What is an Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI)?
Introduction
So you’ll be taking an OPI (Oral Proficiency Interview) soon!
For a lot of language learners, an OPI can sound more like a medical procedure than a language test. But really, an OPI is just a conversation to assess your speaking skills. I’ve taken 6–7 OPIs with great results, and I love to share what I’ve learned.
This article will walk you through the top 5 questions that most people have when they take their first OPI about what it is and how you can do well.
1. What is an OPI?
OPI stands for Oral Proficiency Interview, but beyond that, what is it?
Like the name indicates, it’s a test that evaluates how well someone can speak a language in a 15–30 minute interview. Almost always this will be on the phone or over a cameras-off Zoom call, though sometimes it could be in person.
2. What is the test like?
The test has 3 phrases.
- 📝Formalities
You’ll usually dial a phone number, or someone will call you. There are a few formalities that will happen in English (The tester will read a few rules, you’ll say your name for the recording, and you’ll let them know if you understand, etc). You’ll also have a chance to ask questions.
- 🎙️The Interview
The interview itself starts with a hello in the test language. The interviewer will stay in the test language and keep asking you questions to get you talking. They’ll ask you to talk about general, non-personal aspects of your life (job, school, city of residence, travel experiences, etc), and then sooner than you’d expect, you’ll be winding down!
- 🔚 Wrapping up
For me, most interviews have a pretty formulaic wind-down phase.
After you’ve talked for a while, the interviewer will say something like:
“Okay, well, do you have any plans for today after this interview?”
When you hear this or something like it, you’ll know you made it to the end. 😮💨 After that, you’ll close down the conversation together, and hang up the phone.
3. Who are the testers?
Testers are usually native speakers of the language, but sometimes they’re learners just like you who have reached full professional proficiency. They’re usually chill people, often language teachers themselves who take the tester job because they love working with language learners.
4. Do OPIs matter?
In any ultimate sense, they really don’t. They’re just a quick phone test.
But… OPIs can help a potential employer know your skill level, and they can help academic programs tailor future classes to your level and assess your progress.
5. Is it even worth trying to get ready?
Mostly, yes. A bit of preparation can go a long way to help you prepare for your OPI.
At the end of the day, an OPI tester is kind of like a job interviewer asking you about all the past projects you’ve worked on in your past jobs. You can’t perfectly manicure every possible story she might ask about because you just don’t know exactly what she’ll be interested in.
But if you think for a bit, you can probably get a pretty good idea of what she might ask and you can be ready to give an excellent first impression, something that will go a long ways to getting your highest possible score.
Conclusion
There’s a lot more to say about OPIs, but this overview should give you an idea of the basic structure and what you can do to do well.
Remember:
1. OPIs are just a conversation
2. They don’t matter in any ultimate sense, but they can be important for school and jobs
3. Most testers are chill, and they generally love to work with language learners
4. You can’t possibly have a perfect answer for every question.
5. But you can be ready to make a great first impression and prepare for most questions you’ll be asked, just like any job interview.
Good luck!
Also, now that you know what the OPI will be like, you might wonder what can you do to prepare. If you’d like more information, check out my next post about a 3 day preparation routine that can help you perform at your best.
