All National Spanish Examinations must be administered in an accredited institution under the supervision of an appropriate proctor. An appropriate proctor is generally the teacher of record who has registered the participating students.
Note: Virtual and Homeschool students are eligible for the National Spanish Examination. Click here to learn how virtual and homeschool students can take the NSE.
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.
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.
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 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 have the same hardware and software requirements as the Online Practice Examinations, 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 for the computer technician in his/her school to ensure all software and hardware components are adequately compatible.
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.