Important Information about UNIcert II and III English

Time and place
Time and date of the written examination will be announced here, about a month before the written exam. Date of the orals will be announced on the day of the written examination.

The exam  will be held in  the Lecture Halls of Gräfin Dönhoff building. Your room depends on your Matriculation Number, or name. Your room in GD will be  posted on the doors on the day of the exam.

The written exam is two hours 15 mins. long. Students must be there  by 13.50 at the latest.due to the  large number of students, starting takes some time, so expect to be there until about 16:45 or later; please be patient.

Registration
Registriation is on viacampus. Dates for the registration period are also found here.
You cannot register on the day of the exam; late registration before the exam will be possible up to two days before,  on payment of a fee at the Secretary's Office (AB019).

You will be will be able to register once viaCampus has a record of all the B2.2 (formerly "Oberstufe") courses you need to pass. Your teacher will make sure your results are entered in time for you to register.

Important information for the day of the written exam:
- Please bring your student ID or, if you do not have one, some form of identification.

-Dictionaries:
   - You may use an English/English dictionary but NOT a bilingual one (i.e. not English-German or English-Polish etc.)
   - We will NOT supply dictionaries at the exam, so if you wish to use one, bring your own. You can also borrow dictionaries from the Selbstlernzentrum (AB016).
   - Computer-based dictionaries will not be allowed.
   - You will not be allowed to share a dictionary so bring your own.

-No mobile phones! Bring a watch if you think you need one; there is a clock in the room.

-You must bring a watch if you think you need one.

-You must bring a PEN with BLACK OR DARK BLUE INK to write the test with. The exam cannot be written in pencil (because all exams need to be photocopied).

 

General information on the oral exam 

Results
Results for the examination will be available on viaCampus. The date of the results will be given on the day of the written exam. 

To improve your listening skills you should try and listen to as many types of English as possible, not just one.

For example:

- films
- television comedies
- documentaries
- songs and pop radio programmes
- news headlines
...are all good sources of REAL English, especially if it is what you like to listen to. However, you should also plan some of your study time for listening regularly to sources of English of the type usually found in the HS exam.

These include commentary and discussion programmes or news programmes, where often more than one person is speaking,  and where there is comment or interview at a rather complex level.

BBC Radio is one good  source for these, in particular at Radio 4 or World Service. To listen to past programmes, go to "Listen again" in the case of Radio 4, or in the case of World Service, go to Find a Programme.

For more intensive vocabulary and pronunciation practice go to BBC Learning English. If you click on "Words In The News" you can read the story and listen to it at the same time. Difficult vocabulary will be repeated and explained seperately. The listening texts here are, however, slightly easier than the more authentic texts found in the exam.

On the BBC  you will hear many accents but obviously mostly British. For practice listening to American sources, you may like to listen to NPR Radio. For example, you can browse there "NPR Worldwide" archive, in particular, "All things considered".

In the UNIcert II exam (formerly "HS-Exam") you may hear American OR British speakers, or even a combination of the two., or peakers from other English speaking parts of the world. Therefore, practice listening to different accents.

Types of text given on Reading Comprehension part of the UNIcert II (formerly "HS" or, in the older Exam regulations, "HF"):

It is imprtant that fr yourself-study, you spend some time working with texts of a similar type to those in the examination-These  are  usually discursive and, (like the essay you will write in the Writing Skills section) also  "argumentative" i.e. they discuss and often  take a position on an issue. They may be from a quality journal or newspaper, such as the Guardian, New York Times or Economist. 

 

Working with texts like that will help you prepare for the exam  so make a habit of regularly reading   these and similar magazines, newspapers and websites.

The Commment and Opinion pages of newspapers are better for UNIcert II practice than news summaries and headline news, because the latter are usually  just descriptive. 

