I noticed from my Viewers Stats that some people are looking for YKI Testi tryouts. Well, the one I used to practise before I went through YKI Testi was this one (updated on 06.04.13 because the older link didn't work anymore):
YKI Demo
Updated on 17.01.2013. Another link filled with marvelous exercises to prepare for YKI testi:
P.S. Starting from 2012 if I'm not mistaken, the grammar part has been eliminated from the test.
Let me try to remember what I had to do in the test...hmmm...my advice is just to try to WRITE DOWN your answers ASAP during the listening comprehension test. DO NOT wait until the second time you finish listening to the tapes before you try writing them down as you won't have enough time to do it and prepare yourself for the next passages.
1. Listening Comprehension
We were given a booklet which we mustn't open until they told us so. So we had no time to prepare ourselves. We took the YKI testi level 3 and 4 and we could listen to the tapes twice. We were also given a sheet of paper for the answers, but first we could mark the answers on the booklet. MAKE SURE, though, that after you listen to the tapes and they give you time, you should MOVE the answers from the booklet to the answer sheet.
Anyway, there were a number of multiple choices. For example, for one listening passage, we were given 4 multiple choices questions. Just try to relax and answer each of them, even though you aren't sure of the right answers.
Then after a few multiple choices questions, we had to write down phrases of answers in the space given (this type of thing you don't have to move to the answer sheet, just write them down on the booklet). This part was HARD since we had no time to think and write down the answers well.
2. Speaking Part.
This was the most HORRIBLE part of all. It was SO quick and we really had no time to think. I remember on the booklet there was this long passage of conversation between us and another person. We were supposed to call someone to book some food for a party for a certain number of people, so we had to ask the guy about this and that.
So it would look like this on the booklet:
A: Party Planner Inc.
B: (Say hi and introduce yourself) - 15 seconds
A: How can I help you?
B: (Say that you want to organize a party for 20 people on a certain day and ask what kind of catering they have to offer) - 20 seconds
And it goes on for around 20 more lines....
First they gave you time to read the whole thing once, but when you listened to the tape and tried to answer the questions, you just felt overwhelmed, but just try to SAY something no matter what and don't give up!!!
Another part of the speaking test was to call the police to say that there was an accident. You have to describe how many people are hurt, how many people are dead, the location of the place, etc. You're given a certain amount of time to say all these things.
Another part was that you had lost a pet and you had to describe the kind of pet it was: a cat or dog and what colour it was and when was the last time you saw it. Again you're given a certain amount of time to say all these things.
Then the longest speaking part is where you can choose between two topics. First you're given time to read the topic and think. Then you just need to babble for about 1 whole minute. Just try to say as many things as possible. It doesn't matter if time has run out. Just show how much you can say in this last part.
3. Reading Comprehension
I guess there's nothing new about this. You just need to read and pick on the right answers he he he he he...The problem with me was my limited vocabulary, so I had to guess a lot, but no worries. Just try to answer every single question.
4. Grammar
The grammar part is rather difficult. I was only 50% sure about it. The first part was finding synonyms, which was HARD. There were at least 40-60 words and they gave us three possible synonyms to pick for each word. Again since our vocabulary was limited, I bet we screwed up ha ha ha ha ha...
The next part was just finding the right form (again multiple questions). This was easier than the first part. Thank GOD!!!
The next part was again hard since we had to fill in the blanks with only one or two words!!!!! I remember that in one particular question, we had to fill in "mieltään" as the word before it was "osoittaa".
Osoittaa mieltä = demonstrate
Imagine that you don't know that those two words combination means demonstrate, then you wouldn't know how to fill in that blank, right? So make sure you also study these types of phrases, but don't worry even if you can't remember them all, since even though I wasn't sure about passing it, I passed it anyway HI HI HI HI HI HI...
5. Writing Part.
This was my fave part and the part where I KNEW I'd pass he he he...
First I had to write an email to somebody (a friend or whatever) to ask her to go out to a certain concert that we both like. I have to state the time and the kind of concert and where it is held.
Second I had to write a letter of complaint to my landlord since there's some trouble with my apartment. I have to create the problem myself (it can be anything you want) and then I have to ask him politely to fix the problem.
Thirdly we were given topics to choose to write about. Basically in this third part, you have to give reasons on why you think A is good and why you think B is bad. Compare and contrast.
Okay, that's all I can remember for now. Hope this helps!!!
GOOD LUCK for everybody who's trying to pass YKI Testi. If you have any more questions, feel free to contact me through the comment section or email me at amelfinland at yahoo dot com.
I've also found this link that would enable you to do more exercises:
Updated on 17.01.2013. Another link filled with marvelous exercises to prepare for YKI testi:
P.S. Starting from 2012 if I'm not mistaken, the grammar part has been eliminated from the test.
Let me try to remember what I had to do in the test...hmmm...my advice is just to try to WRITE DOWN your answers ASAP during the listening comprehension test. DO NOT wait until the second time you finish listening to the tapes before you try writing them down as you won't have enough time to do it and prepare yourself for the next passages.
1. Listening Comprehension
We were given a booklet which we mustn't open until they told us so. So we had no time to prepare ourselves. We took the YKI testi level 3 and 4 and we could listen to the tapes twice. We were also given a sheet of paper for the answers, but first we could mark the answers on the booklet. MAKE SURE, though, that after you listen to the tapes and they give you time, you should MOVE the answers from the booklet to the answer sheet.
Anyway, there were a number of multiple choices. For example, for one listening passage, we were given 4 multiple choices questions. Just try to relax and answer each of them, even though you aren't sure of the right answers.
Then after a few multiple choices questions, we had to write down phrases of answers in the space given (this type of thing you don't have to move to the answer sheet, just write them down on the booklet). This part was HARD since we had no time to think and write down the answers well.
