National Greek Exam?

[GlottalGreekGeek]

http://nge.aclclassics.org/

I'm an independent learner. I only heard about this recently, but I think it would be a good idea to do this, if I can, if only to gauge my progress.

I'm also this is would be a good idea to take one of these exams for the sake of getting ahead in college. I am definately going to major in theatre, but I want to take some classics courses on the side, maybe even minor in classics. I've talked to classics departments at two of the schools I'm considering about gettting advanced status due to my independent study. At one school they said "Enroll in Greek 1 (that is starting-from-scratch Greek) and if that's too easy for you, enroll in Greek 2, and if that's too easy, enroll in Greek 3, and if you're more advanced than that, enroll in upper division courses." The catch is, Greek 2 is only offered in the winter, and Greek 3 is only offered in the Spring, so that's a year without any classics courses (at least if I'm as advanced as I think I am.) The other school was more open to giving me advanced standing in Greek. The professor told me that since then get a number of Latin students who studied Latin in high school, they have a placement exam for them to see if they are ready to take higher-level courses. However, since I would be their first student to have studied Greek in high school, should I enroll in their school I should give them notice a few months in advance so they can put together a Greek placement exam.

If I take one of these "National Greek Examinations", I might spare myself and these classics departments some grief.

Does anybody have any advice, information, or comments?

[Democritus]

Maybe you could actually drop in on one of these classes, and see for yourself what they are studying. I'm sure the instructor wouldn't mind if you joined them for one class or two. Then you would get a better idea of how much of the course material you already know.

If you really get stuck in a Greek 1 class, because you are not quite ready for the upper division classes, you might consider staying with it, even though it's too easy for you, and you can just work on something more advanced than the rest of the class. You can enroll in Greek 1, but turn it into your own sort of (informal) independent study. The instructor of the class might be supportive of this -- it doesn't hurt to ask. Then you might skip Greek 2 and/or Greek 3 and go directly to the upper division classes.

Taking the Greek exam sounds like a good idea. It's a concrete goal you can shoot for.

It looks like you can actually purchase copies of the exams from previous years. That sounds like a good investment.

It's impressive that you are working on Greek on your own.

[GlottalGreekGeek]

On reflection, I have decided against taking one or more of these exams. I am already studying for 7 AP exams (which is supposed to be the equivalent of studying for 7 college finals ... but I think I can pass at least 5 of them). I of course will continue to study some Greek every day, but I think it is best if I do not pile another exam on myself, and both of the classics departments I am referring to are small enough that I think I can negociate with them on an individual basis once I know which school I am going to.