The Centre’s high standards for proficiency in Medieval Latin are assessed twice per year via the Medieval Latin Exams for both levels, Level I and Level II exams. See upcoming language exams.
Graduate students currently registered full-time in the School of Graduate Studies at U of T may take the Level I, Level II, or both examinations, which may be repeated as required.
Please note that:
- A pass at the Level I exam is an admission requirement for the doctoral program in Medieval Studies, while a pass at the Level II exam is a program requirement in Medieval Studies. See PhD Program requirements.
- A pass at the Level I or II exam is valid to fulfill the Latin requirements of many doctoral programs and Collaborative Specializations at the University of Toronto. Please seek the advice of the Graduate Coordinator/Administrator of your program/collaborative specialization.
Upper-level undergraduate students in the Mediaeval Studies programme at St. Michael’s College may request to sit the examinations as internal students. The acceptance of such examinations for marking by the Medieval Latin Committee will occur only on the recommendation of the Coordinator of the undergraduate programme. The assessment criteria are the same as for the graduate students. Please note that passing marks do not satisfy prerequisite requirements for enrollment in CMS courses or specializations.
Students at other universities may take the examinations externally. Please see the provisions for External Latin Certification.
Exam Guidelines
Written examinations where students translate a set of short Latin passages remain the most effective assessment tool for evaluating proficiency in the Level I and Level II Medieval Latin exams. As an outcome of the 2021-2024 review of the Medieval Latin Program, the Centre is currently implementing changes to the format and assessment of the Latin exams.
Level I Exam
From April 2024 onwards, the following guidelines are used by the examiners and the Latin Committee as a whole:
Examination Expectations: To pass the exam, students will
- be able to translate three short texts (100-150 words each) of simple to lower intermediate difficulty without the use of a dictionary, drawn from the Repository of Medieval Latin Texts for Level I Examination;
- demonstrate a grasp of the Core vocabulary of Medieval Latin, as described in the learning outcomes for MST 1000Y; and
- demonstrate knowledge of the full range of Latin grammar, through a set of questions based on the sight passages of the exam.
Assessment Framework: The Level I exam comprises three passages to be translated, taken from the Repository of Medieval Latin Texts for Level I Examination, and a set of 10-16 questions (worth 1 or 2 marks each) concerning the grammar of the three sight passages. The exam is set for three hours. Each passage, as well as the total set of grammar questions, is of the same weight: 25 marks each. The Medieval Latin Committee keeps track of which texts have been used and for which examination period. The use of dictionaries is not permitted, except in the case of students whose first language is not English, who are permitted to use a modern language dictionary (English-native language). Students who choose to use such a dictionary must alert the invigilator of this before the exam begins and they will be granted an additional 30 minutes to complete the exam. Answers may be written in English or French (no other language is permitted). For accessibility needs and accommodations, see below.
Browse an Exam Sample (new guidelines)
Examination Composition: The exam passages and questions are set by two examiners, with the instructor for MST1001Y being one of them. If this is a shared instruction, the Fall instructor sets the exam for the following April exam and the Winter instructor sets the exam for the following August one. Where the two examiners conclude that certain vocabulary and/or idiomatic expressions are outside the scope of Level I exam expectations, they will be glossed at the end of the passage. A third member of the committee reviews the exam before sending it to the Chair of the Latin Committee.
Examination Procedures: Students must register in order to sit the exams (see Upcoming Language Exams). Exams may be written in person or online. The examination process is invigilated and anonymous as each student is assigned an anonymity code, which must appear on the top right corner of each exam sheet.
Assessment Procedures: Each internally marked script is graded by the two examiners who set the exam. The examiners come to an agreement on a final grade before the Latin Committee meets (which may normally be the average of the two grades). A third examiner reviews the scripts with “borderline” grades, as well as any script in which the two assigned examiners yield a grade difference of 10 points or higher resulting in a disagreement between the examiners regarding where the script stands (pass, fail, or borderline). The Latin Committee receives the grades of the scripts (the Committee will see the grade assigned by each examiner as well as the agreed upon grade) where there is no dispute, but reviews the scripts that have been read by the third examiner. The final grade of those scripts is decided by the Committee.
Grading Framework and Rubrics: Grading Latin exams is not an exact science, and each examiner uses their own experience and judgment to evaluate each exam paper. The following framework is not meant to establish a mechanical or algorithmic approach to grading, but rather to provide a general guide to examiners so that there is a shared approach to the assessment.
