ACL/NJCL NATIONAL LATIN EXAM RESULTS 2009

 Breakdown of Awards | Grading of Exam | Exam Process | State Statistics

In 2009, more than 150,000 students applied to take the thirty-second National Latin Exam.  Participation in the Exam has increased each year since its inception in 1977, when approximately 6,000 students enrolled.  Students from all fifty states participated this year, as did students from 11 foreign countries, including Mexico, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Italy, Mozambique, New Zealand, Poland, and the United Kingdom. For the first time, students from Israel and Lithuania also took the NLE.  In addition, students in two U.S. territories, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, participated this year.

During the second week in March, more than 137,000 students took the National Latin Exam in their own schools, and it was administered in seventeen colleges and twelve elementary schools.  Also participating were 1694 students from 358 home schools. Approximately 1,863 more students took the exam than in 2008. The breakdown of awards for each exam (the number correct out of forty) is shown below, above each category.

 Breakdown of Awards

Grading of Exam

***In the Introduction to Latin Exam, which was taken by 17,463 students, 8,009 students won awards. As the average number correct on this Exam was 31, students who scored 32-34 correct out of forty received Certificates of Achievement, and those with scores of 35-40 received Certificates of Outstanding Achievement and purple ribbons. The 386 students who answered all 40 questions correctly were sent a special congratulatory letter from the NLE Committee.

 There were 917 perfect papers in Latin I-VI. A congratulatory letter has been sent to the principal of each school with copies for the student, the Latin teacher, and the student's permanent record. In addition, a special hand-lettered certificate was sent to each of these students.

The 20 students who have three years of perfect papers, the nine students who have four years of perfect papers and the one student who has five years of perfect paperare being sent the Carter Stubbs Drake Goad Memorial book award in addition to the special certificate. 

Exam Process

In September, the National Latin Exam office sent the application for the 2009 National Latin Exam to teachers who participated in the 2008 NLE. Upon receipt of the application and payment, a postcard was sent from the NLE office to the teacher, verifying the number of applicants and informing the teacher that the exams and answer sheets would be mailed by the United Parcel Service to the Exam administrator or principal by February 20, 2009.

Clement Testing Service mailed out the exams, answer sheets, and instructions and scored the returned answer sheets. The company mailed out the results, awards, exam answers, and a congratulatory letter to the teachers by April 20, 2009. A copy of the congratulatory letter for the principal was included in this package. The national percent correct for each question was also included as well as the percent correct on each question for the individual school. Both percentages were provided in order to help teachers and students assess strengths and weaknesses.

The 2009 PERFECT PAPER and GOLD MEDAL winners will be published in Torch U.S., the publication of the National Junior Classical League.

State Statistics

The chart given below indicates the states with the greatest number of students taking the 2009 exam and those showing the greatest increase in percentage of those participating.

Click below for the full report showing the breakdown by state of the number of applicants, number who took the exam, the ranking of states who took the exam the last five years, the states ranked by the change in percentage of users, and states ranked by number of exams taken.

The 2010 NLE Breakdown of Results by States.

The states with the greatest number of students taking the 2009 Exams:			The states with the greatest % increase in number of students taking the 2009 Exams:
Massachusetts	11,948		Iowa	200%
New York	11,746		South Carolina	38%
Virginia	10,266		Arizona	26%
Texas	9,391		New Mexico	26%
New Jersey	9,292		Maine	22%
Pennsylvania	9,156		Hawaii	21%
California	7,524		Wyoming	21%
Ohio	6,907		Washington	19%
Connecticut	6,272		Arkansas	18%
Georgia	5,037		Nevada	16%