Latin K to 12

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Competencies and Skills and Blueprint

The test design below describes general testing information. The blueprints that follow provide a detailed outline that explains the competencies and skills that this test measures.

Test Design

table describing the format of the test, including test time, number of questions, and required passing score
Format Computer-based test (CBT)
Number of Questions Approximately 80 multiple-choice questions
Time 2 hours and 30 minutes
Passing Score A scaled score of at least 200

 

Competencies, Skills, and Approximate Percentages of Questions

graph of percentages of each competency's weight toward overall test score, described in table below

table describing the competencies, skills, and approximate percentage of each competency's weight toward overall test score
Competency Approximate Percentage of Total Test Questions
1 Knowledge of English words derived from Latin vocabulary 7%
2 Knowledge of Latin vocabulary in a given context 7%
3 Knowledge of the grammatical forms of Latin words 17%
4 Understanding of grammatical constructions in a given context 16%
5 Knowledge of pedagogical methods, reference materials, and teaching aids appropriate to the Latin classroom 4%
6 Ability to read and understand passages of connected Latin prose at the level of difficulty of straightforward narrative passages in Caesar's Gallic Wars, Book 1, or the De Illustribus Viris of Cornelius Nepos and poetry at the level of difficulty of Vergil's Aeneid or Ovid's Metamorphoses 16%
7 Ability to identify meter in Latin poetry and basic literary devices in Latin prose or poetry 2%
8 Knowledge of classical mythology 8%
9 Knowledge of Roman literary history 4%
10 Knowledge of Roman political history 7%
11 Knowledge of Roman social history 6%
12 Knowledge of Roman contributions to Western civilization 6%

Competencies and Skills

Competency 1—Knowledge of English words derived from Latin vocabulary

  1. Use knowledge of prefixes and suffixes of Latin origin to partially decode the meanings of English words.

  2. Use Latin roots to determine meanings of English words.

Competency 2—Knowledge of Latin vocabulary in a given context

  1. Select the most appropriate English meaning for a Latin word, phrase, or idiom in a given context.

  2. Choose the most appropriate Latin word, phrase, or idiom in a given context.

Competency 3—Knowledge of the grammatical forms of Latin words

  1. Apply the rules for the formation of regular nouns and pronouns (e.g., personal, demonstrative, relative, interrogative): the nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative, and vocative forms of nouns; and the nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and ablative forms of pronouns.

  2. Apply the rules for the formation of regular adjectives and adverbs: the nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative, and vocative forms of adjectives in the positive, comparative, and superlative degrees; and the forms of adverbs in the positive, comparative, and superlative degrees.

  3. Apply the rules for the formation of regular verbs: the person, number, tense, and voice of verbs in the indicative and subjunctive moods; and the present active positive imperative mood of verbs.

  4. Apply knowledge of irregular verb forms (e.g., sum, eo, fero, volo): the person, number, tense, and voice of verbs in the indicative and subjunctive moods; and the present active positive imperative mood of verbs, including the irregular forms of dico, duco, fero, and facio.

  5. Apply the rules for the formation of verbals: the tense and voice of the infinitive (with the exception of the future passive) and the tense, voice, and case of participles.

Competency 4—Understanding of grammatical constructions in a given context

  1. Identify the appropriate use of nouns in the following cases: the nominative case (e.g., subject and predicate noun); the genitive case (e.g., possessive, partitive); the dative case (e.g., indirect object, with certain adjectives); the accusative case (e.g., direct object, extent of space and time, with certain prepositions, subject of infinitive); the ablative case (e.g., place from which, place where, personal agent, accompaniment, manner, means, time, comparison, separation, degree of difference); and the vocative case.

