Language proficiency test?

[FiReFTW]

I know theres a ton of them and theres even a topic here with ton of them listed, but can anyone actually recommend some that are actually good and in depth?

I tried a few and they basically had 15 questions and then give you your rating... seems a bit too easy and not accurate lol.

[Kat]

For which language?

Try Dialang if it covers the language(s) you want to test. It's fairly thorough, especially the listening and reading comprehension modules.

Some advice for accurate results:

1) Don't skip the placement test.
2) Some questions can be tricky. Be careful to base your answer on what you actually hear or read, not on what you'd find logical in the given situation.

Edit:

3) Don't skip the self-assessment.

[trui]

For which language?

Try Dialang if it covers the language(s) you want to test. It's fairly thorough, especially the listening and reading comprehension modules.

Some advice for accurate results:

1) Don't skip the placement test.
2) Some questions can be tricky. Be careful to base your answer on what you actually hear or read, not on what you'd find logical in the given situation.

The placement test or the self-assessment test? Both affect the difficulty of the test taken. That second piece of advice is also quite useful. I find that I'm quite good at that as a result of my studies, and perhaps that's part of why I often seem to punch above my weight on these kind of things, Dialang included.

As you mentioned, the placement test is quite important. Dialang could be the best test in the world, but the margin of error comes from the difficulty of the test given. They even mention this on their site. I'm not saying that Dialang isn't the best free language test out there (with the exception of full-length sample exams of official tests which are sometimes made available for free), but that one should still take it with a grain of salt.

For example, a couple years ago the Dutch placement test put me at B2 (assuming that the 6 score categories correspond to the CEFR), and my self-assessment put me around B1-B2. I didn't answer C1+ on any of the self-assessed categories and yet I got C2 across the board. What was the difficulty of the test I got then? One would think B2, given the placement and assessment. If so, how can they say I'm C2 as a result of scores on B2 tests? Now I get that the level of the test might be more nuanced than just 'B2' but still.

I also took the Dialang German reading test a few days ago. I placed around 300 (so B1) and skipped the self-assessment. My result was B2. I think that reflects my current comprehension of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, a newspaper I'm subscribed to, so I'd say that's fairly accurate.

And some people have gotten Dialang scores that are worse than official CEFR exams that they have taken and passed.

So yeah, with all that said, Dialang is still quite good and they're certainly trying their best, but designing accurate tests for multiple languages is extremely time consuming and difficult, so there will always be a margin of error--yes, this applies even to official exams.

Sadly with regards to the original question, there's really not much else out there, test wise, I don't think. I'd only further recommend to take the official sample exams of your language if they're available. If they're multiple choice, they can be self-graded.

And above all, levels are useful for governments, employment and study plans, but ultimately you should worry more about whether you can use the language how you want to. Good luck!

[Kat]

The placement test or the self-assessment test? Both affect the difficulty of the test taken.

Are you sure? I thought they only use the self-assessment to show you where your assessment differs from the test results but I might be wrong.

BTW, I did the placement test for German once because I found it quite tricky in Dutch and I was curious what it would look like in my native language. It is tricky! All words in the German version could be actual verbs. It's not possible to guess, either you know them or your don't. They have "vereinlichen", for example, which is nonsense, but "vereinHEITlichen" does exist!

I'm not saying that Dialang isn't the best free language test out there (with the exception of full-length sample exams of official tests which are sometimes made available for free), but that one should still take it with a grain of salt.

I definitely agree with you on this. The usefulness of free, automated tests is limited. The Dialang writing module, for example, doesn't really test your compositions skills, it's more of a combined vocabulary and grammar test. And that's completely understandable, they'd need an actual person to check an essay and no one is going to do that for free.

In addition, Dialang seems to be a bit weaker with closely related languages. It rates me as C in Dutch while I'd put myself firmly in the B category. Maybe that's because they test you on "advanced" vocabulary and that's often words which are alike in both languages. In Dutch they asked for "kroonluchter" (chandelier) and most Germans would be able to guess that one without speaking a word of Dutch (since it's Kronleuchter in German). "Simple" things, like the correct usage of "er", are a lot harder for me.

Despite these shortcomings I think Dialang is one of the best free tests out there because it's quite comprehensive and contains more than just a couple of questions.

[aokoye]

The placement test or the self-assessment test? Both affect the difficulty of the test taken.

Are you sure? I thought they only use the self-assessment to show you where your assessment differs from the test results but I might be wrong.

The last paragraph in English of their explanation of the placement test:

You do not have to take the placement test, and you may abandon it part way through, but if you do abandon it, you may later get a test which is too hard or too easy. Therefore we strongly advise you to finish the test.

[Kat]

The placement test or the self-assessment test? Both affect the difficulty of the test taken.

Are you sure? I thought they only use the self-assessment to show you where your assessment differs from the test results but I might be wrong.

The last paragraph in English of their explanation of the placement test:

You do not have to take the placement test, and you may abandon it part way through, but if you do abandon it, you may later get a test which is too hard or too easy. Therefore we strongly advise you to finish the test.

Yes, this explanation refers to the placement test (number II) which I mentioned in my first post. I'm not sure about the self-assessment (number III) which comes afterwards. As far as I remember it doesn't influence the level of difficulty.

[trui]

The placement test or the self-assessment test? Both affect the difficulty of the test taken.

Are you sure? I thought they only use the self-assessment to show you where your assessment differs from the test results but I might be wrong.

The last paragraph in English of their explanation of the placement test:

You do not have to take the placement test, and you may abandon it part way through, but if you do abandon it, you may later get a test which is too hard or too easy. Therefore we strongly advise you to finish the test.

Yes, this explanation refers to the placement test (number II) which I mentioned in my first post. I'm not sure about the self-assessment (number III) which comes afterwards. As far as I remember it doesn't influence the level of difficulty.

I checked before I wrote the above, but here's it quoted for reference:

On the next screen you will be given a self-assessment questionnaire, in which you are asked to make judgements about your abilities in the language and the skill which you have chosen to take a test in.

You will be presented with a number of statements, in no particular order, and you have to decide whether each one applies to you or not. Press the 'Yes' button if it does, and the 'No' button if it does not.

The results of this questionnaire are used for two purposes. First, they help to determine the level of the test that you should be given, and second, they will be compared with your test result, to see whether you have a realistic assessment of your level.

If you do not attempt or complete the questionnaire, the information cannot be used to help choose which test to give you.

[aokoye]

The placement test or the self-assessment test? Both affect the difficulty of the test taken.

Are you sure? I thought they only use the self-assessment to show you where your assessment differs from the test results but I might be wrong.

The last paragraph in English of their explanation of the placement test:

You do not have to take the placement test, and you may abandon it part way through, but if you do abandon it, you may later get a test which is too hard or too easy. Therefore we strongly advise you to finish the test.

Yes, this explanation refers to the placement test (number II) which I mentioned in my first post. I'm not sure about the self-assessment (number III) which comes afterwards. As far as I remember it doesn't influence the level of difficulty.

Ah I misread what you had typed. That said, it looks like someone else quoted the self assessment bit as well.

[Kat]

It turned out that trui was right and the self-assessment counts as well. I have edited my first post accordingly.