What can I do to prepare for the interpreter test? I’ve heard that it’s extremely difficult and very few people pass it!

While the actual passing rate for tests that have all three sections ranges from 0% to 21%, when all candidates who have taken a test in any of the languages tested are combined, only 12% of the candidates pass the exam. For more detailed and comprehensive statistics on passing rates by language, see the data posted on our website. As to whether the test itself is difficult, that depends on the degree to which you have the knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the duties of a court interpreter and can successfully demonstrate them when you take the test. In other words, if you are well prepared, you will have no difficulty passing. However, the truth is that a vast majority of candidates overestimate their knowledge, skills and abilities and underestimate how challenging the work of a court interpreter is. The bottom line is that the average candidate who has historically taken the test is not prepared to take it. Twenty-seven years of testing experience provide data that shows two important points. First, candidates, regardless of language, experience the simultaneous section of the exam to be the most difficult mode of interpretation. The following table compiled from the court interpreter oral exam database maintained by the New Jersey Judiciary, from the inception of the testing program in 1987 through December 2016, illustrates this1: The most obvious implication for candidates is that you really need to develop your simultaneous interpreting skills to prepare for the simultaneous section of the exam. For most candidates, learning to perform simultaneous interpreting takes much more time and effort than mastering the sight and consecutive modes of interpretation. Second, simultaneous interpretation is indeed possible from English into other languages. Many interpreters of different languages, especially those whose origins are quite different from English, believe that the differences in syntax and lexicon between English and their other language make simultaneous interpretation into the non-English language impossible. The following statistics, again from New Jersey and for the same time period, show that it is indeed possible to perform simultaneous interpretation from English into languages that range from similar to very dissimilar to English, although it is also true that there is some evidence that it may be easier to perform simultaneous interpretation into some languages than others. The most obvious implication for candidates is that simultaneous interpretation is indeed possible from English into all other languages for which there are exams. It requires a considerable amount of sophistication in knowledge of the two languages as well as skill in the performance of this mode of interpretation. Knowledge and skill at this level can ordinarily be attained only through extensive training and practice. Do not allow yourself to believe in or be held back by the suspicion or belief that simultaneous interpretation from English into your mother tongue is impossible and the test is therefore unfair and invalid. Suggestions for preparing for the test are provided at Page 1, “Keys to Success.” Read that page carefully. In addition, study the detailed suggestions in Appendix B.