Dear Jideletonao,

Regarding your question about what languages might be sought in the 2017 EPSO Translators competition, at this stage no one knows what it will be.

In terms of what to expect from the translations test for Lawyer Linguist, it tends to always be a topic related to legal matters. For example, a newspaper article about a court ruling, or a summary of a legal case etc. What makes it particularly difficult however, is that it has to be translated without the help/use of a dictionary. It is a dictionary free exam.

I hope, this helps.

Kind regards,

David @ EU Training

Dear David,

I wonder if you can help with one question regarding this competition. I have gone through the notice of competition and I found a bit confusing the following statement:

EPSO/AD/332/16 — Spanish-language (ES) lawyer-linguists (AD 7)

You must have a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies attested by one of the following

diplomas in Spanish law:

Graduado en Derecho o Licenciado en Derecho.

I am not a lawyer but a Political Scientist. Am I entitled to apply for this competition?

Thanks very much for sharing your thoughts.

Best regards,

Antonio

Indeed I did not to check it, I mean I have not read the notice of competition itself (translation has nothing to do with my professional or acadameic background), but according to your quotation, it seems that it are only the Licenciados o Graduados en Derecho who are entitled to be admitted. I must insist this is only my personal understanding of the brief quotation that you have cited, but this is what I deem to be the most reasonable interpretation of that rule.

Dear Celia,

I would recommend this Tips and Tricks article: The Motivation Challenge - What To Write In Your EPSO Application?

Kind regards,

David @ EU Training

Dear all,

in the notice of competition is said that one of the test relates to linguistic comprension.

Do you know which kind of test is this?

Where I can prepare for it?

Thanks a lot in advance!

Hi! I am also interested in this competition for the italian profile! can you suggest me some books for the pre test (numerical, verbal etc reasoning)?

Alessia

Dear all, do you know how much time usually passes beetween the deadline for the application and the pre-selection tests ?

Hi, im also preparing the exam for Italians. Do you want to share some experience? My email is dan.rossi2@libero.it

Hi, I'm studying for Italians competition. Do you know if there are tests for the comprehension part? 

Hello,

I also need a few tests for the comprehension part, Italian competition.

Can someone help?

Thanks

Alessandra

Good morning, everybody.

Italian: why don't we keep in touch by email? this is mine : lucia.caldarone@hotmail.it

I'll go to Milan

Hi everyone,

I am sitting the exam/competition of Greek Lawyer Linguist the next couple of weeks and I would like to ask if there will be Translation at the first test or it will be at the Assessment Centre, in Brussels?

Many thanks in advance

If u have an e-mail we can stay in touch

Hi Fokiane,

Sure, why not?

My e-mail is elonaprof@yahoo.gr

Regards,

Elona

Hi everyone

I would like to train on the comprehension test, but I do not find any samples for it.

Do you know if there are any anywhere?

Thanks very much in advance,

Natalia

yes, would be interesting to see an example of the comprehension test.

Dear all,

Anyone knows how long after the computer-based exams will the Translation phase take place (for the lawyer-linguist competition)...? Do you happen to know when do the results come out as well...?

Thank you and good luck to everyone!

Helene

Hi again,

Are you all preparing the exam in Language 1? I have a french book for practicing but as far as I understand it is recommended to practice in the competition language.

Anyone found books for preparing in Greek...?

Thanks again,

Helene

Hi Helene I am also preparing for the exams. The language test, as far as I am concerned, will be held in english, not in greek or french.

Eugenia

Just noticed a joke in one of the questions in numerical reasoning and thought I should share it! It is a question about the ratio of goals and shots for various countries. There is Germany, Spain and the UK. And here is what the explanation of the answer says:

"Spain is probably the easiest because it is exactly a half. Germany and England are well below a half. This is no surprise as England couldn't find the goal with a searchlight and a compass."

There are some funny people in EPSO apparently!

has anyone taken it yet? What is an example of the fourth task - Comprehension?

Hi!

For the lawyer-linguist competition, is it possible in the MCQ to pass through a question and then go back to it?

Many thanks!

Hi, 

Does anybody have an idea about how long it takes to know the results of the MCQ?

Thanks!

madrid_ad_091 , have you already taken it ? how was it ?

