The ATA Chronicle - January/February 2020 - 39

7. Know How to Change Input
Sources and Switch between
Keyboards: If you require a keyboard
with accents, a different alphabet,
or a character language, make sure
your input keyboards are loaded
and that you're familiar with how to
toggle between these keyboards on
your computer (PC9; Mac10). Make
sure you've loaded and tested your
keyboards ahead of time. You don't
want to hope that a proctor knows
which keyboard you need and how
to add it to your computer during
the exam.
8. Know How to Manage Your Time:
Exam candidates have three hours to
translate two out of three passages.
Ideally, you'll give yourself enough
time to do the following: finish the
first passage and set it aside; finish the
second passage and set it aside; go back
and review the first passage and set it
aside again; review the second passage
and set it aside again; take a mental
break during which you sit quietly
and clear your mind; then finally do
a final proofreading of both passages.
You won't have enough time if you
spend an hour and a half on the first
passage. If you finish early, consider
sitting quietly for longer, reading a
news article, or doodling on your
scrap paper to clear your mind before
rereading your passage a final time.
You don't get extra points for finishing
early, so use the full time you're
given wisely.
9. Familiarize Yourself with the
Exam Instructions: Apart from the
exam passages and passage-specific
instructions, nothing exam candidates
receive in the exam room is new
information. Everyone receives all
instructions via email prior to the
exam sitting. Knowing the instructions
backwards and forwards before your
sitting will help save precious time
on exam day. In case you've forgotten
something, the proctors go over the
instructions again before the exam starts.
If you know them already, you can spend
that time working on the relaxation
techniques described in the second link
provided at the end of this article.
www.atanet.org

Frantically troubleshooting IT
issues on exam day will not set
you up for success.

10. Know which Websites and
Applications are Allowed... and
Which Aren't: ATA has strict guidelines
about what websites are permitted
during computerized exams. Sites
with interactive features (e.g., forums,
email, social media), private groups
or listservs, and sites with machine
translation capabilities (Reverso,
Google Translate, DeepL) are all
strictly prohibited. Proctors are on the
lookout for these types of websites
and for candidates who are looking up
strings of words rather than just single
words. ATA provides a list of explicitly
permitted websites.11 You can (and
should) conduct online research when
necessary, verify the spelling of tricky
words using online dictionaries, and
otherwise use your computer as you
normally would, provided you aren't
accessing computer-assisted translation
tools or translation memories.
11. Know How to Connect to a New
Wi-Fi Network: Candidates who
take the computerized exam have
access to a Wi-Fi network to access
approved online resources. Have you
ever connected your computer to a
Wi-Fi network somewhere other than
your office? Does your computer have
security settings that restrict public
network access? If they do, or you
aren't sure, take your computer to a
café or library and practice connecting
to the Wi-Fi network. If you have
problems, troubleshoot them before
exam day.
12. Know How and When to Restart
Your Computer: You're sitting in
the exam room and suddenly your
computer won't recognize the USB
drive provided, you can't connect to
the Wi-Fi, or a program you're using
is on the fritz. A lot of simple IT issues
can be resolved simply by restarting

your computer. Before you spend
unnecessary time trying to figure out
how to solve an issue, try restarting
your computer first, and make sure your
work is saved before you do.
The average pass rate for ATA's
certification exam is around 20%,
which means that only one out of every
five people who take it pass. While
nothing can guarantee that you pass
the exam, solid professional experience
and a firm grasp of the extra-linguistic
skills discussed above can increase
your chances of success. For more
information about the exam, visit ATA's
Certification Exam page.12
NOTES
1.
"Practice Test for the ATA Certification
Exam," http://bit.ly/ATA-practice-test
2.

"Test Anxiety," http://bit.ly/wvup-test-anxiety

3.

Adobe Reader, https://get.adobe.com/reader

4.

"What Is a USB Port,"
http://bit.ly/lifewire-USB-port

5.

"What Is a USB Flash Drive,"
http://bit.ly/wikipedia-flash-drive

6.

"How to Use a Flash Drive or Memory
Stick," http://bit.ly/YouTube-memory-stick

7.

"How to Save a PDF File,"
www.wikihow.com/Save-a-PDF-File

8.

"What's the Difference between Save and
Save As?" http://bit.ly/save-save-as

9.

"Switching between Languages Using the
Language Bar," http://bit.ly/PC-keyboard

10.

"Typing in Another Language on
Your Mac with Input Sources,"
http://bit.ly/MAC-keyboard

11.

"ATA Computerized Exam Online Resource
List," http://bit.ly/ATA-computerized-resources

12.

"Certification Exam Overview,"
http://bit.ly/ATA-certification

Ben Karl, CT is an ATAcertified French>English
and Mandarin>English
translator specializing in
financial, business, and
marketing content. He serves
on ATA's Membership Committee. He has an
MBA from the University of Nevada, Reno.
Contact: ben@bktranslation.com.

American Translators Association

39

http://www.bit.ly/ATA-practice-test http://www.bit.ly/wvup-test-anxiety https://get.adobe.com/reader http://www.bit.ly/lifewire-USB-port http://www.bit.ly/wikipedia-flash-drive http://www.bit.ly/YouTube-memory-stick http://www.wikihow.com/Save-a-PDF-File http://www.bit.ly/save-save-as http://www.bit.ly/PC-keyboard http://www.bit.ly/MAC-keyboard http://www.bit.ly/ATA-computerized-resources http://www.bit.ly/ATA-certification http://www.atanet.org

The ATA Chronicle - January/February 2020

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