About this blog and explanation of terms

This blog aims to help candidates for the English Language Proficiency Examination (LPE) at the United Nations.


You must work in the United Nations system to qualify to take this exam or have come through our classes.

It is held annually in September

02 June 2012

How to decide how close you are to an ideal LPE candidate

You can take the LPE online practice test to find out your score, but another way to judge is:

Are you an autonomous user of the English language in a range of contexts?  Do you read at the Guardian Weekly level comfortably without a dictionary?  Do you comfortably read a book without a dictionary?  Do you comfortably watch a film in the original version?  Do you regularly interact with native speakers comfortably in a range of conversational situations?  Do you write most of your emails in English?  Do you mostly answer the phone in English?

Or are you still a student of the language?  Do you spend a lot of time doing exercises with your nose in the grammar book or dictionary.  Are the books you consult most ones designed for learners of English or for native English speakers?

The LPE exam is designed to measure how autonomous and efficient (with time) you are using the language without grammar books or dictionaries or other help.

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