In this post, I cover how challenging I found each subtest of the intermediate YKI test and provide comparisons of the difficulty level so that you can get a better idea of what to expect.
Having completed the YKI test for the first time just a little over a week ago, I have no idea if I passed all the subsections, but I thought I would document my experience while it’s still fresh in my mind.
Note: The exact topics and tasks that I got in my test are listed in Part 3 of this series.
How difficult was the YKI test?
For me, the YKI test was about as difficult as I imagined it to be — which is to say, quite difficult. Having done a lot of research on the YKI test in advance, nothing about the test came as a complete shock. Though, I was still anxious enough that it affected by ability to concentrate and think clearly during the test.
It helps to know that it’s normal for the intermediate YKI test to feel very difficult, even if you do actually have B1 level skills, because the intermediate YKI test is designed to test up to the B2 level. If you understood and did everything in the test perfectly, that would mean you are higher than B1. Knowing this and having studied only up to the B1.2 level, I went into the test without any expectations of perfection.
For context, you may be wondering…
How long have I been studying Finnish?
At the time of my YKI test, I had studied Finnish on and off for about 1.5 years for an estimated total of around 800 hours, including comprehensible input (e.g. listening to Finnish podcasts) and other forms of practice. I had taken 9 Finnish language courses, most of these lasting around 1 month each. The last course I took was a short 4-day YKI prep course a few weeks before the test. The course prior to that claimed to teach at level B1.1-B1.2, and we covered up to Chapter 4 of Suomen Mestari 4. I scored 99% on that course exam, which was the highest in the class, but I must admit I definitely didn’t speak as well as some of my peers despite my strong grammar skills.
How well did I understand Finnish?
At the time of the YKI test, I could do the following:
- Order food at cafes
- Communicate with the hairdresser
- Speak 80% Finnish at home with my partner (but understanding only 50% of his unsimplified speech)
- Mostly understand simple children’s shows and podcasts, including everything in my A2 comprehensible input list
- Listen to Yle Selkouutiset at 1.5x speed, pausing occasionally to look up words in the dictionary
- Understand at least 50% of “regular” podcasts like KAHELI and Vauvan aivot (a podcast about the development of babies’ brains), or at least enough to keep me interested and entertained
- Write emails and messages with some help from the dictionary
- Keep up in Finnish language courses, taught entirely in Finnish
- Complete Yle YKItreenit with 80%-100% accuracy
On the other hand, these are some things that still felt difficult:
- Reading job listings
- Reading and listening to regular news
- Most regular-paced conversations in unstructured social situations
- The reading and listening sections of the official YKI test practice samples (!)
Now, moving on to how difficult I found each subtest…
Reading comprehension
The reading comprehension subtest was by far the hardest portion for me, although most other people seem to find this one of the easier subtests from what I’ve heard.
If I remember correctly, we were given 8 texts of varying lengths. With a total of 60 minutes for this subtest, that left an average of 7.5 minutes to read an article, read the questions about the article, answer the questions, and transfer answers to the optical form. Not a lot of time, in my opinion. Since we were not allowed to open the test booklet until the countdown began, I didn’t even have enough time to carefully read the instruction page but hoped the instructor’s verbal instructions were sufficient. I also didn’t have enough time to go back and review any of my answers or review my optical form markings by the time was up — it was truly a race against time.
It felt like I was guessing most of my answers, without really understanding what I was reading, especially for the longer texts. I’m not even sure I understood what the topic was about in the last and most difficult article, but I was also especially stressed and rushed near the end.
I would say the texts in the YKI test were significantly more complex than that of Yle – Selkouutiset, for example, and definitely more complex than the texts in Suomen Mestari 2, which I could read and understand with ease. Most of the texts also seemed more difficult than the texts in Suomen Mestari 3 and much longer (although not necessarily more complex) than the text samples of Yle YKItreenit, but it’s hard to evaluate exactly how difficult the texts were considering that my test anxiety made it difficult for me to focus while reading.
The reading subtest was particularly difficult for me for 2 main reasons:
- Reading becomes very difficult for me under stress or distractions, regardless of the language. If I am stressed, distracted, or tired enough, I can read the same sentence over and over again and not be able to process the words I’m trying to read. It was also hard to concentrate because several students asked questions during this subtest, and I could not filter out their conversations while I was trying to read.
