Euskararen Gaitasun Agiria (EGA)

EGA is aimed at adult speakers of Basque. Nevertheless, the main contingent of the 15.000 current examination-takers a year is to be found among students finishing their secondary education. Most candidates have to a certain extent spoken Basque since childhood. Over a third of the candidates, however, are Spanish native speakers and have learnt Basque as a second language.

The EGA examination is designed to test candidates' command of language use in all skills at C1 level. Consequently, those who pass the EGA level are considered to be at an advanced level in oral as well as in writing skills. Likewise, they have an advanced command of the spelling and grammar rules established by the Royal Academy of the Basque language (Euskaltzaindia).

The EGA examination consist of three main tests:

Preliminary test

The preliminary test is made up of 100 Multiple Choice Questions, and they are aimed at testing candidates on listening comprehension, lexicon, morphosyntax... To obtain a pass in the preliminary test, candidates must get 75 responses correct. The test is divided into two sections. In the first one the first 15 questions are linked to a recording that candidates have to listen to before answering. Immediately after, candidates go on to work through the remaining 85 questions in an hour. It is compulsory to pass the preliminary test in order for the candidate to be allowed to sit the next paper. The test is machine marked (OMR for MCQ)

Second paper

Listening. Listening is assessed through ten Multiple Choice Questions.

After the listening task, candidates are expected to complete the following written tasks:

Writing task. This involves choosing one of two tasks about some aspect or problem of contemporary life. Responses should be around 300 words in length.

Rewriting of sentences. Candidates are expected to rewrite ten sentences using some given words or morphemes, but keeping the original meaning and without making any mistakes.

Synonyms. Candidates are expected to find at least one synonym each for ten words included in ten different sentences.

Reading comprehension. Candidates are expected to be able to read and understand texts taken from magazines, newspapers, leaflets, etc.

In order to obtain a pass in the writing test, it is compulsory to pass the four tasks. Each task has to be passed according to a standard scoring system.

Speaking

Two examiners test candidates individually. There are two tasks: the first one measures the candidate's ability to understand and summarise a written text. And in the second task, candidates are expected to provide an oral presentation and discuss one of two given topics.

The assessment takes into account the following aspects:

• Ability to make use of formal registers of the spoken language close to those of the written language.

• Ability to give an explanation while using a formal register of the spoken language.

• Ability to give accurate and appropriate explanations.

• Correct use of the spoken language, in terms of grammar and pronunciation