Why take the National Latin Exam?

[Jane Elliot]

Is there a benefit to this? I mean outside of sense-of-accomplishment or motivation-to-study type reasons.

[abbeyej]

Well, it's certainly something to add to the college resume. There are scholarships available to students who take the upper levels of the NLE and do well. For students who may go from home school to a traditional school environment, having a record of decent results on the NLE can help with placement...

[Jane Elliot]

Well, it's certainly something to add to the college resume. There are scholarships available to students who take the upper levels of the NLE and do well. For students who may go from home school to a traditional school environment, having a record of decent results on the NLE can help with placement...

 

Thanks, abbeyej. We were already planning to do a Latin AP exam. Would it be better to do both?

[Jane in NC]

Hi Luann,

 

My son has been taking the NLE for a number of years in part to justify those Mommy Grades. But it has been a boost to his morale as well. In 10th grade he received a silver medal for Latin III Prose (missing the gold by one point). He felt great about his accomplishments and is now more motivated to fine tune some of his grammar issues in the hope of earning a gold on the Latin IV Poetry exam this year.

 

The SAT subject test in Latin is more like the NLE than the AP Vergil exam. If SAT subject tests are needed for your child's admission to the college of his choice, the NLE will also serve as a stepping stone.

 

Best,

Jane

[Shelly in IL]

My son is in 7th, has done LC 1&2, and is in the Latin Prep series. When do you test? How advanced must you be? Thanks.

[abbeyej]

My son is in 7th, has done LC 1&2, and is in the Latin Prep series. When do you test? How advanced must you be? Thanks.

 

You can see the syllabi for each level at the NLE website. Finishing LP1 is a good time to take the NLE-Intro level (about the equivalent of one semester of high school Latin). LP2 works with the NLE level 1 exam (1 year of high school Latin). I haven't compared exactly, but I think we'll (in my class) be doing NLE-2 after LP3 next year and NLE-3 after SYRWTLL3 the next year...

 

And yes, my students seemed to find it motivating to be part of something bigger than our classroom and to be rewarded for their effort with outside recognition.

[LanaTron]

Thanks for this info, abbeyej! It is really useful.

[Jane Elliot]

The SAT subject test in Latin is more like the NLE than the AP Vergil exam. If SAT subject tests are needed for your child's admission to the college of his choice, the NLE will also serve as a stepping stone.

 

Thanks, Jane. That's good to know. I don't think we'll be needing the SAT subject tests. Instead, we were looking at the AP tests because the colleges he's interested in will give credit for them. He's not really the type of kid who needs any motivation to study Latin. Rather, he loves Latin like most kids like breathing. Still, he might enjoy the challenge of the NLE.

[Jane in NC]

One thing to remember is that no single curriculum prepares a student precisely for the NLE. So studying for it presents a good opportunity to draw in other resources, review some history and geography, etc.

 

I don't usually hang out over here on the Curriculum board so I don't know if this has been discussed. Have you considered the National Mythology Exam for your son also? Great for a kid who relishes the classics.

 

Best,

Jane

[frogpond1]

first year and I had no idea how it would go. Intro to Latin is halfway through the first year of high school Latin. DD took it after doing LCI, LfC A, half of LfC B, and LCII. She earned a ribbon and had a higher score than my high school class. (I had 5 kids get ribbons last year in the Intro to Latin.) This year DD will take Latin I and she'll be halfway through Latin Alive. I'm not sure if that is correct, but she has had so many different programs that she knows quite a bit. My LCT kids will also take Latin I and they will be beginning the second book in December.

[Alphabetika]

My dd will take it this year (well, next year, in the spring, I think) because that's a built-in part of her online Latin class through Lukeion. She will be partway through Wheelock's at that point.

[Beth in SW WA]

Lingua Latina does not follow the NLE syllabus so we are bowing out of the exam this year. LL does not use the grammar-method, which is what the NLE is based on.

 

My kids had finished LC 1 last year at the time of the test and did fairly well, considering they hadn't covered all the material needed yet for Intro level test.