THE FIRST THING YOU NEED TO KNOW IS THAT YOU ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE AT LEAST TWO YEARS OF COLLEGE LANGUAGE LEVEL BEFORE TAKING THE EXAM.

Helpful tips:

1. - Translate, translate, and translate! Pick up a magazine and take twenty minutes to translate its content. Look for words you are not familiar with but do not get stuck in one word; during the test you have an specific time for translation and if you try to understand word by word, you will not be able to finish on time. Try to understand the general idea of the text and think about its main components (introduction, argument, and conclusion). What is the author trying to transmit in that text?
2. - Practice with the 501 Verb series (available at Penrose library), learn the different conjugations and try to apply them to complete sentences. It will make sense to see the verb in context than alone. Pay special attention to irregular verbs.
3. - Practice with a good dictionary, one word can have different meanings depending on the sentence. You need to know the variations when you read them in the exam. Pick up a new word and try to apply it in sentences. Remember, you are allowed to use a dictionary during the exam, but if you are not familiar with the different meanings a same word may have, your response will be wrong.
4. - Get a sample exam and practice with it taking into account that you only have 2 ½ hours to complete it.

Here is a list of useful resources for practicing before your test:

Spanish:
- Centro Virtual Cervantes (http://www.cervantes.es). Link to different Spanish Language resources.
- Verb Conjugator (http://www.conjuguemos.com).
French:
- "French for Reading" by Karl C. Sandberg and Eddison C. Tatham
- Verb Conjugator (http://www.conjuguemos.com)
Italian:
- “Thinking Italian Translation” by Sandor Hervey et. al.;
- “Italian Syntax and Universal Grammar” by Guglielmo Cinque;
- “Essential Italian Grammar in Practice” by Marco Mezzadri;
- “Conoscere l’italiano: intermetio-avanzato” by Simona Simula;
- “Using Italian: a guide to contemporary use” by J.J. Kinder and V. M. Savini (all available at Penrose Library)
Russian:
- “Focus on Russian” by Sandra Rosengrant (available at Penrose Library)

Magazines (available at Penrose Library)
- L’Espressso (Italian)
- Il Venerdi Di Repubblica (Italian)
- Panorama (Italian)
- El Pais Semanal (Spanish)
- Itogi (Russian)

Online Magazines, Newspapers or Journals (some may require free subscription)
- Le Monde Diplomatique: http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr
- Le Monde: http://www.lemonde.fr/
- El Dipló: http://www.eldiplo.org
- El País: http://www.elpais.es
- El País Domingo: http://www.elpais.es/suple/domingo
- ABC: http://www.abc.es
- Il Giornale: http://www.ilgiornale.it/
- La Nazione: http://lanazione.quotidiano.net/
- La Repubblica: http://www.repubblica.it/
- Panorama: http://www.panorama.it/home/index.html
- Die Welt: http://www.welt.de/
- Focus: http://focus.msn.de/
- Frankfurter Allgemeine: http://www.faz.net/s/homepage.html
- Taz: http://www.taz.de/
- Stern: http://www.stern.de/
- Financial Times Deutschland: http://www.ftd.de/ (Finances, Commerce)
- Pravda: http://www.pravda.ru/

501 Verb series (available at Penrose)
- German
- French
- Italian
- Russian
- French

Dictionaries

The “Langenscheidt” compact dictionaries are an excellent option. You can acquire them for the following languages: Chinese, Spanish, German, Italian, and French.
WordReference Spanish French Italian English Online Dictionary http://www.wordreference.com