Graduate Reading Exam

(Revised August 2011)

2011 -2012 Test Dates

• September 9, 2011
• November 4, 2011
• January 20, 2011
• March 2, 2012
• April 13, 2012

Register Online

The French Proficiency Exam

This exam is designed to test the MA or PhD student's proficiency in the language. It consists of a French prose passage which must be translated in 90 minutes into adequate, if not literary, English. The passage, between 250-750 words in length, will be selected from a recent social science and or humanities journal. The student must demonstrate a clear understanding of syntactical structures and some basic knowledge of cultural references. Verb charts and paper dictionaries are allowed.

Click on the following link to view the Practice Proficiency Exam (.docx, 13KB) .Click here to access Methodes De Recherche Biographique (.pdf, 436KB) , the text used for the Practice Proficiency Exam.

The French Mastery Exam

The mastery examination differs from the proficiency examination in that it lasts two hours and has three parts:

1. A short critical prose passage to be translated in 40 minutes.
2. Analysis of a short text. Forty minutes are allowed to answer six to eight questions in English about the form and meaning of the proposed text.
3. A short essay in French in response to a general question regarding the student's major. Students have forty minutes to address the question.

Click on the following link to view the Practice Mastery Exam (.docx, 15KB) .
Click here to access the text, Methodes De Recherche Biographique (.pdf, 436KB) , used for the Practice Mastery Exam.

Notification of Results

The results of the examinations are sent to the graduate advisor or the secretary of the student's department (depending on the department's policy ) approximately two weeks after the exam. The student should contact their department to learn their results; the French Department does not directly inform students of their results. The French Department also sends the results, along with the graded examinations (which are the property of the University of Virginia), to the Office of the Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Students will be informed by their department if they must clear administrative matters with the Graduate School before receiving credit for the examination.

Policies Regarding Both the Mastery and Proficiency Exams

All candidates must sign up at least one (1) week in advance, either online or in person at the French Department, 302 New Cabell Hall.

The $17 exam fee must be paid for by check only. The check must be made out to the University of Virginia and submitted on the day of the exam. The grading fee has been set by the Graduate School. Please note that you must remit payment to receive your exam.

If a student does not return their exam, they will receive a failing grade and they will not be eligible for a refund of the exam fee.

You may consult a bilingual dictionary and a verb chart. Grammar books are not permitted. You may use an online dictionary such as WordReference.com, but you may only use it in the same way that you would use a paper dictionary (i.e. only single word searches; no chat rooms, discussion boards or other interactive forums).

Please type your answers. You may e-mail your work to the exam proctor at as an attached Word document; however, please respect the time limit.

Exams may be picked up in the French Department Office (Cabell 302) any time after 9 a.m., and returned by NO LATER THAN 4:00 p.m. the same day.

Students will choose a consecutive 90 minute period between those hours to complete the Proficiency Exam or a consecutive two hour period to complete the Mastery Exam. 

Please do not contact the French Department for your exam results.

Recommended Methods for Preparing for the Test

1) Sit in on basic language classes

2) Take FREN 1000, Reading French for Graduate Students .
FREN 1000 is a non-credit course typically offered in the spring semester, though the Department may not always be able to offer it. A grammar and translation course, it is designed specifically to prepare graduate students to take a reading exam in French. Students who complete FREN 1000 should be able to read and translate French texts with the proper dictionaries and grammar resources. Students will not practice speaking, writing or listening skills in FREN 1000.

3) Attend the Summer Language Institute.
In the summer, FREN 1000 is usually part of the Summer Language Institute (SLI); students who take 1000 in summer consequently obtain more speaking and listening practice than they would during a regular academic semester. Graduate students attend morning classes and cultural sessions with the other SLI students and then break off into a separate group in the afternoon to work on reading and translation.

Graduate students normally sign up for the SLI "non-credit option." Contact your DGS to see if your department or the Graduate School has funds to defray tuition costs for the SLI non-credit option. Visit the SLI web page at: http://www.virginia.edu/summer/SLI/index.html .

Please address your questions and comments regarding the French Reading Exams to the proctor at .