Cheaters Guide to B2 Fluency (Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies) Language Learning Forum

Cheaters Guide to B2 Fluency
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Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies

11 messages over 2 pages: 1 2

Tanizaki
Triglot
Newbie
United States
Joined 4828 days ago
21 posts - 44 votes
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Japanese

Message 9 of 11

06 June 2012 at 6:18am | IP Logged

Getting to B2 is easy if you use language hacks.
1 person has voted this message useful

Wulfgar
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4699 days ago
404 posts - 791 votes

Speaks: English*

Message 10 of 11

06 June 2012 at 7:54am | IP Logged

Tanizaki wrote:

Getting to B2 is easy if you use language hacks.

Yes! It takes exactly 3 months for all languages. Wait...or was that C1?

Majka wrote:

What I wanted to say - it is certainly possible to cheat your way to certificate.

Totally agree. You can cram to pass a test at a higher level. If you want a test of this type to truly assess your level,
then don't prepare for it. Better yet, spend a couple weeks with teachers who administer this type of test and
constantly asses their students levels. Have them assess your level without using a test.
3 persons have voted this message useful

emk
Diglot
Moderator
United States
Joined 5560 days ago
2615 posts - 8806 votes

Speaks: English*, French^B2
Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian
Personal Language Map

Message 11 of 11

06 June 2012 at 12:45pm | IP Logged

Wulfgar wrote:

Totally agree. You can cram to pass a test at a higher level. If you
want a test of this type to truly assess your level, then don't prepare for it. Better
yet, spend a couple weeks with teachers who administer this type of test and constantly
asses their students levels. Have them assess your level without using a test.

I'm really not convinced that the DELF B2 (or DALF) exams are meant to be taken blind.
The purely linguistic skills count for maybe 60% or 70% of your score on some sections,
and a passing grade is 50%. The balance of the points are for academic skills.

I took a practice test with a professional tutor, and I got most of the points for
linguistic skills. I can debate, persuade, or whatever, with an acceptable vocabulary
and accent. I lost some grammar points for occasionally using the passé composé
when I should have used the imparfait (a known problem; I'm already working on
it).

But I took some serious hits on the structure portion of the exam. For example, instead
of restating the inane central question from the article ("does this represent a step
forward, or a step back?"), I took a different approach ("this change is acceptable
only with a framework of 3 specific conditions"), and argued for why each condition was
important. Boom, minus several points. I should have first raised the pointless
"central" question and disposed of it before trying to fit the problem into a sensible
framework.

My approach would have been perfectly acceptable on an "Advanced Placement" exam in the
US, way back when. Those exams care about whether you engage with the issue
intelligently, and they give you some structural flexibility. The DELF B2 does allow
some structural flexibility, but only after you've briefly disposed of what
you're given.

Similarly, on the reading comprehension section, I typically have to summarize several
paragraphs into a sentence or two, and I have to include the correct four items
in my answer. Typically, I understand the text and the question, but not which four
points were most important to the test maker. I've done 2 or 3 practice exams and I'm
finally starting to get the hang of what they want.

Wulfgar wrote:

Better yet, spend a couple weeks with teachers who administer this type
of test and constantly asses their students levels. Have them assess your level without
using a test.

I did exactly that, and her verdict was, translated: "Your linguistic skills are fine
for B2, but you need to stop messing around and take some practice exams."

I think that if you want a raw linguistic skills assessment, without studying for the
exam, your best bet is probably the TCF, not the DELF/DALF. The TCF is designed to
assess the linguistic skills of a fairly broad population, including immigrants.

But the DELF B2 is quite literally a college entrance examination for various FLE
programs in French universities, where they'll apparently give you an extra year or so
of support while you reach a solid C1. As such, you apparently need to treat it like an
academic exam, and not just as a linguistic skills assessment.

To be fair, I think you could pass the DELF B2 exam blind if you were a very
strong B2 bordering on a weak C1. But that strategy would involve maxing out the purely
linguistic points and taking hits on the more "academic" points.

5 persons have voted this message useful

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