Tips for passing Cornell’s ITAP Assessment and Why It Needs to Change

This beginning is mainly my rant. Before starting my TA assistantship at Cornell, I got an email about an English assessment from International Teaching Assistant Program (ITAP). I took the assessment with confidence, but to my surprise, I got the lowest rating that ITAP gives (Intermediate Mid). I emailed to argue, showing past students’ evaluations as supporting materials, but it was to no avail. I still had to enroll in a semester-long course (ALS 5780) that meets 2 x 75 mins each week to practice speaking English. In each class, I got paired up with fellow international students who also failed that assessment – a great portion of them speak fluently and clearly in my opinion – to practice responses to typical assessment questions. Furthermore, I was told that I could not perform any TA duties involving oral communications for the whole semester. We did another assessment towards the end of that semester. I got rated Advanced Low for that one and can assume full TA responsibility without taking the class again. Did my oral English proficiency jump two levels during the three months between my two assessments (the first one taken in mid-August 2021, and the second one taken in early November 2021)? I would say no. Honestly, I don’t know exactly why I got different ratings. What I did learn more about are ITAP assessment’s implicit expectations, which I wish to know in the first place, so I want to write them down in case they may help others in the future. And a bit of disclaimer… Take my tips with a grain of salt. They are just my personal, crude understanding of the assessment and could be misleading. If you have also taken the class and have some tips, maybe consider post them publicly too to help future international students. Also, while trying to understanding how the assessment works and giving tips, I do not think the current ITAP assessment is just and effective, for reasons explained in the bottom of this post.