Russian language or Ancient Greek and how to prove learning

[crazyforlatin]

For students learning Russian, how do they prove they have studied it for 4 years during high school? There’s no AP or SAT Subject exams in Russian. Is there an exam out there perhaps similar to the National Greek/Latin Exam but for Russian? 

What about Ancient Greek? Will the National Greek Exam suffice for college application purposes?

Am I limiting colleges for Dd if we continue with languages that are not tested by the College Board?

[Roadrunner]

My friend had a hard time with Russian. They ended up having it certified through a charter school for A through G purposes.

i am guessing outside of UC, you don’t need to prove anything.

[RootAnn]

Is this for placement purposes or just application awesomeness? If the student will keep going, some schools will have a placement test.

There is always the Test of Russian as a foreign language (TORFL) or the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) exam. The Russian Language Center has a test (TRKI) whose levels supposedly correspond to CEFR levels. I'd pick whatever is easiest/cheapest to get administered if I had to show something.

There is a Russian Olympiad if you are looking for something shiny & neat for applications.

[8filltheheart]

There are also Russian essay exams. Lower levels are graded in the US and upper levels are shipped to Moscow for grading.  

[8filltheheart]

5 hours ago, crazyforlatin said:

For students learning Russian, how do they prove they have studied it for 4 years during high school? There’s no AP or SAT Subject exams in Russian. Is there an exam out there perhaps similar to the National Greek/Latin Exam but for Russian? 

What about Ancient Greek? Will the National Greek Exam suffice for college application purposes?

Am I limiting colleges for Dd if we continue with languages that are not tested by the College Board?

To a swer your general question about limiting options bc no subject test, no. (Though I know nothing about CA schools.) Schools that require subject tests typically say 2-3 and only a handful specify subjects.  

[crazyforlatin]

4 hours ago, RootAnn said:

Is this for placement purposes or just application awesomeness? If the student will keep going, some schools will have a placement test.

There is always the Test of Russian as a foreign language (TORFL) or the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) exam. The Russian Language Center has a test (TRKI) whose levels supposedly correspond to CEFR levels. I'd pick whatever is easiest/cheapest to get administered if I had to show something.

There is a Russian Olympiad if you are looking for something shiny & neat for applications.

Thanks for listing these, RootAnn. I'm going to be looking into these. Dd finds Russian particularly hard, and it doesn't help that her Russian friend just told her she wouldn't wish this language on anyone. 

[regentrude]

You don't need to prove that you have studied the language for college admissions. Just like you don't need to prove that you mastered physics or medieval history.

Once admitted, colleges offer placement exams or proficiency tests, which may enable  students to get the foreign language requirement waived, or place into a higher level class.

 

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

My college kids both had three years of a foreign language with no validating test. They also didn't have the option of studying this language at college (it's not commonly taught). However, they both benefited from the course work personally and academically. They also appear to have been given full "credit" by admissions departments for having studied the language. They also both had 4 years of Latin, culminating with the AP exam. They both chose to take a third language in college to fulfill their foreign language requirements. For admissions purposes I don't think it will matter, write solid course descriptions of what your student(s) studied each year, texts used, books read in the original language, etc. If they desire higher level placement then the college they ultimately attend should be offering placement exams over the summer or during orientation.

Edited September 9, 2019 by JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst

[Penguin]

My son had three years of Russian. He had my course descriptions and his tutor wrote a LOR. That was perfectly fine for admissions.

He did also meet with some faculty, but certainly not at every school.

And then he had a Russian placement test at orientation.