Recruitment and Selection

Round 1: Pre-Test
Students meeting the age and grade criteria are invited to take a 16-question, multiple-choice English test. The major purpose of the pre-test is to eliminate students with only a very limited knowledge of English. Students will be tested in 6 cities in Serbia and in Montenegro, and the locations of these dates will be announced soon through local media outlets and schools and on the American Councils website (www.americancouncils.org.yu/programs/hs-citiesdates.htm).

Round 2: Pre-TOEFL/SLEP and Essay Test
Eligible students who successfully complete Round 1 are invited to take the Secondary Level English Proficiency (SLEP) test. Students are also asked to write three in-class essays (in English) in response to specific questions. Questions are designed to elicit factors that indicate the student's maturity and suitability for international exchange. Essay questions focus on actual situations that students may confront, rather than abstract situations that may be more difficult to address. There are five sets of essay questions so students cannot share essay questions with their friends who may take the test at another test site in the future or at another session. Both tests are proctored by program staff from American Councils.

After all tests and essays are completed, they are sent to the American Councils data hub center in Moscow to be assessed and graded. First the Round 2 English tests are graded, and then the essays of students with adequate language proficiency are evaluated. Field screening committees at the data hub are specially trained to assess essays on the basis of ten factors considered critical for exchange experience success. Processing information and conducting the preliminary evaluation in a centralized location, rather than in the field, is important for the integrity of the competition and relieves the pressure often placed on the program staff by others to include candidates who might not be qualified.

Round 3: Applications and Interviews
Students with the best assessments pass to the next level of the competition. They are asked to submit complete applications and are interviewed. Less than 15% of the original applicant pool are invited to complete applications. One U.S. and one Serbian employee from American Councils will travel to the test site to conduct 20-minute interviews with students who have been invited to complete applications. Interviews take place in both English and the student's native language to enable interviewers to assess English language skills as well as to give students the best opportunity to present themselves. Completed interview forms of finalists are made available to the placement organizations (private organizations awarded grants to place students in host families and schools) for their use.

In addition to the one-on-one interview, all applicants participate in group interviews (referred to as "games"). These are conducted in Serbian language and led by Serbian recruiting staff members while U.S. staff observes. Four to seven students take part in each "game." These provide an opportunity to observe the students in a less formal setting and to see how they interact with their peers. On the day of the interview, staff explains the application form in detail so students will understand how to complete it. Students have two weeks to complete the application and return it to an American Councils for International Education office. Applications are checked in the field offices for completeness and forwarded to the Moscow data hub. In Moscow, computer data files are updated for each student, and the original SLEP answer sheet and essay questions are attached to the application form. The complete application and computer data files are then forwarded to the American Councils' headquarters office in Washington, DC for further processing and selection.