Enrollment & Testing

Description of English Placement Examination for Entering Stanford Graduate Students

The Stanford English Placement exam is designed to assess readiness to begin graduate study using English as the medium of instruction.  Most international graduate students admitted to Stanford have read academic material in English for a number of years and have mastered English grammar. Therefore, the focus of the exam is on  listening, speaking, and writing.

• Listening Comprehension
  This is a 40-minute exam in which you will listen to a brief statement, look at three drawings, and decide which drawing fits the statement. There are 50 items. The language in the exam is like that in American university lectures.
  
• Written Composition
  This is a 60-minute exam in which you will read a short passage and write an essay based on it. Write in an academic style. You may not use a dictionary. The topic will be one about which a person from any country can write.
  
• Oral Interview
  This is a 15-minute interview with one person, scheduled a day or two after the other exams. It will be a practical conversation about your study of and need for English.

There are no preparation guides for this examination. The faculty and staff advise you to practice listening and writing as much as you can in the weeks before the exam.

Screening and Training of Teaching Assistants

International graduate students who wish to be appointed teaching assistants are screened for readiness to use English in a teaching role. To make an appointment, a student should send electronic mail to mcchesne@turing, stating three half-hour times that he/she is available. The one appointment time which is selected will be confirmed by e-mail.

. This half-hour English screening involves a simulation of office-hour interaction between a TA and student, during which time the student's accuracy, fluency, and communication style are evaluated. Immediately following the simulation, the examiner will advise the student with practical feedback, the result of the exam, and recommendations. Those who need additional English preparation are required to complete Linguistics 692 Speaking and Teaching in English, a course developed in collaboration with Stanford's Center for Teaching and Learning, or other English courses.

Those students who have completed more than five years' study in the United States and/or have extensive professional experience in English may telephone the director at 5-1554 rather than sending e-mail.

Links

For information on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) (toefl@ets.org), the Test of Spoken English (TSE), or other standardized admissions examinations, link to the Undergraduate Advising Center. For information on admissions requirements regarding testing, please visit Graduate Admissions Support Section, Old Union, Stanford University.