Norwegian language C1 – higher academic level
Practice for the test
There is no curriculum for tests in Norwegian. The test measures your language skills, not your knowledge on various subjects. You practice for the test by practicing the Norwegian language.
The best way to improve your language skills, is to use the language. You should practice reading, writing, speaking and listening to Norwegian.
On the page Read about the test, you can read about the test structure.
Practice on sample tests
We have examples of tasks from both of the two test parts, so that you can see how the tasks are structured.
There are also samples of answars to both the written and oral tasks for the C1 test. This way you can see what language skills are expected at the C1 level.
The samle tasks and answers are available in both Bokmål and Nynorsk (Norwegian). The sample test is not available on a cell phone or a tablet.
Listening comprehension and written production
You can also see samples of answers to tasks in written production and how these are assessed:
Reading comprehension and oral communication
Samples of tests and assessments
In the audio clip below, you can hear a sample from the test part in reading comprehension and oral communication. The assessment of the candidate can be read (in Norwegian) below the audio clip.
The candidate summarises the texts in such a way that it is clear that she has understood what she has read, and therefore communicates the content of the texts in a clear fashion.
In task 1, the candidate speaks a bit slowly and hesitantly, but not more than what is expected, when one has to think about what to say and remember the content while talking. The candidate shows a good understanding of the text she has read, even though she does not include details like percentages and numbers.
In task 2, the candidate explains what happens in the texts, in a clear fashion, and compares the texts to each other: “Lorens Lande argues the opposite.” The candidate argues her own point of view clearly and effortlessly.
In task 3, the candidate speaks independently and articulates herself well while talking abouta demanding topic: “You need so many other skills to be able to work in medicine or psychology, which I don’t think can be measured by grades alone.”
The candidate’s spoken language is at level C1.
- The pronunciation is clear and good, but the candidate shows some deviation in vowel-length and -quality: “uttmarken”, “narhaten”. This does not affect the comprehensibility or the flow”.
- When it comes to grammar, the candidate shows good control and variety, but she makes a few inflectional errors: "skulle slår", "som man få på helligdagen" "min egen synspunkt".
- The vocabulary is large and is used correctly and appropriately. Sometimes, the choice of words can be a bit unidiomatic: "tenke så mye om trusselen", "fred og stille", "en som veldig vil hjelpe meg". However, she also demonstrates many examples of good idiomatic language: "symbol for noe større", "fange opp med karakterer", "pugge".
- The candidate speaks intelligibly, effectively and effortlessly and is assessed at C1.
Communication/mediation
Task 1: The candidate summarises text 1 and communicates the content in such a way that someone who has not read the text gets a clear understanding of it. It is clear that the candidate has understood what she has read. The candidate chooses not to go into detail about the numbers in the surveys referenced in the text, but a summary must exclude some details, and the mediation of content is still good and easy to understand.
Task 2: In task 2, the candidate presents the viewpoints of text 2 and 3 in a structured and easy to understand way. She decides who she agrees with the most, argues her own point of view and supports her opinions in a clear, structured and elaborated manner.
Task 3: The candidate expresses her opinion regarding the claim well, and it is easy to understand her. Hesitation or searching for words or patterns is hardly noticeable.
Linguistic criteria
For the linguistic criteria, the whole production must be included in the assessment. This is a candidate who overall performs very well. She speaks in an intelligible, efficient and effortless manner, with a high level of fluency. There are some deviations in pronunciation, for instance regarding vowel quality: «høldninger», «håvedretorikk», and vowel length: «lege til rette», «heeligdager», «ale», but on the whole the pronunciation is very good.
The candidate has a large and nuanced vocabulary, and the words are generally used correctly. There are some slips in prepositional phrases, for instance «er utsatt på», «behov til å hjelpe», «redd av mennesker». Regarding grammar, the wording of the criteria fits well with the candidate’s performance: She shows a high level of grammatical accuracy and control in inflections and syntax and has a broad enough range of grammatical structures in order to express herself with nuance. Nevertheless, slips occur, like «er en polarisert debatt i mange år», «så stort debatt», «det motsatte meningen».
The candidate is assessed to be at level C1 in all criteria for the test in reading comprehension and oral communication.
Communication/mediation
Task 1 is a summary of a research article on popular science, in this case "Blir du lurt på butikken?". The candidate shows that he has understood the text and communicates its content in a way that is thorough and easily understood. He speaks for nearly 6 minutes, which is a bit more than necessary for this task.
In Task 2 he summarises the content of the two expressions of opinion, which concern “verdien av arbeid”. He communicates the contents of both texts in a rather brief fashion, while it is still adequately accurate, and easily understood, without leaving out central parts of the content. It is clear he has understood the contents of the texts. He says who he agrees with and explains why; “It is extremely important and essential that we learn to appreciate art. It’s something that makes life worth living.”
In Taks 3 he chooses to talk about the claim “Alle stortingspolitikere burde ha minst ti års arbeidserfaring utenfor politikken». He puts forward the argument that politicians should have experience «from the real world” and should be competent in fields such as economics, technology, and social studies, and preferably have an academic education. He talks about the subject in an unbiased and refined manner. He speaks very independently, argues his opinions well, and substantiate his opinions in a way that is easy to understand.
Linguistic criteria
The candidate speaks in a very correct and academic way, perhaps more than is to be expected in normal spoken production.
The fluency is very good.
The pronunciation is clear and easy to understand. Some influence from his mother tongue is noticeable, but this doesn’t affect the intelligibility, perhaps with the exception of when he refers to the book “Overtalelsespsykologi”.This word is hard to perceive, but otherwise the errors and deviations in pronunciation are minor;
Some vowels are pronounced in a way that isn’t common in Norwegian: “Lukt” is pronounced with a u-sound, “synet is pronounced “sunet”, “være” is pronounced more like “vare”. “Gi” and «begynne» are pronounced with a hard g-sound. “Den” is pronounced “denj”, which can be attributed to the local accent where the candidate lives, and is as such of course not considered a deviation. The candidate places stress incorrectly in some words: utfØrer, overbevIse, usUnne varer, utlØse, innrØmme, markEdet, påstÅr, påstAnden. The mispronunciations are not consistent, and they do not affect intelligibility. The pronunciation is therefore in line with the criteria for C1.
The candidate has a large and varied vocabulary and uses the words correctly. There are examples of erroneous choice of words: “Sansene blir utnyttet», «Politikere må være begrunnet (forankret) I virkeligheten», «Oppnår en viss tidspunkt i livet sitt, det vil si at de oppnår en viss alder …» (kommer til et visst tidspunkt/ oppnår en viss alder). These errors do not affect intelligibility.
Grammar: The candidate speaks with long and advanced sentences, and the description in the criteria fits well: “Shows a high degree of grammatical control in inflections and syntax and has a broad enough repertoire of grammatical structures to express him/herself with nuance.”
He makes some mistakes that he corrects himself, and he has a few inversion mistakes. «Det naturligvis fører til.» «Selv om de trenger ikke dem i utgangspunktet.» Simple mistakes in grammar, not least in inversion, are still to be expected at the C1 level.
The candidate is assessed to be at C1 level in all the criteria of the test in reading comprehension and oral communication.