Universal Latin Exam (ULE)

2022-2023 School Year

Important Dates & Notes

Registration Opens…September 1st
Customization Begins…January 1st
Registration Closes…February 28th
Customization Ends…March 17th
Payment Deadline…March 20th
Exam Period…March 27th-April 7th
Postmark Exam Return…April 7th
Results Returned…May 11th

How does it work?

1. The administrator purchases exams for participating classes or groups.
2. A head Latin teacher customizes the content for each exam, so students are only tested on material they have studied.
3. Teachers download custom study guides which include all the concepts and vocabulary for their exams.
4. Schools receive exam PDFs 7 days before test day, administer paper exams within a 2-week window in the spring, and return them in the mail to
5. Schools receive awards in time for end-of-the-year assemblies as well as results to help them understand their students’ performance.

What is the ULE?

The Universal Latin Exam is a new, versatile standardized test for schools who want to compare themselves with other schools and track students’ progress. Unlike other tests, the Universal Latin Exam does not bias one curriculum or methodology over another. It tests students’ knowledge of the mechanics of the language itself — how accurately students understand short sentences written in Latin. This is usually difficult because students learn grammatical concepts in varying orders, but our test is customized for each classroom. Students only see questions on concepts they have learned. This means students and schools can be accurately compared based on how much and how well students know Latin. Plus, its one size fits all approach ensures Christian-friendly content.

Who? Anyone in the process of learning Latin! From 3rd (or earlier) through high school (or later!)

Why? To compare and evaluate 

When? To be administered Spring 2023

How much? $15 plus $4 per exam

Have Questions? Contact [email protected]

Methods

The ULE uses very simple questions where students must rely completely on their understanding of grammatical forms and their meaning. For example, common sense and word order alone are not sufficient to answer a question like the following. Only students with an understanding of the accusative and dative cases will be able to determine the correct answer.

1.) Aquam lūtrae dat.

A) He gives the otter to the water. B) He gives water to the otter. C) He gives the otters to the water. D) The otter gives water.

Some questions require students to choose which Latin correctly communicates a specific meaning. These questions require a very precise understanding of Latin mechanics. In the following example students must understand both how adjective matching works and declensions to answer the question.

2.) The owner gives the dog a nasty shoe.

A) calceum turpium   B) calceum turpem   C) calceum turpis    D) calceum turpī

More advanced students will encounter questions where an understanding of Latin syntax is necessary. To answer the following question, the student must understand that C and D are not permitted by Latin syntax, and that B is permitted but would be absurd.

3.) Pastor ____ arborēs videt.

A) ambulāns   B) ambulāre   C) ambulat   D) ambulā

The number of questions on a test correlates to the number of concepts being tested. The typical test contains between 5 and 12 questions for younger students, and between 12 and 40 questions for older students.

How it works

1. Whoever has the credit card purchases the correct number of tests online.The head Latin teacher receives a link to customize the tests. He or she will need to have class rosters with the full names of each child, and will need to know or be able to find out how far students will have gotten by the test date. Using our web app, the teacher selects curricula, books, and chapters, then has the option to click or unclick each grammar concept box to account for skipped chapters or added lessons. If we don’t have your curriculum in our database yet, or you use your own, you’ll be able to self-select all your concepts.

2. Our program removes questions that students don’t know.

3. The teacher receives an email with a review sheet attached. This email will remind them what concepts they should review and what vocab students need to know.

4. A PDF of each student’s test will be sent to a school administrator who prints them and delivers them to the classroom on the day of the test.

5. Students take the test in class, the teacher collects them, and the administrator mails the tests back to be graded. Tests should be mailed back with each class’s stack clearly separated (e.g. one package containing several envelopes, with each class in a separate envelope). To minimize mail hiccups, we strongly encourage schools to scan and retain a copy of each test, as well as set up a mail tracking number for their package. Tests are mailed to

Universal Latin Exam
Institute for Classical Languages
P.O. Box 9741
Moscow, ID 83843

6. Results will be sent out shortly thereafter!

Note: If your school uses Lingua Latina per se Illustrata, Latin Alive, Latin for Children, Wheelock’s, or Picta Dicta Latin Primer, the automation process will be automatic. If not, you’ll just need to take a little extra time to select concepts for yourself. We’re currently working on entering more curricula.

Scoring

If each test is different, how do you compare yourself with other schools?

In addition to being able to see how each student compares to others in his class, this test also compares schools and students across the country. How? It’s simple! There are 40 possible test questions. This means the highest level students may be given all forty, but students won’t see questions they don’t know yet so younger students aren’t overwhelmed. Schools across the country can compare 5th graders to 5th graders, year 3 students to year 3 students, or simply see a metric of approximately how much of the language they know.

Awards will be given for the top scores nationally by grade and within each class. National top honors will be granted to top scores over all.