Any ideas when the MCQ results come out...?

Good luck to the ones who sit it tomorrow!

Dear all:

I would like to hear, from those who already sit the exam, how difficult were those EPSO pre-selection tests in comparison to the mocked exams offered here in this page. Were the difficulty levels almost the same...?? Easier, more difficult perhaps...?? I am pretty concerned about this, as I estimate that at least the abstract reasoning, as probably also the numerical, could be far more dificult than the tests offered in this website. Could you please give me any feedback on this issue...?? Regards and good luck to everyone.

I found the exercises quite similar. The verbal reasoning seemed even easier to me.

I m sure i have failed because of abstract. Used to be one oif thge easiest for ne but herė 3/4 questions that i didnt even have a clue...or maybe was too tired ..sad though:(

Hello Makazi, but according to the notice of competition, you have to consider numerical+abstract together: 8.

Is it right?

Thanks you all for your attentive answers. Indeed, I figured out that the abstract exercises here were so easy in comparison to the real EPSO tests. Here, I use to get between 8 or 9 out of 10 on the average, and honestly this is way the wickest part of my perfomance in this type of prometric test, so I was sure that such a high marks could not be real.

But then my question is: How many you estimate is the maximum number of fails that you can afford in the abstract section to keep you above the passing mark...?? Maybe one or two...?? I suppose the overall cutting mark must never be below 85%. Am I right...??.

 As a general reflection, I would like to say that this is a question of endurance (besides of a great deal of luck, of course) and probably a task for a number of years (2-5). Sometimes, in the differente conferences thath I attended, I noticed a too optimistic atmosphere,looking as if this was a question of some weeks. Big mistake. Sadly, nothing is guaranteed here, but I envisage that for the vast majority of applicants-let alone, of course, this minimum percentage of geniuses that use to sit this type of competitions- succeeding in these exams is a very long run project that probably will include a number of occasional failures.

Good luck.

Alesssandra,      

You might be right, but on the other hand where should we practice then? On a reflection I also used to solve the abstract ones here easily. I remember they used to have level of difficulty you can choose from easy to hard, but now it loooks like all the quastions they provide you here to solve (AR) are very easy so you solev like 100 percent and then there is no use then youn go to the real exam...Where else could we practice this what do you think...?

I don't know, I used also Baneth (the book), but I think this time Epso abstract were difficult, in general.

I'll do some research online for the next competition, maybe I will find something else.

About Numerical question (my weakness), instead, I found 'Eu training' very useful.

While in Verbal exercises there are a lot of mistakes (translation errors), 1 in 10/20, more or less.

Regards

Alessandra

Good afternoon, Alessandra,

Just a couple of questions: Did you not find the abstract exercises form Banneth's book far more difficult than those of this website...?? In my opinion, those of Banneth's book are far the most difficult ones that I've ever faced (at least some of them, particularly those corresponding to number 80 and followings). I would like to get your feedback on this issue.

On the other hand, I did not fully understand what you mean with "1 in 10/20". Do you make reference to the percentage of items bad translates (I agree with you the translation is simply horrendus, at least in the Spanish version) or to the number of mistakes that you, on the average, use to commit, or, ultimately, perhaps the maximum number of mistakes that you estimate that one candidate may afford in order to get further in the competition.I would like you, please, make it clear for me. I regard everyone's opinion on this issue really useful as I a have not experience at all.

Finally, I will tell you my average marks: 1) Verbal (I want to remark, once again, the poor translation into Spanish that I have to undergo), I use to get arround 17-18/20. Nevertheless, to be fully honest, I must admit that most of times I exceed the timelines, arround a 10%. By the way, I also regard the texts way too long for only 35 minutes 2) Numerical, arround 9/10. 3) Abstract: My personal nightmare. My average must be arround 8/10. Nevertheless, I have 7/10 sometimes, exactly as I can score 10/10, sometimes both scores within the same day (I do not know if this is just normal or I am a rare bird, lol).

Those are my marks, always referred to Arboreus training tests, of course. I am practising for a year now. I am not participating in ths competition for jurist-linguist. I will start next march with AST and then after with AD in june. This year I will get satisfied if I am able to get amongst the best 20%. Anyway, I am perfectly aware that I must improve a bit (particularly my speed)  if I want to have a real chance next years.

