Certificat de nivell suficiència de català

This is an examination at an advanced level, which tests the language skill needed to communicate adequately and correctly in communicative situations that require the use of formal or semi-formal language.

There are four components:

Writing

Candidates must be able to write general, semiformal texts on matters relating to working and social spheres, with a sufficient level of reasoning, cohesion, correctness and appropriateness.

There are two tasks. The first task requires the candidate to write a formal letter (complaining, requesting something, providing information about facts, making suggestions...) of approximately 150 words. The second task requires the candidate to write a formal text of approximately 200 words. Candidates have two choices: a) an opinion article in a magazine to put forward and argue a point of view, persuade, etc; b) a commentary on specific elements (characters, argument, topic...) of a book, play or film that candidates have read or seen, for a magazine, competition, etc; or on other topics requiring candidates to describe places, people, etc and make a personal evaluation.

Reading

Candidates are expected to be able to understand written texts on topics of general interest and specific informative texts. Candidates should understand the gist and the main and secondary ideas or details, the ideas that are not formulated explicitly communicative intention, point of view and attitude of the author, tone (irony, humour, etc) and double meanings, and the organisation of the text (order and association of ideas).

There are two tasks that require the reading of a text (article, report, news article, reviews of books, films, plays...) each of around 500-600 words. The first task requires the candidates answer true/false questions and multiple-choice questions. The second task requires the candidates to choose one of three summaries of a text that bests sums up the content.

Grammar and vocabulary

Candidates are expected to demonstrate that they have a sufficient command of the language system to express themselves with an acceptable level of linguistic quality. They must complete six tasks based on authentic passages. The tasks are of the following types: gap-filling, multiple choice and sentence transformation.

Speaking

Candidates are tested individually by two examiners. They should demonstrate their ability to express themselves fluently with ease, adequately and with a sufficient level of correctness in semiformal, everyday communicative situations in social and working environments requiring the use of the standard oral language.

There are three tasks:

• The first task requires the candidate to demonstrate their ability to produce a coherent monologue that is appropriate for the communicative situation giving a two-minute talk on a general topic using two photographs as stimuli.

• The second task requires the candidates to solve a problem-solving situation. To solve the task, the candidate needs to adapt the language to the specific situation. They should be able to demonstrate their ability to use the resources of the standard, semiformal spoken language in a flexible way.

• The third task requires the candidates to read aloud a text of approximately 200 words.

Weighting of components

The Writing component carries 40% of the total marks, the reading component 10%, the grammar and vocabulary 25% and the speaking component 25%.

Results

There are two qualifications: pass and fail. In order to obtain a pass, a minimum of 70% is required overall and at least half of the percentages of the Writing and Speaking components