The entrance exam is compulsory. We need to make sure our students have a C1 level to get into our classes. Most classes are in English. 

The entrance exam covers:

Day 1. 5:00pm English and Spanish grammar, and reading comprehension. In-person

English grammar: C1 level English is required to pass the entrance exam. Multiple choice and one word answers are the type of exercises that will be found.

What is C1 level?  

Previous year sample

Spanish grammar:

En el examen de castellano que forma parte del examen de ingreso a la carrera de Lengua Inglesa del Instituto Superior de Lenguas se evaluarán conocimientos de gramática, ortografía, puntuación y sintaxis. 

If you pass this 90 minute test, you are entitled to take the following one:

Day 2. 5:00 pm. Listening and Speaking. Virtual

Oral Interview: an ISL professor as an interview with you. A topic will be presented. You need to talk as much as possible, to give the evaluator the chance  to assess your speaking and listening comprehension skills. 

The following criteria is taken into account:

Pronunciation and intonation, grammar (grammatical resource), vocabulary (lexical resource), sequence of ideas (discourse management) and fluency (interactive communication). See it more in detail here. 

If you pass this test, you are entitled to take the following one:

Day 3. 3:00 pm. Academic Writing. In-person

A topic is provided by the ISL staff on the day of the exam. 45 minutes are given for each language. Candidates are expected to write a composition of between 250 to 350 words in ENGLISH. The following criteria is taken into account:

20p  =  ideas (cohesiveness, argumentation, coherence, creativity)

15p  =  fluency  (spontaneity, transition, pace)

15p  =  grammar (complex structures, word order, tenses, prepositions)

10p  =  vocabulary (precision, register, collocation)

10p  =  spelling, capitalization, punctuation

5p  =  overall presentation (orderly and legible(this only with in-person tests))

Redacción en castellano: Los candidatos deberán escribir un ensayo sobre un tema propuesto en el que se evaluarán, además de los elementos citados con anterioridad, la superestructura del texto, la estructura de los párrafos individuales, la pertinencia de la argumentación, la coherencia y cohesión del texto y el uso de un vocabulario preciso y variado.

Previous year sample