Exploratory Latin Exam
2020-2021
Nava Cohen
@ magistracohen The Exploratory Latin Exam ( ELE ) continued providing teachers with an opportunity to allow young Latin students to demonstrate their knowledge of and love for Latin throughout a difficult year . This year for the first time , the Exam was offered both on paper and online via Quia . com . In total , students from 56 schools in 21 states , plus the District of Columbia , Australia , Canada , Ireland , and Korea , took the exam , and 46 % of students earned awards !
The 2020-2021 school year saw over 600 Exams ordered , both paper and online . There were 30 perfect papers . 61 students earned a summa cum laude award . 104 students earned a magna cum laude award .
124 students earned a cum laude award .
The Exploratory Latin Exam is administered by Excellence Through Classics , a standing committee of the American Classical League , which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2019 . The ELE is a contest aimed at students of Latin in third through sixth grade who are beginning their Latin learning and not yet taking the National Latin Exam . However , if your students are younger than third grade and ready for a Latin exam , or if they are older than sixth grade , but either new to Latin or taking an exploratory course , we welcome them to take the ELE !
The ELE looks slightly different for students in different grades :
Students in fourth grade and below answer
30 questions from a core syllabus and may choose to answer another 20 questions required for older students . Students in fifth grade and above answer 30 questions from the core syllabus , 10 questions centered on a yearly theme , and 10 questions entirely in
Latin .
In response to the uncertainties of what the classroom would look like in 2020-2021 , the Exploratory Latin Exam committee decided to offer teachers and students added flexibility to support achievement . Students in fifth grade and above were given the option to omit the Tantum Latine section . Students in fourth grade and below had the option to choose either the thematic section or the Tantum Latine section , as well as the core section . For the 2021-2022 school year we anticipate returning to the traditional
format .
A complete test bibliography along with registration materials will be available on the ELE website in early fall . Additionally , ETC has available for purchase an activity packet designed around the core syllabus and an updated thematic packet with printable activities , designed around this year ’ s theme
Nava Cohen ( elechair @ etclassics . org ) has been a member of the Elementary Latin Exam writing committee since 2009 and Chair of the committee since 2020 . After teaching Latin to students in kindergarten through eighth grade for 25 years , in September 2020 , Nava returned to the classroom as a doctoral student in
Classics . Her website can be found
here .
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