  2. Determine the appropriate use of pronouns (e.g., personal, demonstrative, relative, interrogative).

  3. Determine the appropriate use of adjectives (e.g., as modifiers, as predicate adjectives, as nouns or substantives).

  4. Distinguish the appropriate use of mood in independent and subordinate clauses: the indicative, subjunctive, and imperative moods in an independent clause; and the indicative and subjunctive moods in dependent (subordinate) clauses (e.g., indicative in relative clauses and subjunctive in purpose, result, indirect command, indirect question, cum clauses).

  5. Identify the appropriate use of verbals: the complementary infinitive, the structure of the indirect statement, participles and participial phrases (e.g., ablative absolute, active and passive periphrastics, gerunds and gerundives, supines).

Competency 5— Knowledge of pedagogical methods, reference materials, and teaching aids appropriate to the Latin classroom

  1. Select appropriate methods for teaching derivation and vocabulary.

  2. Select appropriate methods for analyzing the structure of Latin in a given situation.

  3. Select appropriate methods for teaching reading comprehension and analysis.

  4. Select appropriate reference materials and instructional aids for teaching mythology and political, social, and literary history.

Competency 6—Ability to read and understand passages of connected Latin prose at the level of difficulty of straightforward narrative passages in Caesar's Gallic Wars, Book 1, or the De Illustribus Viris of Cornelius Nepos and poetry at the level of difficulty of Vergil's Aeneid or Ovid's Metamorphoses

  1. Identify a main idea in a given passage of prose or poetry.

  2. Identify facts and opinions in a given passage of prose or poetry.

  3. Identify a historical, literary, or mythical reference in a given passage of prose or poetry.

Competency 7—Ability to identify meter in Latin poetry and basic literary devices in Latin prose or poetry

  1. Identify metric patterns within a line of dactylic hexameter.

  2. Identify basic literary devices (e.g., anaphora, antithesis, asyndeton, chiasmus, litotes, parallelism) in a given passage of Latin prose or poetry.

Competency 8—Knowledge of classical mythology

  1. Identify the functions and attributes of the major Greek and Roman deities.

  2. Identify major stories and historical events connected with the prominent mythological figures.

Competency 9—Knowledge of Roman literary history

  1. Identify authors of the Republic (i.e., Plautus, Terence, Cicero, Caesar, Catullus, Lucretius) by genre and major works.

  2. Identify major authors of the early Empire (i.e., Vergil, Horace, Ovid, Livy, Pliny the Younger) by genre and major works.

Competency 10—Knowledge of Roman political history

  1. Identify the names and dates of the three major periods of Roman history: Monarchy (753-509 BCE), Republic (509-27 BCE), and Empire (27 BCE-CE 476).

  2. Identify events and biographical information associated with major characters of the Roman Monarchy (i.e., Romulus through Tarquinius Superbus).

  3. Identify events and biographical information associated with major characters of the Roman Republic (e.g., Cincinnatus, Hannibal, the Gracchi, Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Crassus, Caesar, Cicero, Cleopatra, Antony).

  4. Identify events and biographical information associated with major characters of the Roman Empire (e.g., the Julio-Claudian emperors, Vespasian, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Diocletian, Constantine).

Competency 11—Knowledge of Roman social history

  1. Identify major geographical locations in Italy, Gaul, Greece (Athens), Asia Minor (Troy), and North Africa (Carthage).

  2. Identify the parts of a Roman name.

  3. Identify the titles and primary duties of major Roman government officials.

  4. Identify terms used for the major parts of a Roman house and basic articles of Roman clothing.

  5. Apply the rules for the formation of Roman numerals.

  6. Identify the sequence of chronological dates (i.e., BCE, CE).

Competency 12—Knowledge of Roman contributions to Western civilization

  1. Identify contributions of Latin literature to Western literary tradition.

  2. Recognize contributions of Roman civilization to Western art, architecture, and engineering.

  3. Identify contributions of Roman civilization to modern law, government, and science.

  4. Identify contributions of the Latin language to the Romance languages.

  5. Identify Latin mottoes, abbreviations, and expressions currently in use in the English language.