Generally, examiners use the following guidelines
- In the translations, where an error is repeated in the same passage the examiner only deducts a mark once;
- Vocabulary errors (including omissions): ½ mark deducted;
- Syntax errors: 1 mark deducted; and
- In answering the grammatical questions, it is possible for the examiner to assign partial marks.
Examiners will use the following rubrics as a guide in their assessment of an exam paper:
- Vocabulary: student translates individual words and idiomatic expressions accurately, avoiding false cognates or mistranslations;
- Grammar: student accurately renders the syntactical function of a word based on its declension, gender, and number;
- Grammar: student captures in their translation, accurate identification of verb tense, mood, voice, number, and person;
- Grammar: student accurately renders Latin sentence structure into coherent English (or French); and
- Grammar: student correctly identifies specific grammatical rules and constructions in the question and answer section of the exam.
A Student achieves Advanced Proficiency (Pass) when no more than 20 marks are deducted in total, and Proficiency (Pass) when 21-30 marks are deducted in total. Approaching Proficiency (Fail) is equivalent to 31-40 marks deducted in total, and Not yet Proficient (Fail) is equivalent to more than 40 marks deducted in total.
Level II Exam
The existing format and assessment for Level II remains in place, as described below under Standard Level II Exam. The new Take-Home option is available to registered CMS students from August 2025 onwards, as described below under Take-Home Option.
Standard Level II Exam
Examination Expectations: To pass the exam, students will
- be able to translate four short texts (100-150 words each) of advanced intermediate to advanced difficulty without the use of a dictionary;
- demonstrate a strong grasp of Latin vocabulary, as described in the learning outcomes for MST1001Y; and
- demonstrate a competency to translate a wide range of Latin texts, which may be drawn from genres such as poetry, historical narrative, philosophy, theology, charters and legal documents, educational tools, scientific texts, hagiography, or drama.
Assessment Framework: A Level II pass is not given lightly; only a mark of 80% or above is a safe guarantee of a pass. A student who passes at this level can be trusted to read Latin sources – or at least will know when a problem is so difficult that expert advice must be sought. Often, students at this level could teach Latin, though it must be stressed that a Level II pass does not of itself indicate a specialization in Latin language or literature, but a strong competence to read Latin.
Examination Procedures: Students must register in order to sit the exams (see Upcoming Language Exams). Exams may be written in person or online. The examination process is invigilated and anonymous as each student is assigned an anonymity code, which must appear on the top right corner of each exam sheet.
Assessment Procedures: Each internally marked script is graded by the two examiners who set the exam. The examiners come to an agreement on a final grade before the Latin Committee meets (which may normally be the average of the two grades). A third examiner reviews the scripts with “borderline” grades, as well as any script in which the two assigned examiners yield a grade difference of 10 points or higher resulting in a disagreement between the examiners regarding where the script stands (pass, fail, or borderline). The Latin Committee receives the grades of the scripts (the Committee will see the grade assigned by each examiner as well as the agreed upon grade) where there is no dispute, but reviews the scripts that have been read by the third examiner. The final grade of those scripts is decided by the Committee.
Grading Framework and Rubrics: Grading Latin exams is not an exact science, and each examiner uses their own experience and judgment to evaluate each exam paper.
To facilitate the grading of the exams, the examiners consult the following rubrics as they grade:
- Vocabulary: student translates individual words and idiomatic expressions accurately, avoiding false cognates or mistranslations. Omissions are counted as an error.
- Grammar: student accurately renders the syntactical function of a word based on its declension, gender, and number.
- Grammar: student captures in their translation, accurate identification of verb tense, mood, voice, number, and person.
- Grammar: student accurately renders Latin sentence structure into coherent English (or French).
Take-Home Option
From August 2025 onwards, a Take-Home option is available to students registered in the PhD program at the Centre. Only students requesting this option in time (see below) and whose request is approved will be allowed to complete the exam with the Take-Home option. This option is not available to non-CMS U of T students, nor to incoming students before they have registered in the program.
Guidelines are used by the examiners and the Latin Committee as a whole.
How to request the Take-Home option:
- Students will request the Take-Home option by completing a registration form by the following dates
- January 5 (or the first day of the Winter semester, whichever is later) for the April exam OR
- May 1 for the August exam.
- Students will submit three Medieval Latin texts (see below Take-Home Option Text Selection), from which the examiners will select a passage, which will include a short rationale outlining relevancy for their Medieval Latin training.
