FCICE cheat sheet

Phase One written English items test grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and diction; no oral interpretation performance is scored in this phase.

For sentence-completion items, insert each option and check subject-verb agreement, tense sequence, pronoun reference, and idiom before selecting.

Synonym and antonym items require the option closest in meaning and register, not the option most loosely associated with the prompt.

Error-detection order: pronoun reference, parallel structure, misplaced or dangling modifier, then subject-verb agreement.

A reading-comprehension answer is valid only if the passage itself supports it; outside knowledge is not a valid basis for selection.

Legal English modals: 'shall' creates obligation, 'may' grants permission or discretion, and 'must' states a requirement.

A dangling modifier occurs when the implied subject of an introductory phrase differs from the subject of the main clause.

Core civil-pleading lexicon: complaint = plaintiff's initial pleading; answer = defendant's responsive pleading; motion = request for a ruling.

Written Spanish Phase One items test grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and orthography; accent marks and punctuation are scored.

Subjunctive rule: doubt, emotion, denial, or a hypothetical antecedent in the main clause requires the subjunctive in the dependent clause.

Preterite marks completed, bounded past events; imperfect marks background description, habitual action, or ongoing past action without a defined endpoint.

False-cognate rules: 'actual' = current, not actual; 'realizar' = carry out, not realize; 'asistir' = attend, not assist.

Accent default: words ending in a vowel, n, or s are stressed on the penultimate syllable; words ending in other consonants are stressed on the final syllable.

Legal Spanish lexicon: demandante = plaintiff; demandado = defendant; juzgado = court; auto = order or ruling.

The 'se' impersonal and 'se' passive constructions omit the agent; the English rendering must preserve that agentlessness.

Article, noun, and adjective must agree in gender and number even when the noun is omitted and only the article or adjective appears.

Sight translation is oral rendering of a written source text read for the first time, produced in the target language without notes.

A read-ahead span of 4-6 words preserves source syntax and prevents word-by-word output.

Chunk at clause and phrase boundaries; keep relative clauses attached to their antecedents.

Digits, dates, and proper names are read exactly and converted to target-language format; a misread figure is corrected immediately.

Omitting content or adding explanation is an error; an unknown term is rendered from context rather than skipped.

Register rule: formal legal source text remains formal in the target; colloquializing or hedging changes register.

Self-correction rule: correct only errors that change meaning; minor slips are not revisited.

Time allocation: roughly equal time per passage; over-polishing one paragraph reduces coverage of the remainder.

Ear-voice span (décalage) of 2-4 seconds balances memory load against syntactic completeness.

Anticipation is valid only when legal formula or strong collocation makes the upcoming completion highly probable.

Do not revisit completed utterances unless the error reverses meaning; corrections disrupt delivery and generate new errors.

Digits, proper names, and acronyms are rendered in target-language form; pace slows for numbers to protect accuracy.

Active listening tracks subject-verb-object across clauses; mechanical word-order transfer produces target-language errors.

When a speaker self-corrects a figure or name, render only the corrected version.

Booth protocol: microphone live only while interpreting, controlled output volume, no extraneous paper or equipment noise.

Omission of redundancy is acceptable; omission of negation, modality, or number is a critical error.

Consecutive interpretation: the speaker pauses every one to three minutes and the interpreter delivers the full segment afterward.

Notes capture ideas, links, and figures rather than verbatim words; roughly 70-80% of content is noted, with memory supplying the rest.

Symbols and abbreviations must map to one concept for the entire assignment; inconsistent symbols create recall ambiguity.

Numbers are written in full digits and proper names in full letters; abbreviating either causes delivery errors.

Vertical note layout: one idea per line, indented to show subordination, with arrows marking logical links.

Delivery follows the target language's natural order, not the physical order of the notes.

Accuracy priority: meaning first, register second, style third; elegance is never traded for fidelity.

If a noted segment is ambiguous at delivery, reconstruct from discourse context rather than inventing content.