- Reading is the subskill I prioritized and practiced least throughout my Finnish learning journey and leading up to the YKI test. Every other subskill seemed harder to learn, and so I prioritized improving those at the expense of neglecting reading practice.
Listening comprehension
The listening comprehension was easier than expected, but still quite difficult.
From stories I’ve heard, I was expecting portions of completely foreign and incomprehensible dialects — not that I even know how to recognize the different types of Finnish dialects. I was also afraid that some speeches would be given at supersonic speed, like some of the audio samples provided in the official YKI test practice page. The actual test felt significantly easier than those practice samples, which I found too difficult and discouraging to listen to.
On the other hand, I would say the audio clips in the YKI test were significantly harder (i.e. faster and more complex) than the audio for Suomen Mestari 1-4 and the podcasts and shows I listed under A2 in my comprehensible input list. The difficulty level is more comparable to regular podcasts aimed towards a general audience rather than Finnish language learners.
Overall, I understood some audio clips in the YKI test more than others. Although it felt like I was guessing half my answers for the listening comprehension test, I came out of it feeling like… Well, it could have been worse.
Speaking
Speaking was just about difficult as I expected.
From doing research on other people’s experiences, everyone speaks at the same time during this subtest, which can be very disorienting and distracting. So when everyone did indeed begin talking at the same time, I wasn’t exactly shocked. Before the YKI test, it helped to mentally prepare myself for the fact that the room will sound like absolute chaos during the speaking tasks.
Although the chaos of everyone speaking at the same time was still stressful, I think it would have been much worse if I didn’t know what was coming. Squeezing the headphones against my ears helped block out some of the background noise at least.
The 1.5 – 2 minute monologues were the most challenging, and I didn’t feel prepared to talk about the given topics at all. Also, there were no timers or anything displayed on the screen, which made it hard to pace myself. I’m pretty sure I made a lot of pauses with “uhh…” and made awkward grammar mistakes in my speech, but I knew I didn’t have the time to ponder what grammar cases to use.
I was a little disappointed with my own performance, because I know I can speak more fluently when I’m not in such an unnatural and stressful situation. In my opinion, the ability to give an impromptu speech to an invisible audience about a random topic, all while everyone is talking at the same time, is a separate ability from being to use the language in natural settings.
In any case, I still have some hope that I spoke well enough to pass the speaking subtest.
Writing
The writing portion of the YKI test was by far the easiest for me, and I am almost certain I scored at least a level 3 on this subtest.
It’s wild how much easier I found the writing subtest compared to the reading subtest, considering reading and writing could be seen as two sides of the same coin. While I felt like I completely flunked the reading subtest, I finished the writing subtest feeling confident that I passed. I don’t know if the other test takers felt the same way, but considering we had 55 minutes to write just 3 pieces, it felt much more relaxed compared to the reading subtest.
These were the topics we had to write about:
- Write a message to a friend, persuading them to go on a trip with you.
- Write an email about renting a party place.
- Write your opinion to an internet forum about one of the two following topics: a) Do we always need to have our phones with us? b) Is the cost of living expensive in Finland?
I aimed to complete the first two shorter pieces within 25 minutes, leaving 30 minutes for the final opinion piece. The first two pieces were quite easy, and instructions about everything you need to mention your messages were provided (e.g. mention where you want to travel to and give 2 reasons why).
I got very lucky with the opinion topics in that I had already practiced writing opinion essays on people’s use of technology, so I was ready with the appropriate vocabulary and things to say on the matter. Leading up to the YKI test, I was worried I wouldn’t have enough time to write a page long opinion piece, but the lines in the test booklet were spaced out much more than in a regular notebook, so I didn’t have trouble filling the provided space.
Final thoughts & future plans
Overall, I found the YKI test to be quite difficult, and I left feeling like it didn’t truly capture my ability to use and understand Finnish in everyday life. For example, my speech during the speaking portion was much more disorganized and awkward compared to how I normally speak at home. Although I felt confident about passing the writing subtest, I left feeling unsure about the rest of the subtests. I’m at least more motivated to improve my reading skills after taking the YKI test, because the reading subtest was embarrassingly difficult for me. I also plan to continue developing my Finnish skills and review Suomen Mestari 3 & 4, which I didn’t have time to thoroughly complete before the test.
I will certainly update this post with my results once they arrive 2 months from now.
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