If you are in a homeschool community and are interested in coordinating the NLE, start your planning!
First of All, here are some important dates:
January 22--Registration due
February 1--Late Registration (with a late fee). Registering late is miserable, and I do not recommend it. Remember, you can add on extra students later.
I have found it is best to have the time and date (and a basic idea of where you are going to have it) first. If not, people do not want to commit to taking it. Also, if they commit and do not take it, they already knew when it would be (you don't want to get stuck paying for their test if they decide not to take it).
You should send an e-mail or text telling your community when you are giving the National Latin Exam. I usually charge $10 (it is $6 for the test itself, but you also need to take into account shipping and other fees). If you know you are going to have more than 25 take it (I never have), you could probably charge $7 or $8.
Usually, in this email/Text, you have to give them a bit of a pep talk about the National Latin Exam: it will not hurt your student. If they do well, it looks great on a college application. If the student does poorly, it does not hurt him/her. It is a standardized test and is good practice for other standardized tests, but it is very low stakes. Students can study for it, or not study for it. The actual studying, I think, is the fun part! Students get to learn more about the Romans and the dynamics of their world.
A new thing is that Challenge A students should take the intro test. The Beginning test can be taken twice starting in 2021 (I confirmed this with Janine today). The exam is giving you a bit more flexibility to pick the level your student is; however, I give thEse basic guidelines. The big thing is that you want your high schooler to take the numbered Levels, because those are the levels that are considered for awards and for scholarships.
When you send out that email, you need to ask what level the student will be taking and for the registration money (again, do not be stuck paying for exams that people are not truly planning on taking.) I ask for the money to be sent electronically or by check.
That is the hard part. You need to register by January 22. You do not have to know everyone who is planning to take it by that day (although it is the best). You can add people on later with the add on form, if need be.
Go to www.NLE.org and either fill out the paper form or the online form (I prefer the online, but it does cost $5). This must be done by January 22.
You need to decide what week to do the test.
I usually do the middle week, just to make sure I get it done (sometimes students have conflicts, like in 2020, and I end up giving it the last week).
You need to have the tests sent to a business address so that shipping is less. (it is $15 to be sent to a business versus $30 to be sent to a residence.) I have mine sent to my church's building. UPDATE: We, Homeschoolers, have two choices: ordering the online exam and paying $15 for shipping to a residential address, which covers shipping the results package; or ordering the paper exam and paying $30 for shipping, which covers shipping the exam package and results package to a residence. (PER Janine from the NLE).
I think that we'll be doing the online exam Again this year because of covid. Here are the system requirements:
At least 512 MB of RAM
Internet connection speed of 56 Kbps or faster
Windows XP, Vista, 7, or 8
Internet Explorer 7 or above
Mozilla Firefox version 12 or above
Google Chrome
MAC OS X
Safari 3 or above
Mozilla Firefox version 12 or above
Google Chrome
The test was very easy to maneuver online.
After this hurdle is over, you then can start steering the students towards prepping for the test, if they wish to do so. I advise the students to take the old tests from their level (found on nle.org) starting with last year's and going backwards. That will help them with their test taking and also with their studying. I also offer Latin Exam Prep Classes and my study guide. :) Details to follow! You can buy my study guide here. You can use the code NLE2022 to save $5 until November 1, 2021.
This may seem like a lot, but it is not. Every year it gets easier! It is such a happy thing when you get the awards and get to tell a student how he/she did well!
Please let me know what questions you have! Bona fortuna tecum sit!