Examination regulations
Swedex – examinations in Swedish at levels
A2 and B1 |
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Governing body for the examination
Swedex is a set of examinations in Swedish as a foreign language at levels
A2 and B1, in
accordance with the Council of Europe level of attainment scale. These
examinations are
independent of courses. Swedex was developed in a Lingua 2 project that
was concluded on 31 December 2003. The project was coordinated by the
International Certificate Conference, ICC. Partners in the project were
Folkuniversitetet and the Swedish Institute in Sweden, the University
of Lodz in Poland and “die Volkshochschul-Landesverbände”
in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Niedersachsen in Germany.
Specifications, test formats and model tests were developed
in the project. ICC holds the copyright for all the project partners and
Folkuniversitetet has the right of use. Folkuniversitetet’s field
of responsibility includes the construction and trial of new tests, central
test leader training of people who in turn are prepared to train other
test leaders, and the Swedex home page, www.swedex.info.
Landesverband der Volkshochschulen Niedersachsens e.V. administers examinations
through its examinations unit, die Europäische Prüfungszentrale,
EPZ. EPZ concludes licence agreements with local test centres for Swedex,
attends to the dispatch of examination papers, determines the results
and issues the certificates.
Test format
The examination comprises five different papers at both levels:
1. Reading comprehension
2. Listening comprehension
3. Vocabulary and grammar
4. Written production
5. Oral production
Papers 1 - 4 are held in groups. The oral test for A2
is held in the form of an individual test while the oral test for B1 is
held in pairs. The test format and descriptions of the individual papers
are published together with the specifications for Swedex.
Examination centres
Only institutions that are licensed to administer Swedex may hold the
examinations. The
requirements that an institution must meet in order to function as an
examination centre are
described in “Guidelines for the conduct of examinations.”
Test production and determination of results
The tests are constructed centrally by Folkuniversitetet and the examinations
are held by the test centres that have been licensed by EPZ.
These examination regulations and “Guidelines for the conduct of
examinations” are legally
binding for the conduct of examinations.
Examination date
Examination centres for Swedex are free to choose a date for the examination.
Admission to the examination
Persons with a knowledge of Swedish equivalent to level A2 or B1 respectively,
in accordance with the Council of Europe level of attainment scale, who
are at least 14 years of age and do not have Swedish as their mother tongue,
may take Swedex.
Persons not yet 14 years of age but with special reasons may apply to
EPZ to participate in the examination.
Entry for the examination
Entries of individual candidates for the examination must reach EPZ no
later than one week before the day of the examination. The closing date
of entry at the local examination centre is decided by the centre. Entry
dates must be respected.
Examination papers
The examination papers are the property of Folkuniversitetet and EPZ and
are protected by
copyright. Duplication is prohibited. Neither may they in any event be
used for information or
practice.
Exclusion from examination
Anyone who infringes the examination regulations, cheats, uses prohibited
material or helps other test candidates will be excluded from the examination.
In such cases the papers will not be assessed. If it is shown subsequently
that there is cause for exclusion, EPZ has the right to assess the paper
as a “fail”. Before a decision on exclusion is made, the views
of the candidate(s) concerned must be heard.
Withdrawal
Candidates who do not complete the test must take the whole examination
again and cannot
reclaim the entry fee. If a candidate withdraws from the examination because
of illness, this must be shown by a medical certificate, submitted to
the examination centre no later than one week after the examination. In
these cases the entry fee paid can be transferred and be valid for the
next examination occasion.
Assessment and results
The reading comprehension, listening comprehension and vocabulary &
grammar papers are
awarded points based on the number of correct answers. Assessment of the
written and oral tests is made in accordance with established criteria.
The points for the reading comprehension, listening comprehension and
vocabulary & grammar papers are added together. Poorer results in
one of these parts can be compensated by better results in another. The
pass mark is 60%. This must be achieved in both the written and the oral
parts.
A combined final assessment is made on the following
scale: Pass, Pass with Credit, Distinction.
Certificate
If a candidate has passed the whole test, he/she obtains a certificate
where the results achieved are stated. The certificate is issued by EPZ.
It carries the logos of Folkuniversitetet, the Swedish Institute and the
International Certificate Conference.
If a certificate is lost, a copy may be obtained, subject to an administrative
charge. The new
certificate is a duplicate and is marked as such. This regulation applies
only for a period of 10 years after the examination.
Re-examination
The entire examination may be re-taken as often as wanted, though only
after six months the first time.
It is not permitted to re-take only the written or the oral part or an
individual paper. The written or oral part of the test may only be taken
alone if the examination has been interrupted because of illness. The
test cannot be re-taken until the next examination occasion at the examination
centre.
Appeals against test results
An appeal against a test result must be submitted to EPZ within two months
of the result being sent out in writing by EPZ. EPZ obtains opinions from
all those concerned and makes a decision.
Filing
The corrected papers and assessment sheets for the oral tests are saved
by EPZ for six months after the examination. The test results are filed
for 10 years.
Validity
These examination regulations and “Guidelines for the conduct of
examinations” come into force on 15 April 2005 and are valid during
the pilot phase until 14 April 2006.
Hannover, Stockholm och Frankfurt i
mars 2005
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