Good luck to everyone.

Regards.

thanks for the experiences shared. I sat the prometric test too and I agree with all your considerations about the greater difficulty of the AR in comparison with the arboreus' excercises. there was really no comparison at all. I had only a few weeks to train but, nevertheless, I could gain almost a 100% in AR, which made me focus on the Numerical, which had turned ot to be the real problem in training environment. the Verbal didn't worry me that much, since my average was very good and (maybe I was and still am too much self-confident) the rare mistakes were due to tiredness or, most of all, poor translations (which I often reported to the system because some were really just too much to stand: they misleaded me, made me loose time and get tired long before the time). at the exam it turned out that I was a big deal wrong. in fact the Verbal was ok, probably translated by really native speaking (I don't mean that I believe I did everything ok but, at least, there weren't incomprehensible statements and it was all about the logic); the numerical (which worried me so much) was really easy for what it concerned both the reasoning and the calculation (of course it may turn out that I missed all the answers, but I guess in that case it would be due to distraction or tension) while the Abstract, that cheered me so up while training, ended up to be nearly a catastrophe. that's it. I even thought to clearly state it to arboreus, to make something like a complaint, maybe I will when I've got time. the fact is that when the test neared, I turned back also to train on the AR and there, at a few days distance to the test, really challenging abstract reasoning questions started popping out, after hundreds of really simple ones, but they were 1 or 2 in ten questions and it was really too late to start worrying. I found the explanations of these not consolatory ones very vague, not allowing me to really understand the path to try to reproduce it in the solving of the next or to try to build my own solving scheme. unfortunatly the real AR test was quite all about this what-am-I-doing-now questions. there was no match at all.

Hi, Anna,

I have also noticed that,lately, for some reason that I am not able to explain, some (certainly a minority, I guess never more that a 20%) of the AR test in this website have become more difficult than they used to be. Of course when I say that my score use to be around 80%, I mean including this newly incorporated "difficult" items.

Let's be patient....

PD: By the way, did you try the STJ here....?? I find it quite challenging, I have been practising this for a while, and I use to be arround 80%, but I find really complicated to get more that this (only occassionally I can get 85%). What about you...??

Thanks.

Regards.

Hey all, 

I also took the test for the Italian lawyer linguist competition. I am struggling to find informations on when the following phases will take place, though. 

Does anyone know (or have "hints") on when the results will be published, even approximatly? And when the written test, the essay, is likely to take place?

Thank you and good luck to everyone!

Hi Guys,

my name is Alessandro and am participating for the Italian LL competion. Is any of you preparing the second phaese (Translation of a legal text)? are you using any particular textbook? I couldn't find any specific material on this website regarding this phase of competition so I wonder if you have any tip about.

Good luck to all!

Hello everyone...! Anybody knows what the pass mark have been in lasts competitions to get invited to the next phase of the Lawyer-Linguist competition?

Dear all, I have received an email which communicated me that I have passed the tests but it is not clear to me whether I will pass to next phase. Could you please explain me?

Hello, me too, I don't know if I can pass to the next step.

Hello, I did not reach the pass mark, unfortunately. I had 33/52:  very poor, but I expected it, as I didn't have time to study enough.

Agnese and Alessandra, what was your final mark? I am just curious...

Good luck for the next steps!!

@seredeep_93314  Why do you say that you didn't reach the pass mark? they wrote you so?

I also recived my results  but indeed, it does not say I am invited to the next phase. I think there should be a further communication with the cut-off mark given that only 7 times the final number of selected candidates is invited to the next phase. Did any of you got a letter saying that they were invited to the next phase??

Yes, indeed I investigated around my friends and they told me that usually you receive another message saying that you are in the list.

My pass mark was 40/52 ....the numerical reasoning really put me down :-)

Well...lets wait then... it really depends on how many passed with good marks

Good luck to all!

Hi! Any greek here? Got 36/52, what are the chances? :/

Hi everybody, I received the same message most of you already received: it does not specify whether I will be admitted to the next stage.

I contacted the EPSO through their contact form, and they replied simply this:

"Next stage is indicated in the Notice of competition.

We may also advise you to follow up on the evolution of the selection on our dedicated competition webpage - see Timeline.