2. Speaking Part.
This was the most HORRIBLE part of all. It was SO quick and we really had no time to think. I remember on the booklet there was this long passage of conversation between us and another person. We were supposed to call someone to book some food for a party for a certain number of people, so we had to ask the guy about this and that.
So it would look like this on the booklet:
A: Party Planner Inc.
B: (Say hi and introduce yourself) - 15 seconds
A: How can I help you?
B: (Say that you want to organize a party for 20 people on a certain day and ask what kind of catering they have to offer) - 20 seconds
And it goes on for around 20 more lines....
First they gave you time to read the whole thing once, but when you listened to the tape and tried to answer the questions, you just felt overwhelmed, but just try to SAY something no matter what and don't give up!!!
Another part of the speaking test was to call the police to say that there was an accident. You have to describe how many people are hurt, how many people are dead, the location of the place, etc. You're given a certain amount of time to say all these things.
Another part was that you had lost a pet and you had to describe the kind of pet it was: a cat or dog and what colour it was and when was the last time you saw it. Again you're given a certain amount of time to say all these things.
Then the longest speaking part is where you can choose between two topics. First you're given time to read the topic and think. Then you just need to babble for about 1 whole minute. Just try to say as many things as possible. It doesn't matter if time has run out. Just show how much you can say in this last part.
3. Reading Comprehension
I guess there's nothing new about this. You just need to read and pick on the right answers he he he he he...The problem with me was my limited vocabulary, so I had to guess a lot, but no worries. Just try to answer every single question.
4. Grammar
The grammar part is rather difficult. I was only 50% sure about it. The first part was finding synonyms, which was HARD. There were at least 40-60 words and they gave us three possible synonyms to pick for each word. Again since our vocabulary was limited, I bet we screwed up ha ha ha ha ha...
The next part was just finding the right form (again multiple questions). This was easier than the first part. Thank GOD!!!
The next part was again hard since we had to fill in the blanks with only one or two words!!!!! I remember that in one particular question, we had to fill in "mieltään" as the word before it was "osoittaa".
Osoittaa mieltä = demonstrate
Imagine that you don't know that those two words combination means demonstrate, then you wouldn't know how to fill in that blank, right? So make sure you also study these types of phrases, but don't worry even if you can't remember them all, since even though I wasn't sure about passing it, I passed it anyway HI HI HI HI HI HI...
5. Writing Part.
This was my fave part and the part where I KNEW I'd pass he he he...
First I had to write an email to somebody (a friend or whatever) to ask her to go out to a certain concert that we both like. I have to state the time and the kind of concert and where it is held.
Second I had to write a letter of complaint to my landlord since there's some trouble with my apartment. I have to create the problem myself (it can be anything you want) and then I have to ask him politely to fix the problem.
Thirdly we were given topics to choose to write about. Basically in this third part, you have to give reasons on why you think A is good and why you think B is bad. Compare and contrast.
Okay, that's all I can remember for now. Hope this helps!!!
GOOD LUCK for everybody who's trying to pass YKI Testi. If you have any more questions, feel free to contact me through the comment section or email me at amelfinland at yahoo dot com.
Posts
14 comments:
Thank you so much for posting this. I'll have the test in about 2 months and it seems I have a lot of work to do! The test looks rather hard and fast, but there's always hope! :)
Geta: Hey, you're VERY WELCOME! I'm glad people find this post beneficial. GOOD LUCK to your on your test!!!! Pidän peukkuja sulle! :-D :-D :-D
Thank you very much for your post :). It's really useful for everyone who want to take YKI test :).
QuangTrung89: Hey, you're VERY welcome! I just hope it can help some people get an idea of how YKI is like. :-D
THis post.. would help me a lot!!! I'll have an exam in 2 months..
@Anonymous: GOOD LUCK on your tesssttt!!! :-D
Your link to online test is not working. Can you please tell the web address in proper form? Thanks
Anonymous: THANKS 4 letting me know. It worked until a while ago, I guess. Now I've updated the link.
Thanks this is really helpfull. They speak quiet fast in the listening part, i cant seem to get past that...and the sanasto too is really horrible really difficult to find the synonyms
@Secheso: Glad to know the post I wrote helped. Yeah, the sanasto part was really horrible, I know. But well, we can only do our best with the limited amount of knowledge we have, right?
Hey Amel , Thank you very much for the beautiful and informative post. i really like to take this test . is there anyway i can take this online.cos i live in a foreign country and travelling to finland to write this exam is not at all possible? if yes pls post the details and pls recommend good books to study. Kiitti , kiitos,!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for this! I'm not ready yet, by a long way, but I find this helpful for the audio bit - my 'weakest link' ...
I went to the library, borrowed as much audio CD's from the language learning section as I could.
Now, this bit takes about a week.
I 'ripped' them to hard drive into different directories, then, in a sub-directory, I used a program called "audacity" which lets me slow the TEMPO - not the speed, it'll sound unnatural - by 20%.
Audacity is free, windows or Linux (Which I use).
Listen to the 20% version a few times, then the full-speed.
I don't think ripping CD's for your own use is illegal or immoral, from a library copy.
@Santo: I don't think you can do it from abroad 'coz you have to do it in a lab for the listening and speaking sections. During our course, we only used Hyvin Menee book as well as Marjukka Kenttälä Kieli Käyttöön (Blue Book and Green Book).
@Anonymous: THANKS for the info about "audacity" program. Interesting!!! And GOOD LUCK in learning Finnish more and more until you take the test. :-D
thanks Amel for thinking about others and posting this. Very helpful for those who have no idea on how YKI test goes. Thank u so much. I should work really hard and give this test soon. Hope i pass. Thanks again Amel :) God bless yoy brother!
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