BUEPTBUEPT

BOĞAZİÇİ UNIVERSITY ENGLISH PROFICIENCY TEST

BOĞAZİÇİ UNIVERSITY ENGLISH PROFICIENCY TEST

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LISTENING LISTENING

SELECTIVE LISTENINGCAREFUL LISTENING

SELECTIVE LISTENINGCAREFUL LISTENING

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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

SAMPLE SL QUESTIONS1. 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?

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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.

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SAMPLE CL QUESTIONS1. 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?

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READINGREADING

SEARCH READINGCAREFUL READINGSEARCH READING

CAREFUL READING

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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.

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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?

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Careful ReadingIn 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.

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SAMPLE CR QUESTIONS2. 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)

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WRITINGWRITINGESSAY WRITING

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ESSAY WRITING

In the Writing Component students are required to

write two one-page essays on

two different topics (each about 250

words).

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.

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SAMPLE WRITING TASKSTASK 1On the opposite page, write an essay discussing thenegative 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.

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TASK 2Turkey should become a member of the European Union.On the opposite page, write an essay arguing for or

againstthe above statement.The following points are given as guidelines. You may use theseor 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.

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YOU CAN SEE TWO SAMPLE EXAMS ON:

http://www.yadyok.boun.edu.tr/buept

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THE EVALUATION THE EVALUATION PROCESSPROCESSMarking of the Proficiency Test is Marking of the Proficiency Test is

done within the school facilities by done within the school facilities by the whole faculty. All the parts of the the whole faculty. All the parts of the Listening and Reading components Listening and Reading components are marked in the same way: The are marked in the same way: The

first marker checks the student paper first marker checks the student paper and records the grades on a grade and records the grades on a grade sheet. Then, the second marker sheet. Then, the second marker

checks the same paper and records checks the same paper and records the grades on a separate grade the grades on a separate grade

sheet. The third marker takes both sheet. The third marker takes both grade sheets and looks for any grade sheets and looks for any oversights or miscalculation of oversights or miscalculation of

grades. grades.

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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

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.

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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.

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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 GRADESL R WF1 F3 F2S F1 F1

(S stands for “satisfactory” and indicates the student has passed the L part only.)

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REEVALUATIONAfter all the grades have beencomputed, the papers of thosestudents who have failed with a

borderline grade are read once again. The borderline marker checks the

student paper and the grade sheets foreach component and makes the necessary

changes in grades, if there are any. Inother words, in a borderline case thestudent’s paper is reevaluated by:

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• 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.

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THANK YOU

GOODBYE!

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