Diptrans exam, London Institute of Linguists

Hello all,

I'd like to share an experience I've had with the London Institute of Linguists Diptrans exam and find out what other translators' opinons are on this issue.

With two passes under my belt, I sat the final paper of the exam in January in Madrid. I took the exam result to appeal (which cost £50) because the conditions under which I sat the exam were unfair. It was highly unlikely I would achieve a pass based on what happened.

I should have received a response from the Institute by July 30th. I finally received a letter yesterday, September 10th, telling me my appeal had been declined and giving no explanation or justification as to why.

This is an expensive exam and I am now very doubtful as to whether I would choose to re-sit again knowing that if something unfair happens in the exam I will not receive a refund.

Do any other translators have similar experiences or opinions they would like to share about this exam?

Hi G-rock, could you tell us more about the unfair conditions under which you sat the exam? what exactly is it that happened?

I'll try to summarize:

Ten minutes before the exam, we were told we had to use WordPad instead of Word. The invigilators claimed that Word wasn’t allowed in the exam. They were ill-informed, Word is permitted.

WordPad was not set up for the exam. The only way to double space was to press enter at the end of each line and any corrections made later on would mean that it was necessary to the realign all following lines. This constant need for realignment cost me at least 20 minutes of exam time.

Minutes before the start of the exam, we discovered that the invigilators did not know how wide to set the pages so that they would come out correctly and that a pri*nter wasn’t available in the room, which is a requirement of the exam.


The invigilator told us that they would reformat the exams after we had finished. We would not be able to see these documents, as it would be done in the days following the exam. I believe it is completely prohibited to have someone doctor your examination paper once it has been submitted.


It was a hugely stressful situation, completely unexpected and therefore very difficult to know how to react – obviously successful exams are all about planning and preparation, not improvisation. Anyone who’s sat the Diptrans will know how important every minute of the exam is, and that wasting a quarter of it on trying to use a computer programme that you weren’t told to expect, while worrying about who’s going to alter it when you’ve left, will make it very difficult to produce a quality paper.


I find it very difficult to understand how my appeal to be allowed a re-sit without charge was rejected out of hand, with no explanation. What happened that day was not the fault of the candidates. We were, after all, paying customers sold a faulty product.

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Can you complain to the exam centre? I took all three diptrans papers at Cardiff University, Centre for Lifelong Learning, and I really appreciated how well organised it was. Like you say, any small mishap can freak you out in an exam. The Institute of Linguists aren't perfect - my first certificate never arrived and when they sent it out again they'd mispelled my name.