SLLC Preliminary study guide
SLLC Preliminary · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The SLLC Preliminary is an introductory-level Latin examination offered through the Scottish system of classical qualifications, designed for candidates in the early stages of Latin study. It suits school pupils who have completed a first year or two of Latin and adult learners returning to the language, and it functions as a stepping stone toward higher-level Latin qualifications. The SLLC Preliminary study guide has 6 sections and about 2,040 words.
01Latin Language and Grammar
The grammar section of the SLLC Preliminary checks whether you can identify forms and explain their function, not merely recite paradigms. Expect noun and adjective declensions, pronoun forms, the four conjugations plus esse and its compounds, and the six tenses of the indicative with the present and imperfect subjunctive.
370 words, about 2 min02Latin Vocabulary and Idiom
This domain rewards a working core vocabulary of roughly 1,000–1,500 high-frequency words plus the fixed phrases that dictionaries list separately. Questions often ask for the meaning of a phrase in context, a synonym, or the English derivative that reveals the Latin root.
344 words, about 2 min03Translation from Latin into English
You must turn continuous Latin into clear English. Marks go for accuracy of construction, correct tense and voice, and natural English order - not for word-for-word glossing.
343 words, about 2 min04Translation from English into Latin
You must produce grammatical Latin, not a cipher of English words. The exam rewards correct case endings, verb agreement, and the right subordinate construction.
312 words, about 2 min05Roman History, Culture, and Civilization
Questions test chronology, institutions, and daily life: who held power, how the state was organized, and what ordinary Romans did. 753 BC: traditional founding of Rome by Romulus; 509 BC: expulsion of the kings and the Republic.
335 words, about 2 min06Latin Literature and Authors
You must match authors to genres, works, and periods, and recognize the rhetorical and metrical features that exam passages display. Republic : Plautus and Terence (comedy), Cato (prose), Cicero (oratory, philosophy, letters), Caesar ( Commentarii ), Sallust (monographs), Lucretius ( De Rerum Natura , didactic epic), Catullus (lyric and invective).
336 words, about 2 min