Required SOFTS OPI Testing
Attention SOFTS Students:
As you know, the SOFTS Joint Language School is managed by HQ USSOCOM, Special Operations Forces Language office (SOFLO) at MacDill AFB. SOFLO requires that all students who complete a class that is a minimum of 60 hours long, and who attend a minimum of 60% of the class, must take an End of Course Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) towards the end of their class for continuation in the SOFTS program.
FAILURE TO COMPLETE AN END OF COURSE OPI WILL MAKE YOU INELIGIBLE FOR FUTURE CLASSES ON SOFTS.
The OPI is an oral test that is used to determine your current speaking capability in a target language. Proficiency is rated using the ILR scale. For more information about this scale, you can login to SOFTS Online and open the "ACTFL Guidelines" located under the External Resources on the left side of the page.
These End of Course OPIs are not official and will not go on your record. The SOFLO requires that you take the End of Course OPI as the final exam for your class and it will also help in the future to ensure that each of you get placed into the appropriate class based on your actual proficiency level. Being placed in the right class will benefit your learning experience and place you in class with others at a similar level.
Per the SOFLO, all students must complete an End of Course Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) through SOFTS in order to be eligible for enrollment in future courses, even if you are scheduled for an official OPI through your component for the same language that you are taking with SOFTS.
If you are scheduled for a DLPT, you will still need to take the End of Course OPI. SOFTS class content focuses primarily on speaking and since the OPI helps to determine what your current speaking proficiency is, those scores are required to ensure appropriate class placement. If you do also take a DLPT, please input those scores in your profile during the registration process as they will be taken into account during class placement.
For most languages, you will have the opportunity to take an OPIc (Oral Proficiency Interview by Computer) and you will able to do so online. For languages where the OPIc is not available, we will work with you to schedule a day and time with an OPI tester. If it is a telephonic OPI, the exams need to be scheduled Monday through Friday between 0900-1800ET, but we will work with you to coordinate a time that works for both you and the tester during the last weeks of class.
If you have any questions, please contact the SOFLO at soflanguageoffice@socom.mil or the SOFTS Helpdesk at helpdesk@pecinc.com anytime.