It is important that when you read for self-study and practice, you consider:

- the overall position of the author
- where in the text the author is giving her opinion and when he is simply referring to opinions of other people

Types of question on the UNIcert II Reading Comprehension

A. The first few questions (usually 5 questions) on the UNIcert II Reading Comprehension section are multiple choice. Of the four possible answers, only one is the right answer.

B. These are followed by  some  general or written answer  questions. Usually there are two of these.

These written answer questions will need answering in English. Please write full sentences, as the answers must be clear, complete and give as much relevant information as possible.

What the examiners take account of ("Bewertungskriterien")

Acccording to the examination regulations, the following are to be assessed:
- Content (sachliche Richtigkeit)
- Language (sprachliche Richtigkeit)
- Appropriateness (Angemessenheit).

Please look at each of these carefully, because they are all important for the final mark.

More generally, there are certain formal requirements:
Length: Your essay must be between 250 and 350 words. An essay which is shorter or longer will receive a lower grade. If the essay is significantly shorter, it will receive a grade of '5'.
Paragraphs : The essay must contain contain clearly divided paragraphs. This is particularly important for structure: if the reader cannot see the paragraphs it is much harder to follow the logic and argument. Paragraphs must be indicated by indentation ("Einzug") or a full clear line space (an "empty line"). For more detail on paragraphs, see Content.
Sentences: Only use complete sentences - this is usual in academic writing:

•   A complete sentence needs a VERB:
  E.g. "All of them" is incomplete.
  
  
• A complete sentence needs a main clause ("Hauptsatz"):
  E.g.: "Because this was not allowed" is incomplete because the main clause  is missing.
  "He never smoked in the classroom because this was not allowed" IS a complete sentence.

For more details on the general requirements for the exam, you should read the Examination Regulations (Prüfungsordnung)

IMPORTANT: From Summer Semester 2024, the examination is UNIcert accredited. That means all candidates will be given an oral examination. 

The dates for the written and oral examinations can be found on the Language Centre website, under  "SZ -Prüfungstermine" .

Please do not ask for an alternative time unless you were either:

a) ill at the time of the oral examination, and produce a doctor's note within two weeks

or

b) studying abroad at the time of the test (or on an internship as part of an official year abroad).

Work experience ("Praktikum") is only allowed as a reason for an alternative date if it is required for your studies. Pre-booked holiday cannot be accepted as a reason.

If you  cannot take the oral exam for any reason other than sickness or study/ work abroad for your degree, you will receive a ‘5’ (Nicht erschienen)  for the oral examination.

The oral exam counts  as one quarter of your final exam grade.

The examination will be held in pairs, and you will mainly be talking with your partner, less so with the examiners.

EXAM TOPICS

You will be sent an Email by the Examination Co-ordinator (one of the Lektors) about one or two  two weeks bfore the oral exams, and giving you THREE possible topics. You will need to prepare all three. The exam co-ordinator will send you a text for all three topics to help you with your preparation.

You will be told which of the three topics you will be given when you arrive.

Important General Information on the oral examination
The total length of the exam is 30 minutes. This includes preparation time with the other candidate  (fifteen minutes) and fifteen minutes with the examiners.

During the preparation time, establish what the general position of your partner is on the topic - they may agree or disagree with yours, but there will be aspects you disagree with even if you are broadkly in agreement on the overall issue.

The exam will test the relevance and coherence of what you say, as well as the accuracy and style of your English. It will also test th approrpiateness of your interaction with the other student - it is not about "winning", but rather, about taking account of the other student's points and responding to them, either challenging them, qualifying them, or agreeing. we expect both students to talk roughly the same amount. If your partner says very little though, the examiners will help you.

You will have to explain your position on the topic (what do you think?) in a structured way. However, during the exam, the examiners may ask questions which may take you away from your original plan, so you will need to be flexible.

You can use notes in  the exam but you cannot read from a prepared script. Because the exam is about communicating with your partner and the examiners, you should not memorize a speech.

Find your results at viaCampus.

Wendy Bell, AB 125, Tel.: +49 335 5534 3714, wbell@europa-uni.de