Please check your EPSO account at regular intervals (at least twice a week)"

So, nothing helpful. Fingers crossed, waiting for the next update!

What was your score in different test?

Mine was 15verbal , 9numerical and 9 abstract.

15 verbal, 6 numerical, 8 abstract, 11 language comprehension and I did the italian one , we are 1022!! The highest number!

15 verbal, 6 numerical, 8 abstract, 11 language comprehension and I did the italian one , we are 1022!! The highest number!

Hi,

Mine was the Spanish one and my mark is 46/52. 18 verbal, 9 numerical, 9 abstract and 10 language comprehension. 

I also participate for the italian language. 18 verbal, 10 numerical, 9 abstract, 8 language comprehension. 45 out of 52. Don't know if sufficient. I feel it's close to the edge and I am not quite whether to start preparing full time for the next stage as it may be useless.

Does anybody know what was the minimum score that got people to the second phase last year (for Italians)? Just to have an idea...

I am at 44/52 (Italy). I was pretty happy with it but now I'm unsure of whether will be enough :(

It's a lottery, really. You cannot rely on results from other competitions because in every particular occasion it all depends on the number of positions available, the number of candidates and how good they are. Plus every time the competitions is different. This one is radically different from the Court of Justice one, where first selection was based on talent screening and there were no (stupid) intelligence tests. For such specialised post first selection should be based on work experience and training. But no, why bother wasting time choosing experienced candidates?, they say. They want to get rid of as many candidates as possible, and so they've used this kind of tests. Only those with very high marks will get through. I also got highest marks ever but actually this makes me fear the exam was far too easy for too many people. Let's keep our spirits high, we'll see...

@ alessandromarini and all others who may want to share: what did you study (books or websites) for the numerical tests?

Hi all. I am Greek. I passed with 34/52. I hope it's enough for the next phase. Any other Greeks here? Please share your experience both positive or negative.
For the translation test, if invited, I don't intend to do much.
I had read somewhere sometime ago that for this competition whoever passes the basis goes to the next phase... True?

No date for translation tests yet, but invitations have come out, hooray!!!

can anyone share the example of the test or where you will train from ? Any clue on duration ? Two tasks ?

I have been admitted to the second step of the Italian competition. How will you prepare for the translation test? There are some sample materials on EPSO website, but I do not understand how many tasks will be submitted to the candidates...

are you sure its one text not two?  and where did you see the example of Legal text translation on Epso? Can you drop the link here? Is it going to be translation of a Directive? Regulation? Court decision?...any ideas?

are you sure its one text not two?  and where did you see the example of Legal text translation on Epso? Can you drop the link here? Is it going to be translation of a Directive? Regulation? Court decision?...any ideas?

Please read the notice of competion: next step will be a translation, for two hours, of a legal text from English into language 1. There's no further information on the nature or extension of the legal text, but for sample texts you just need to Google EPSO sample tests to find the link and then scroll down to examples for lawyer linguists. In general, it's a good orientation to take your time to read the notice of competition, really.

well im sorry but i cant find the example of lefal translatio for lawyer linguists on epso examples ( onle language comprehension test). I also read thourouglt notice of comp. In 2015 they gad two different texts to translate from english into mother lang.

would appreciate to hear from mb who has anything caluable to share ( since we are not competitorsto each other on diff. Languafes at least :)

thanks.

thanks.

It seems that the translation tests will take place on May 29 - June 2.

Hi all, 

did someone already took the translation test?

Any thought about lenght or difficult?

Hi all!

Any idea when the results of the translation tests will be available?

Best,

Lets hope they will publish the results after summer. Like that we will be able to enjoy our holidays in the beach with a good spritz under the sun without worrying about how to translate the word 'mise en demeure'. :)

All the best and indeed, good luck to all of you!

Hello everybody! Just to add to the discussion I sent an email to Epso asking them when we should expect the translation results and they replied around September.

Any ideas or useful thoughts on how one should prepare for the assessment centre? Any comments are more than welcome!

Have a nice summer break and good luck to everyone!!

have no idea. What should competency interview be about - translation :)?

The results have been published.

My journey stops here.

Best of luck to whoever has the chance to get to the Assessment Center!

