Korean Job Discussion Forums

[naturegirl321]

Does anyone have any experience with teaching or being an examiner for this exam? I've done PET, FCE, and CAE teaching and examining, and will be getting into BULTAS and would like to know what to expect.

Looking around the website is a bit daunting, just because the level is absolute beginner to completely fluent.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Hotpants]

I was a BULATS administrator/invigilator for a couple of years. (Unpaid, I should add). I didn't know that it was possible to be a BULATS examiner, though, (since it is a computer-based test, and the test gives you a computer-calculated score that the administrator can look up on-line as soon as the test is over) unless they've added a speaking component to the exam?

I didn't get to 'teach' BULATS, and our school didn't offer specific BULATS general prep classes. We offered the exam purely for anyone looking to get an extra certificate while they were studying with us. Generally, we found that the BULATS results reflected the subjective levelling given by their teacher (phew), and that students with no BULATS preparation wouldn't ever come out with a result that was less than a teacher level estimate - ie, showing that the computer-based format doesn't demand any unfamiliar cognitive skills, and thus any performance increase would probably be relative to an increase in language skills, not test skills.

The exam does cover all levels because it is an adaptive test - ie, if a student gets an answer incorrect, the next question will be pitched lower etc. Nearly anyone can do this test.

Although I haven't taught specifically BULATS, I would say that any workplace context English test prep based on multiple choice questions that go from looking at gist to looking at detail of information is your base. There is BULATS prep material produced by Cambridge. You can also put students through a free practice test on the BULATS website - although you don't get the answers to the test as I recall, so students didn't know where exactly they went wrong and complained about this feature.

I reckon TOEIC is the nearest test model compared to the other exams, and as all Koreans are well-versed in that, they should do well at BULATS. I'm not sure though, that BULATS necessarily says anything more about someone's English skills over a TOEIC score, so don't know whether BULATS can ever make it big in Korea.

(Unlike TOEIC, though, candidates are allowed to take breaks. They have up to 7 hours to complete a BULATS test in one test session. This allows a few creative students to find ways of taking toilet/dictionary check breaks ... )

[naturegirl321]

Yes, there's a speaking and written test. Optional. I might be an examiner for the speaking test, so I'm trying to find out more info. The thing that throws me is that it's 0 to 100, therefore making a subjective speaking test all that harder to grade. . .

[edwardcatflap]

I do Bulats testing occasionally - there isn't much call for it. The last time I tested, the speaking and writing elements were marked out of 5 as I remember. Like the FCE.

[livinginkorea]

Got that email too Naturegirl. Looking forward to it if it happens. Being meaning to get into testing for a while but the training days always clashed with my work days (i.e. Saturdays) but this will be done online I was told.

[naturegirl321]

[livinginkorea]

[rowdie3]

I am a BULATS tester for the speaking test. Training for this was done at the British council, so I would go through them. The training is pass/fail. After you pass you hand in your schedule and the company overseeing it calls you if they have work for you. There is some testing work available throughout the year but mostly it is done in November when a lot of the hiring is done by major companies.