A report on my testing experience:
I just took the CIPLE in Toronto. I’m from the US, and had to travel there because there were no other spots available in US and Canada testing centers.
I’d spent a bit of time preparing for the test. I completed all of the (Brazilian) Portuguese lessons on Duolingo before starting with Practice Portuguese a year ago; I’ve now completed all units through the end of B1. Six months ago, I started doing conversation and test-prep lessons with a native Portuguese teacher on iTalki; we met about every 10-14 days and he helped me work through the sample tests for A2 and ultimately had me doing practice from B1 tests. So I felt pretty confident going in for the test.
I scheduled the CIPLE exam nearly six months ago, as soon as 2025 bookings became available and… I heard nothing from the testing center after that point. With the exam approaching, I emailed a week ahead to ask about the time and location for the exam (which had not been communicated upon initially scheduling). I was told the address – the Portuguese consulate – and a start time of 3pm.
I arrived at the office building where the consulate is located about a half hour before the exam. I told the guard in the lobby that I needed to go to the 14th floor for the Portuguese consulate – and was told “they’re closed, you’ll have to come back another time.” I explained that I had a 3pm test. He shrugged. I asked if he could call them; he couldn’t. So I searched my emails to find a contact number from the person who had confirmed the test time a week before. After several attempts, she finally called me back and said someone would come meet me in the lobby. Quite a scary, panic-inducing way to start the testing process!
There were only three people testing on my day: Myself plus a father and his young-adult son. The testing room was small, maybe a maximum capacity of 6-7 candidates if they were to fill all spots. There was a primary examiner, and another woman who was helping/observing.
The reading comprehension was quite straightforward. I might’ve missed one question because it was of a slightly vague nature (“Maria is concerned about Roberto not being at work the past two days. Which text did she send to him?” And there’s an argument that two of the options were valid, one in which she expressed concern for him, and one in which she expressed concern about his absence impacting a project they had to deliver the next day.) Otherwise, it was exactly as in the practice tests.
Written production had two questions that were pretty easy to address. The first was to leave a note for my roommate about dinner, saying the name of the dish I’d be making and its ingredients, plus suggesting a time for dinner (35 words, so no need to be too creative). The second was to write an email to a friend visiting my country for the first time, offering her advice on a specific place to go, including what there is to do there, and why she would like it (75-85 words, I think). This allowed some flexibility, as I could think of a place that offers some things to do that I know the words for, and build some sentences around that.
Listening comprehension was a mixed bag. 28 questions or so, spread out over 9 audio portions played from a Windows tablet on the other side of the room (decent amplification, but not amazing). The first 8 audio clips were varied — several very understandable, two or three nearly incomprehensible (one of which cause the examiner and assistant to look at each other with “OMG” faces!). The 9th audio section had eight questions that were in the format “match the audio clip to a response" (8 clips, 8 possible responses, some of which only had one grammatically appropriate match).
For oral production, there was an odd number of candidates. The father and son were the first two names on the list, so they were paired together, so I was paired with the secondary examiner/observer as my “partner.” I had an initial introductory chat with questions like “How old are you? Where do you live? What do you do during the day? Do you use public transport?” I was then given a picture of a fruit stand at an outdoor market and had to talk about it for 2.5 minutes (it wasn’t a very interesting picture, so it was hard to come up with much to talk about, so my “partner” asked me about my produce-buying habits at home). I was then given a photo of four weekend activities to propose to my conversation partner, and discuss pros and cons of each and make a decision. My conversation partner (a native speaker) spoke at a pretty fast pace, so I had to ask “Como?” several times – which wouldn’t have been the case had I been paired with another testing candidate!
Overall, I think I will get a score in the 75-85% range. I had prepared a lot, and my iTalki lessons really prepared me for the testing format. (My iTalki instructor has administered exams for CAPLE before and told me I could’ve taken the B1 DEPLE instead, but I’d already registered for A2 CIPLE at that point).
My big note about the experience is that the individual testing centers really need to send out an email to candidates several weeks before the exam with practical information. I had no idea what time the exam would be, so I had to book buffer into my travel schedule on either side (in case the exam were in the morning or went into the early evening). I read on PP and Reddit forums about people’s testing experiences and learned about the importance of having my “candidate number” ready, having my ID that matched my registration forms, and needing both pens AND pencils for the test (the other candidates on my test date didn’t know this and there was some scrambling on their part). And, I had my issue of a “closed” office when arriving at the testing site – an email could have said, “We will meet you in the lobby 20 minutes before the exam.”
Toronto is a good tip. Perhaps I can try my second attempt there.