In less than a month, students from the twelfth grade will take the first test of the Baccalaureate. It is about the test of communication skills in the Romanian language, an oral exam whose result does not influence the final average in any way. Ruxandra Achim, Romanian language teacher at the “IL Caragiale” National College in Bucharest, explained to “Adevărul” what this exam entails, how the students will be evaluated and how they should prepare to receive the “advanced” or “experienced” qualification “.
The winter baccalaureate starts on January 27, with the Romanian language test. Archive
Between January 27 and 29, the first test of the Baccalaureate this year takes place: the test of communication skills in the Romanian language. “It is an oral exam that lasts around 15 minutes. The students will enter the exam hall, draw a ticket, have a few minutes to think about how they will approach the subject, they can sketch the answers on a draft, and then they will appear before the committee for the actual taking of the test”the teacher explains the procedure, which does not differ in any way from that of a classic exam. As for grading the children, this is done by assigning qualifications – medium, advanced and experienced – which, however, do not influence the final average of the exam. In other words, an “average” grade – that can even mean a grade below 4 – will not prevent that student from taking the summer written tests. And then, we ask, what is the point of these proficiency exams, really? “I could answer that question with ellipses.” the teacher told us disappointedly. “Children are evaluated and that’s it. What do we do with these ratings further? Nothing!”, the teacher also specified.
What a student needs to know to get the “advanced” or “experienced” qualification
“The test for evaluating communication skills in the Romanian language involves reading a text aloud non-literary at first glance. The aim is, in fact, to understand a certain communication situation. It is about understanding the relationship between the sender, the one who transmits the message, and the receiver, the one who receives the message, with the presentation of the purpose of communication”. explained the teacher.
Specifically, in order for a student to obtain an “advanced” or “experienced” qualification, he must demonstrate, first of all, that he understands the text he is reading. “It is about a comprehensive reading. This means marking written pauses with the help of commas, marking exclamatory, interrogative, imperative situations. Hence, mindful reading. Then, the student must demonstrate that he knows how to adapt to the particularities of a communication situation: to recognize the particularities of an official text, the particularities of a journalistic text, of a scientific, memorialistic, epistolary text, to be able to extract various ideas, facts, arguments, opinions from the text he has to go through. To be able to justify a point of view in a 10-minute exhibition”.
How students will be assessed on proficiency levels
The evaluation is carried out by two examining teachers, who complete an individual slip with the score of each skill observed. If the two examiners give the same level, this is considered the final level. In the situation where the two examining teachers grant different levels, the level of language competence is determined as follows:
- if the first evaluator teacher evaluates the student as an average user, and the second teacher evaluates him as an advanced user, the level of language communication competence granted to the candidate will be that of an advanced user;
- if the first evaluating teacher evaluates the student as an average user, and the second teacher evaluates him as an experienced user, the level of linguistic communication competence granted to the candidate will be that of an advanced user;
- if the first teacher assessor assesses the student as an advanced user and the second teacher assesses him as an experienced user, the level of communication language competence awarded to the candidate will be that of an experienced user.
How it should be prepared
It is somewhat difficult to impossible to fatten the pig on Eve, given that the exam evaluates the communication skills that the students have assimilated during all the school years. Here you have nothing to learn, nothing to learn by heart. You must prove, instead, that you are not functionally illiterate. “It should somehow connect to common communication situations. This test practically connects them to concrete things. And I think it also depends a lot on the culture and the information they have accumulated so far. They don’t have anything specific to repeat or learn. Instead, they have the obligation to update their knowledge related to these communication contexts, to understand the text. They have to demonstrate that they understand it, that they can answer questions based on that text, that they can argue an idea,” explained teacher Ruxandra Achim.
The students, the teacher also says, have at their disposal model subjects that they could solve in these remaining days until the Baccalaureate. “Some are published on the website of the Ministry of Education. On subjects.edu.ro they can find variants similar to those that might fall on them in the winter. They also have the methodology there, and the way of awarding qualifications”.
Baccalaureate 2025. Winter exam calendar
The 2025 Baccalaureate exam begins in January with the skills tests and ends in June with the written tests, according to the Ministry of Education:
- December 16-20, 2024: Registration of candidates to take tests A, B, C, D of the national baccalaureate exam – 2025
- January 27-29, 2025: Assessment of oral communication skills in Romanian – test A
- January 29-31, 2025: Assessment of oral communication skills in the mother tongue – test B
- 3-5 February 2025: Assessment of language skills in a language of international circulation – sample C
- 5-7 February 2025: Assessment of digital skills – test D
