Language Placement Test (French example)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Franklin & Marshall College
1

<h2>I noticed there seems to be no posts about the Franklin & Marshall Language Placement Test make-up so i thought I'd give a synopsis. I took the French test so some of many of these apply to the French test but my guess is looking through this will help for any language (such as the fact that it is not timed)</h2>

<p>[Most] Questions that make up the test:</p>

<p>• **Word Synonyms<a href="and%20one%20Antonym%20question">/B</a>[includes all Parts of Speech]: choose the word synonymous with the following…</p>

<p>Exp.
La couleur</p>

<p>A) La faute
B) Le but
C) La teinte
D) la honte</p>

<p>• Pronoun Order: Which of the following is a rewording of the above sentence with correct pronoun order (also requires knowledge of gender from the sentence)—this also requires knowledge of different types of pronouns (Direct Object, Indirect Object, Possessive Pronoun)</p>

<p>Exp.
Tu écris cette lettre à ton frère, oui?</p>

<p>A) Oui, je le lui écris.
B) Oui, je la lui écris.
C) Oui, je lui la écris.
D) Oui, je leur la écris.</p>

<p>• Different Tenses: Converting sentences into different tenses as required (e.g. a sentence is future simple, reword it into Future Anterieur [or something like this—I couldn’t entirely tell what to do])</p>

<p>Exp.
Je vais te téléphoner à huit heures.</p>

<p>A) Il te téléphonera ce soir.
B) Il va téléphonera ce soir.
C) Il a téléphonera ce soir.
D) Il téléphone ce soir.</p>

<p>• **Read the passage<a href="about%20one%20paragraph%20in%20length">/B</a> and choose which of the following happened in the story. (answer choices in English) Note : These seem to be the easiest and one can jump right to where the possible answers refer to in the story.</p>

<p>Exp.
...Plus tard, Paul mange du chocolat et il se couche. Demain, Paul décide d'aller ...</p>

<p>A) Paul eats the chocolate
B) Paul stays up all night
C) Paul hates chocolate
D) Paul has a peanut allergy </p>

<p>• Pronouns: Know the correct pronoun to fill the space (may require knowledge of common “de” phrases for ‘dont’ (I only recall one of these questions)</p>

<p>Exp.
Le livre ___ j’ai besoin est dans ma chamber.</p>

<p>A) qui
B) que
C) dont
D) quel</p>

<p>• Assorted Grammar Questions: Some beginner questions, I forget most.
- Agreement
- Use of de with the negative
- Des v. De (Specific v. Unspecific)</p>

<p>Exp.
Elles sont _____</p>

<p>A) grand
B) grandes
C) grande</p>

<h2>D) grands</h2>

<p>Exp.
Il n'a pas___ livres blancs</p>

<p>A) des
B) de
C) les
D) du</p>

<h2>E) le</h2>

<p>Exp.
Il y a beaucoup___ problèmes.</p>

<p>A) de
B) des
C) les</p>

<p>Things I don’t recall on the test:</p>

<ul>
<li> Subjunctive—I don’t recall subjunctive—but it couldn’t hurt to freshen up (PEDD: Preference, Emotion, Desire, Doubt)</li>
<li> Être Verbs—I don’t recall having to select between the two—but it couldn’t hurt to freshen up (Dr. Mrs. Vandertramp)</li>
<li> Gerondif—there were no questions on this</li>
</ul>

<p>NOT on the test:
-Any trick questions
o Different spellings to trick you
o Different conjugations (knowing the past tense of Voire vs. Venir)
o Mix-ups (needing to know la libraire vs. la bibliothèque [perhaps this is a bit required for synonyms if you have to guess but other than that])
o Anything that would trick you into choosing the wrong answer—they’re straightforward “you understand the question (and thus the answer) or you do not,” they aren’t looking to trick you. [this was true for French at least, i can only guess it applies to each language]</p>

<p>Other Notes:
-Number of answer choices for a question range from 3-5 (most have 4 possible answer choices)
-The test is not times (It took me about 25 minutes. I would guess there were maybe 75 questions.)
-Vocab is rather important for the synonym questions--perhaps even find some lists of synonyms (found in Cliffnotes French I & II and other places)
-This is all I recall. A full refresh of the language is always helpful.</p>