Exam Proctors

When are the Exams Administered?

To select the correct testing date, each school should count back 10 weeks from the last academic week of the school year and test during that week. Due to the differences in the closing dates of schools across the country, counting back 10 weeks allows all students to have the same amount of instructional time before taking the National Spanish Examination.

Schools on Spring block scheduling where one year of traditional instruction is completed in one semester should administer the examination 5 weeks prior to the close of the academic year provided that testing is completed by the end of the examination window.

Prohibition of Aids

 During the administration of the National Examinations, the use of scrap paper, notes (online or written), a dictionary, online translator, cell phones and any similar device is strictly prohibited.

Visual aids must be completely covered or removed from walls / bulletin boards during testing, for example:

- Charts 

- Posters 

- Diagrams

The use of any such aids will result in disqualification of the student’s score.

Hardware & Software Requirements

National Spanish Examinations has contracted with Lingco Language Labs to deliver practice exams and the online exam. In order to take the exam, each student must have use of a personal computer that has access to the Internet. Each computer station should have:

1 - Sound in order to complete the listening sections of the exam and

2 - A set of headphones so that students may hear the audio portion of the exam. (If schools do not have enough headphones, ask students to bring headphones which should work with most computer systems.)

3 - A browser that does not automatically translate the page.  Click here for instructions on disabling translation features.

All computers which will be used by students to deliver the suite of exams offered by the National Spanish Examinations must be tested by completing an Online Practice Examination. The online practice should be completed well in advance of the test date in order to allow time to correct any technical problems with software and/or hardware. NSE will issue no refunds for hardware and/or software that does not operate correctly on test day. Since the National Spanish Examinations has the same hardware and software requirements listed above, there should be no problems in administering the actual examinations if there were no problems in delivering the practice examinations.

Each teacher should print out the System Requirements from Lingco Language Labs (below) for the computer technician(s) in their school to ensure that all software and hardware components are adequately compatible. 

Lingco Language Labs - Computer System Requirements

Lingco is a modern web-based application that works best with the latest version of Google Chrome, running on a laptop or desktop computer (either Mac, PC or Chromebook).  It should also work on the last two versions of Safari, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge, but Chrome is highly recommended.  The activities used in the suite of the NSE exam courses are designed for larger screens, so mobile devices or tablets at this time cannot be supported.

In order to take the exams on Lingco, you will need:

  • A stable internet connection with at least 4 Mbps download and 512 Kbps upload speeds
  • A screen size of at least 1280x720 pixels
  • Functioning speakers or headphones connected to your laptop or desktop

❗ Note: Certain school network components, such as VPNs and firewalls, can impact the quality of audio and video files in Lingco.  Please discuss this with your network administrator if you discover such issues when testing out the Lingco platform before taking the exam.

 Special Circumstances

Schools having an insufficient number of computers to administer exams to all students at once may administer the exam to a small number of students over a longer period of time.

Schools with insufficient hardware or software requirements can choose to administer the exam in another location. Where possible, schools should arrange for their own alternative site. If necessary, contact the national office and we will be happy to help these schools find an alternative location.