10 exam-style questions with answers and explanations, straight from our 1,030-question bank. Tap an answer to check yourself. When you're ready, take the scored version in the free practice test.
These 10 free OPI questions are organized by exam domain, so you can see how each part of the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) blueprint is tested. Reveal the answer and explanation under each question.
At check-in, a traveler learns that the reserved step-free room is unavailable. The traveler cannot use stairs but would accept a room at another hotel. The receptionist is authorized to arrange alternatives. Choose the reply that preserves the essential requirement while opening a workable negotiation.
Correct answer: C - I need step-free access. Could you arrange a suitable room here or at another hotel?
At a tenants' meeting, you propose holding a social event in the courtyard. A neighbor objects that conversation will disturb residents whose windows face it. The event could finish at seven and use no amplified sound. Which reply defends holding the event while directly addressing the neighbor's concern?
Correct answer: D - We could finish by seven and use no loudspeakers, limiting noise near the windows.
An interviewer asks, 'How did your first week in the new job unfold, and what changed as you settled in?' A candidate describes the office layout and lists the duties of the role. The information is accurate and fluent. What must be added to fulfill the request?
Correct answer: D - A connected account of that week's events and how the experience changed over time.
An interviewer asks how you moved several heavy boxes without help. You cannot recall the target-language noun for a wheeled platform, but you can describe its shape and use in that language. To keep the explanation complete, you should:
Correct answer: D - Describe the wheeled platform and continue explaining how you used it.
During an evacuation, you relay this instruction in English: 'Leave through the courtyard gate now. Do not return until security gives clearance.' A visitor asks, 'Are we supposed to wait here for clearance?' Which reply preserves the instruction's meaning?
Correct answer: A - No. Leave through the courtyard gate now; clearance is required before returning.
Asked whether a town should replace part of a public park with housing, a candidate replies, 'I am an accountant; I do not know planning law.' The tester explains that no legal knowledge is needed and asks the candidate to weigh housing access against public space. Which response engages with the actual speaking task?
Correct answer: B - Discuss the competing community needs and explain a position without claiming legal expertise.
A speaker is recounting a community concert in English. Rain was forecast, so the organizers moved the event indoors before it began. The storm arrived during the performance. Which sentence preserves both the reason for the move and the order of events?
Correct answer: A - Because rain was forecast, we moved indoors before the concert, and the storm arrived during the performance.
A reviewer receives a verbatim written transcript of one connected story from an OPI. The account links the initial problem, the speaker's actions, and the outcome. There are no audio observations or details about the rest of the interview. What does this evidence establish?
Correct answer: C - The story forms an oral paragraph by connecting the problem, response, and outcome.
A complete OPI shows easy, spontaneous routine conversations and transactions across personal and community topics. The speaker often produces connected accounts in past, present, and future, but repeatedly loses time reference, drops into disconnected sentences, or leaves a complication unresolved when these demands must be sustained. The routine exchanges remain readily understandable. The overall pattern is most consistent with:
Correct answer: B - Intermediate High
After several successful accounts of past events and practical problems, an OPI tester asks you to discuss what might happen if local public transport became free. You cannot sustain that discussion. The tester returns to concrete questions, then later tries a hypothetical question on another topic. Why alternate these demands?
Correct answer: C - To establish the performance you sustain and the higher demands at which it breaks down.
The full bank has 1,020 more OPI questions with explanations.
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