MATSEC AM Latin

It is awarded through the MATSEC Examinations Board, which is part of L-Università ta' Malta and is based at Msida. The Board publishes the syllabus, regulations, past papers and marking schemes for each session. Always confirm details for your own session on the Board's official pages rather than relying on secondary sources.

The MATSEC Examinations Board section of the University of Malta website lists Syllabi, Past Papers, and Marking Schemes and Exemplars, together with Regulations and Current Session Information. Those pages are the authoritative source for set texts, paper structure and administrative deadlines. This page is independent and does not reproduce them.

The published specification groups the assessment into two equal halves: Latin language and comprehension, covering unseen translation and reading, and Latin literature, covering prescribed prose and verse texts. The precise number of papers, question types and time allowances are set in the current syllabus for your session, so check that document before you plan revision.

The step up is considerable. At Advanced Level you are expected to read authentic, unadapted authors at speed, command the full range of syntax, and write analytical literary criticism in English with precise reference to the Latin. Candidates who only memorise vocabulary lists without regular unseen practice typically find the translation component the hardest.

MATSEC examinations are normally offered in annual sessions, so a resit generally means entering again in a later session. The Board publishes the regulations governing re-entry, and any limits on attempts, on its Regulations and Guidelines pages. Check the current regulations for your session, since this page cannot confirm the specific rules.

Because the two halves are weighted equally, split your weekly study roughly in half. Keep unseen translation practice short but frequent, since accuracy improves through daily exposure rather than occasional long sessions. Reserve longer blocks for preparing set texts, where you need to build context, style notes and quotation banks well before the examination.

Three recurring problems: loose translation that captures gist but misses case, tense or clause construction; vague literary answers that assert effects without quoting or analysing the Latin; and poor time management, where candidates over-polish one passage and leave another unfinished. Practise under timed conditions and mark your own work against the published schemes.

Read each prescribed text in English first to fix the narrative and argument, then work through the Latin closely with a commentary, building a vocabulary list and a bank of key quotations. Only after that should you read secondary criticism, so that you can judge it against your own reading of the text rather than borrowing its conclusions.

The literature component is normally assessed through English-language discussion supported by quotation and analysis of the Latin, while the language component tests your ability to render Latin into English. The current syllabus states the exact requirements for each paper, so read it carefully before practising answer formats.