Does anyone else's letter say that they've been admitted to the Assessment Centre, but does not specify the mark? 

Hi guys,

First of all congrats to those who have suceeded, and good luck to those who tried and were unlucky. I was wondering if anybody knows what the summary will be like in the assessment centre? From the model on the EPSO website I see we wiil have to write it by hand, the text will be three pages long. However, I could not find anywhere how much time we are given for the task and what length of the summary is expected. Any ideas on that?

I asked EPSO but they gave me a usual answer: consult the notice or ask the centres that help with preparation in member states.

Hello everyone,

Congrats to all of you that have succeeded the translation test. 

I am looking for motivated people to create a small studying group to prepare the group exercise. If you are interesered you can contact me in the following email javbaglietto@gmail.com

Best 

Javier

Hi, there!

Anybody in Brussels would like to meet to practice and share ideas about the group exercise? Everybody has to do it in English, so our mother language isn´t relevant. 

Good luck with your preparation,

Teresa

Hi,

Teresa, I've sent you an e-mail. :-)

Javier, any luck with people interested in preparing together?

Good luck for the exam, everybody.

M.

Dear all,

Does anybody know how strict EPSO will be when evaluating supporting documents? If courses at university are listed in an application, and the candidate does not provide sufficient proof of those uni courses (eg the diploma is not an original) - can EPSO exclude you from the competition even though said courses are not required in the notice of competition? For instance if I say I have studied political science (not part of law degree) and the supporting document doesn't meet the requirements in the instructions provided in the invitation to the AC.

Good morning everybody!!

As a benchmark, when have you been invited for the Assessment Centre?? My dates are 22nd and 23rd of November. Just wondering whether there are any earlier dates. I know this question has been brought up several times in the Forum, but does anyone happen to have any recommendations for the preparation (preferably online webinars) of the group exercise and the competence based interview? And a last one. The Competition's notice did not require any professional experience, so I've left this part blank in my application profile. I understand that I would not need to provide any relevant documentation in my Application File.

Thanks  a lot in advance for your answers/comments. Any insights would really really appreciated!!

A.

Hi Athena,

You only need to take with you documents related to what you said in your application. No work experience mentioned = No job related documents.

Malin, it's true that only your Law degree is compulsory, but if you mentioned further training and/or job experience you should include what proves your application to be complete and true (if for a course you only have a photocopy, at least add that copy).

I guess Dagmara is right and they might only want to see the Law degree, but I wouldn't risk it - I prefer taking everything I said in my application.

Athena, have you checked the webinars in this site? There are also a couple of Facebook groups, but I have no clue whether they are useful or not.

As for dates, Spanish are the last ones, we finish in December. So any hint you can give us (revealing exam content is forbidden, but maybe tell us at least duration of the exams, as nothing is said in the letters) will be of great help.

Good luck,

M.

Hi Athena,

I'm preparing with the book 'The ultimate EU test book: assessment centre edition' by A. Baneth and J. De Sutter. I'll finish with it tomorrow and I'm happy to sell it second hand, if anyone is interested. It's the 2015 edition but I've been told it hasn't changed much in newest editions. It describes very well the kind of exam you'll face and you have sample exercises. Write to my e-mail address if you wish.

As for webinars, I haven't bought any so I can't really tell you but I guess the book covers even more and it's quite easy to read.

Good luck,

M.

Hello everyone,

I suppose we have all finished the assessment centre now, right? :)

Does anybody know if EPSO usually publishes all the results at the same time (all competition languages) or rather competition by competition as they finish correcting? My AC was a month ago, whereas the Spanish candidates just finished...

Kind regards,

Malin

Hello eveyone!

I am currently participating in this year's AD7 competition - we just had the translation test.
In hopes of maybe making it to the AC, I was wandering whether it is necessay to bring a proof of your stated language level to the AC?

It is not stated in the Notice, but the Guidelines say that specific linguistic profiles might be required to bring them. I would greatly appreciate if anyone who did AC last year could tell me if it was required and how strict they were, so I can organise myself accordigly. 

Many thanks! 

Tina

Hi all, 

For the lawyer linguist competition do you need to know three official languages or is it enough if you know two? Also, when does the next application period for lawyer linguists open? Thanks a lot!!

Anna