 Level Exam (CIPLE) is a little different.
Luckily, the very generous testing requirements only ask students to have earned 55% or more overall. Each section of the exam counts for a different portion of the total points. Reading comprehension & writing is 45%, listening comprehension is 30% and oral communication is 25%.
As an adult, I’ve taken lots of examinations for licensing and certification both within the public and private spheres. This português A2 level CIPLE exam was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.
Making Your Exam Reservation
Annually, language certification administrators open the registration window so students can reserve an exam in the coming year. Typically, exams are offered once a month for six months in participating colleges around the country. Spots for around 25 test takers are open in each location.
You must register for the exam first and then find the email they send. Click through the link and make your payment of 79 euros via MBWay. Be careful because the email can easily go to spam. Unfortunately, you only have 24 hours to complete payment before they cancel the appointment. Ask me how I know?!
Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
Bright and Early
Checkin for the Portuguese A2 level exam began bright and early at Universidade NOVA de Lisboa near Praça de Espanha. Test takers began milling about at 8:30am and test proctors began check-in exactly at 8:40am. We gave our name and provided the identification documents we used to register for the exam. Seats were assigned and pre-populated with pre-printed forms specific to each student.
We were given a few minutes of instructions about how to proceed and the exam commenced at around 9am.
Reading Comprehension and Writing
The first section is a great way to ease into the test taking process. You have one hour and fifteen minutes to complete a few reading and comprehension exercises before moving onto two free writing questions. In the reading comprehension section, answers are all multiple choice. If you read the answers before reading the text, you can usually eliminate one, giving yourself a 50/50 chance. Try to move through the reading comprehension questions as quickly as possible. You will need more time for the writing, editing, counting, and re-writing portion of the test.
For the writing exercise, you are given scratch paper and encouraged to draft your response there before transferring it to the answer sheet. You must also tally the number of words you have completed and place that number on the answer sheet.
The first response requires 25-35 words and the second one is 60-80. We were asked to draft an email to a friend about a party for the first. The second one asked us to write an email requesting an appointment for services. It is important to count every word and to be within the required count. Reflexive words count as one word as do introductory or closing words like “Olá!” or “Cumprimentos”.
After this segment of the test, we had to leave everything in the room and take a 15 minute break. It was nice to chat with the other students about the exam and to feel like I wasn’t alone in my anxiety and worry.
Listening Comprehension
We returned from our break to learn more about the expectations of the listening comprehension portion of the test. For this, we would have 30 minutes of listening to audio tracks from native speakers. Most of the exercises had a few questions about what you heart that were in multiple choice format.
The moderators advise you to use the scratch paper to respond. Then transfer your answers over to the answer sheet at the end of the exercise when they give you a few minutes to make the transfer. It can be difficult to do both at the same time. If you are hard of hearing or need to be sure you will hear the audio from the tinny laptop in the front of the room, ask to move closer. Many people in my class moved closer and if I were you, I would too. Noises in the room can be distracting. I highly encourage you to give yourself any possible advantage.
You will have 30 seconds to read through the questions before the audio begins. The audio will repeat once so you can validate your answer. The final question in the listening comprehension portion of the exam was quite a bit more difficult. It played ten different statements from native speakers followed by a column of ten potential responses. They repeated the verbal statements twice at speed one right after the other. This exercise was definitely the hardest for me in the exam.
Once the listening comprehension section was complete, we were told to leave our responses in the room once again. The large screen at the front of the room then showed who we had been assigned as our partner for the speaking portion of the Portuguese A2 level exam.
Speaking Section
My partner and I immediately sought one another out and began to converse exclusively in Portuguese as we shared experiences and built camaraderie. This tip is the best one I can give. While this person can’t pull you along if you aren’t ready, already having a baseline of respect and understanding during the conversation portion will really help.
We sat down in front of a laptop with the camera on. The two proctors sat behind the laptop at another computer and seemed to be controlling it remotely. One proctor was very focused on the technology while the other one prompted us with questions and gave instructions about what to expect.
The moderator asked us each a few basic warmup questions like how old we are, what we do for work, what we do in our free time, and who we live with. Next, they gave us each given different photos. We had a little time to examine them to think of how we would describe them to the moderator for two minutes. When we did not provide enough information or go the full time limit, the proctor would prompt us with more questions or find other ways to engage us with the image.
The last portion of the exam required the two of us to work together. They gave us several images representing potential vacation locations and told us that as friends, we had to decide which one we would visit, weighing the pros and cons of each. This was a nice way to have two non-native speakers engage in an interesting topic allowing both to speak freely about their preferences and observations.
Wait Six Weeks
And that was it. They released us from the oral communication portion of the Portuguese A2 level exam around 12:30pm. We wished one another well and I was thankful the four-hour exam was complete. We will know the results in six weeks. I’ve crossed my fingers and I’m optimistic. But, if I don’t make it, the conveniently located language classes promoted by the university can surely get me there! I wasn’t the only one taking a picture of it that day but I will be one of the last test takers for 2024.
Good luck to all the future CIPLE takers!
