1. BOĞAZİÇİ UNIVERSITY ENGLISH PROFICIENCY TEST
BUEPT
BOĞAZİÇİ UNIVERSITY ENGLISH PROFICIENCY TEST 1

2. SELECTIVE LISTENING CAREFUL LISTENING2

3. Selective Listening (SL) The Listening texts are read aloud once by a lecturer. In the Selective Listening Part students study the questions for three minutes before the talk starts and then answer them as they listen to the lecturer. When the talk ends, they are given another three minutes to check their answers and spelling. 3

4. SAMPLE SL QUESTIONS
1. Prior to Chaos Theory, what was the only thing that statistics could show us about complex chaotic systems?
2. What does the application of Chaos Theory mainly intend to show?
3. What particular characteristic tells us that a system is chaotic? 4

5. Careful Listening (CL) In the Careful Listening Part, students do not see the questions beforehand. They have a blank page to take notes on as they listen to the lecturer. They are advised to note down the main ideas of the talk. After the talk, they have fifteen minutes to answer the questions using their notes. 5

6. SAMPLE CL QUESTIONS 1. What is the aim of permaculture designs?
4. In terms of the ethics of permaculture, what is the unfavourable consequence of fear and greed ? 8. In spite of current scientific knowledge, what do long-term weather forecasts still rely on?
9. In which unexpected field of study
is Chaos Theory being used
today? 6

7. SEARCH READING CAREFUL READING7

8. Search Reading (SR) In this part students are advised to read the questions first and then locate the relevant information in the text. They should read that part of the text carefully to answer the questions. There are 8-10 questions in this part. The Search Reading Part takes 30 minutes. 8

9. SAMPLE SR QUESTIONS
1. Which business activity contradicted the common beliefs in ancient agrarian societies?
2. According to ancient Greek beliefs, material acquisitiveness might lead to ______________.
3. Which business activity did the Medieval Church especially disapprove of? 9

10. Careful Reading In the second part, Careful Reading, students are expected to read the text carefully and answer the questions. There are 8-9 questions in this part. The Careful Reading Part takes 40 minutes. In both parts of the Reading Component, the questions are in the order the information appears in the text. 10

11. SAMPLE CR QUESTIONS
2. Consider the stimuli below in terms of complexity. According to Berlyne, which person is likely to experience very high arousal and so end contact with the stimulus? Write a, b, or c.
person stimulus
a. an art student a painting by Picasso
b. a farmer seeds turning into a plant
c. a 3-year-old child a car engine
What does each of the following refer to? Be precise.
7. it (parag.2) 11

12. WRITING
ESSAY WRITING 12

13. ESSAY WRITING students are required to write two one-page essays on
In the Writing Component
students are required to write two one-page essays on
two different topics
(each about 250 words).

14. The writing tasks require students to write an essay on the given topic using the points provided. The suggested time for each essay is 40 minutes. Students can start with either of the essays. Proficiency in academic English and expression of ideas in a coherent fashion are sought in their evaluation. 14

15. SAMPLE WRITING TASKS
TASK 1
On the opposite page, write an essay discussing the
negative effects of globalization.
The following points are given as guidelines. You may use these or any other points you wish to use.
inequality within and between nations
unemployment and low living standards
disappearance of cultural diversity
effects on nature
You have 40 minutes. Write about ONE page. 15

16. Turkey should become a member of the European Union.
TASK 2
Turkey should become a member of the European Union.
On the opposite page, write an essay arguing for or against
the above statement.
The following points are given as guidelines. You may use these
or any other points you wish to use.
For
increase in exports
new investments from Europe
increase in quality due to competition
Against
some industries unable to compete with EU products
increase in the prices of goods
increase in the rate of inflation
You have 40 minutes. Write about ONE page. 16

17. YOU CAN SEE TWO SAMPLE EXAMS ON: 17

18. THE EVALUATION PROCESS
Marking of the Proficiency Test is done within the school facilities by the whole faculty. All the parts of the Listening and Reading components are marked in the same way: The first marker checks the student paper and records the grades on a grade sheet. Then, the second marker checks the same paper and records the grades on a separate grade sheet. The third marker takes both grade sheets and looks for any oversights or miscalculation of grades. 18

19. EVALUATION OF THE WRITING COMPONENT
For the Writing component, the student’s first essay is read by two markers separately and the grades are recorded on two separate grade sheets. The second essay is read in the same way. Any discrepancies between markers are spotted and corrected immediately.
In other words, every student’s paper is
evaluated by: 19

20. 3 faculty members for SL 3 faculty members for CL
3 faculty members for SR
3 faculty members for CR
4 faculty members for W
making a total of 16
faculty members. 20

21. PASSING GRADE
The overall average should be 60 or above (equivalent of “C”) in order to pass the exam. However, students who do not get a passing grade on the Writing Component of the test are considered to have failed the test as a whole. The grades are announced only in letters. The passing grades are A, B and C. The failing grades are
F1, F2, F3 and F4. 21

22. A FEW NOTES:
It should be noted that to ensure objectivity in the marking process, no two faculty members are able to see each other’s grade sheets. For the same purpose, only the student’s initials and number are indicated on the test paper.
SAMPLE FAILING GRADES
L R W
F1 F3 F2
S F1 F1
(S stands for “satisfactory” and indicates the student has passed the L part only.) 22

23. REEVALUATION After all the grades have been
computed, the papers of those
students who have failed with a
borderline grade are read once again.
The borderline marker checks the
student paper and the grade sheets for
each component and makes the necessary
changes in grades, if there are any. In
other words, in a borderline case the
student’s paper is reevaluated by: 23

24. 1 faculty member for Careful Listening
1 faculty member for Selective
Listening
1 faculty member for Careful Listening
1 faculty member for Search Reading
1 faculty member for Careful Reading
2 faculty members for Writing
making a total of 6 faculty members.
Therefore, if a student still remains
a borderline failure, his entire test
will have been read by 22 faculty
members. 24

25. THANK YOU GOODBYE! 25