Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs

CITIZEN EXCHANGES –
YOUTH PROGRAMS DIVISION
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Recruitment and Selection

Round 1: Pre-Test
Students meeting the age and grade criteria are invited to take a 16-question, multiple-choice English test. The major purpose of the pre-test is to eliminate students with only a very limited knowledge of English. There are ten versions of the pretest to discourage cheating. More than 50,000 students throughout Eurasia take the pre-test. About a third of these students move to the second round.

Round 2: Pre-TOEFL/SLEP and Essay Test
Eligible students deciding to continue with the application process are invited to take (in alternate years) either the pre-TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or the Secondary Level English Proficiency (SLEP) test. Students are also asked to write three in-class essays (in English) in response to specific questions. Questions are designed to elicit factors that indicate the student's maturity and suitability for international exchange. Essay questions focus on actual situations that students may confront, rather than abstract situations that may be more difficult to address. There are five sets of essay questions so students cannot share essay questions with their friends who may take the test at another test site in the future or at another session. Both tests are proctored by program staff and alumni.

After all tests and essays are completed, they are sent to the Moscow data hub to be assessed and graded. First the Round 2 English tests are graded, and then the essays of students with adequate language proficiency are evaluated. Field screening committees at the data hub are specially trained to assess essays on the basis of ten factors considered critical for exchange experience success. Processing information and conducting the preliminary evaluation in a centralized location, rather than in the field, is important for the integrity of the competition and relieves the pressure often placed on the program staff by parents, local ministries, or others to include candidates who might not be qualified.

Round 3: Applications and Interviews
Students with the best assessments pass to the next level of the competition. They are asked to submit complete applications and are interviewed. About 15% of the original applicant pool are invited to complete applications. One U.S. and one Eurasian employee return to the test site to conduct 20-minute interviews with students who have been invited to complete applications. Interviews take place in both English and the student's native language to enable interviewers to assess English language skills as well as to give students the best opportunity to present themselves.

In addition to the one-on-one interview, all applicants participate in group interviews (referred to as "games"). These are conducted in Russian or the local language and led by Eurasian staff members while U.S. staff observes. Four to seven students take part in each "game." These provide an opportunity to observe the students in a less formal setting and to see how they interact with their peers. On the day of the interview, staff explains the application form in detail so students will understand how to complete it. Students have two weeks to complete the application and return it to an American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS office. Applications are checked in the field offices for completeness and forwarded to the Moscow data hub. In Moscow, computer data files are updated for each student, and the original SLEP or TOEFL answer sheet and essay questions are attached to the application form. The complete application and computer data files are then forwarded to the American Councils' headquarters office in Washington, DC for further processing and selection.

Round 4: Selection
American Councils organizes and trains approximately 150 volunteer evaluators who meet daily for about 3 months to carefully review the applications and attached data and complete the selection process. (Around 1,200 finalists are selected.) Names of all finalists are randomly distributed to placement organizations by a mainframe computer sort.

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