- The CMS Latin committee will inform the student if their request has been approved and which passage has been assigned as the “take home” translation within 30 days of receipt. This passage will consists of 150-200 words.
Take-Home Option Examination Procedures: Registered students will submit to the Graduate Administrator, a translation of their selected Take-Home passage on the same day as the scheduled Latin Level II Examination.
- Students are permitted to use dictionaries and other lexical resources.
- The final translation must include the title of the translated text and be followed by an appendix providing a comprehensive list of all aids that were used (dictionaries, grammars, lexical resources, etc.)
- The student will submit the translation as a PDF document to the Graduate Administrator.
- On the same day, students who have submit their Take-Home option will then sit in on the sight passage component of the Latin Level II Examination, and will have two hours to complete a translation of any three of the four sight passages (see above Standard Level II Exam).
Take-Home Option Text Selection: In consultation with their faculty mentor or supervisor, students requesting the Take-Home option will identify three (3) Medieval Latin texts of their interest using the following criteria:
- The chosen texts should be related to the student’s research area (e.g. general field, historical or literary context), but do not have to be the central focus of their dissertation.
- The chosen texts must be available in reliable editions in the UTL system.
- The chosen texts must not be available in translation in any modern languages.
- The chosen texts must be of intermediate to advanced difficulty.
- The chosen texts must not be longer than10 pages (or it may be an excerpt, but it must be 10 continuous pages).
- The student must include the publication details for each text.
If the request is approved, the CMS Latin Committee will select a passage from these texts to be translated at home by the Student. This will be communicated as per the instructions above to the examination candidate. Should any of the texts submitted be deemed by the Latin Committee insufficient as per the requirements above, the request will be rejected, and the student will be asked to complete and submit a new request form to the Graduate Administrator.
Examination Expectations: To pass the take-home part of the exam, students:
- must finalize an almost perfect (defined as containing no more than three mistakes overall) translation of the passage assigned to them.
- may use any dictionary, as well as any grammatical or lexical resources, while they translate, provided that these resources are clearly identified in the file submitted to the Graduate Administrator together with the translation.
- may include notes that explain their choices in the translation, such as adaptations of the Latin to idiomatic expressions in English, or why one meaning of a word / expression that may have multiple meanings was preferred. However, notes should be kept to a minimum and must not be used to describe any syntactical function of words or phrases.
- must not use algorithmic or automated software applications for translation. The use of similar resources will be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty and cheating. Instances of this behaviour will be reported by the CMS Latin Committee to the Director and the appropriate actions will be taken according to the Student Code of Conduct.
Assessment Procedures: The Take-Home component is passed only if the translation contains no more than three mistakes in total. Examiners will only assess the Take-Home component after they have completed the grading of all other Level II exams. The student will have gained a pass for the Level 2 exam if the aggregate grade of the exam is 80% or higher AND there are no more than three vocabulary and / or syntactical mistakes in the Take-Home component. Since the examiners will know in advance which text has been assigned to which student, anonymization cannot be maintained for the take-home part of the exam. Nevertheless, the sight passages will be marked anonymously. The two components will be connected at a meeting of the Latin Exam Committee once all the grades have been received and the exams are de-anonymized.
Re-Sitting the Examination: If the Take-Home component of the examination has no more than three mistakes, but the exam’s overall score is lower than 80%, the student must re-sit the sight passage component on the next available Latin Level II Examination date. They will keep the pass they obtained on the Take-Home component, and select three of the four passages at the sight exam.
If the Student’s Take-Home component has more than three mistakes, but the exam’s overall score is 80% or higher, the student will be offered the chance to submit another Take-Home translation; a different passage will be selected from their original submission that was approved by the Latin Committee.
After two unsatisfactory Take-Home translation attempts, students will need to take the Standard Latin II Examination on the next available Latin Level II Examination date.
Accommodation for the Latin Exams
The Centre is committed to the principles of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (EDIA). The Centre combines Accessibility with EDI principles because it is often the most practical issue related to EDI. Graduate students often don’t think about their accessibility needs (or that they can register them), but the Centre wants each student to flourish as a developing scholar with all the necessary support. If you do require any accommodation, the Centre encourages you to register with the Office of Accessibility (https://studentlife.utoronto.ca/department/accessibility-services/).
Incoming students can apply as soon as they are given a student number (which should be no later than July 1). Students requiring accommodation for the Latin exams in April need to contact Accessibility Services as soon as they have accepted the offer to enter either the MA or PhD program. The Centre will work with Accessibility to find an appropriate accommodation for the April exam in the limited time available.