My SFI Journey: A Summary
A very brief background of my Sfi experience: I started my Svenska för invandrare (Sfi) journey at the end of October last year. On 31 January and 2 February this year, I sat for the SFI national examination (NP) kurs C. I passed all four parts—reading (läsa), writing (skriva), listening (höra), and speaking (tala)—with flying colors!
Feel free to download a copy of the above summary here.
You may be wondering (if you have been looking at the illustration I created above) why I mentioned level C in my case but not A and B. This is due to my existing Swedish proficiency and also educational background. For me, after submitting my application to join the Sfi, I began my first class on 25 October and placed into Study Path 3 in December to study level C. I’m now studying level D.
About SFI. The Newbie Guide to Sweden has a great FAQ answering questions from “what is SFI” to “is it possible to study SFI with a co-ordination number” so I will not recreate a list of Q&A in this post (but I may create one in the future!). As a Swedish resident, you do need to apply through your kommun or municipality, and each kommun has its own website and information may be presented differently but it essentially yields the same outcome. Compare Stockholm with Västerås with Jönköping (my kommun) to see the difference.
Source: Skolverket.se
SFI national exam. As mentioned at the beginning of the post, I sat for the NP for level C earlier this month and passed. The grading of the Sfi nationella prov (NP) or national exams has changed with effect from 1 January 2022. It used to be graded on the scale of A to E as passed, and F as failed. It is now graded as Godkänt (G) which means “passed” and Icke Godkänt (IG) “failed.” More about this at the Skolverket.se website. When I took the NP, our batch is the first to be graded using the new system.
Key points:
Svenska för invandrare (Sfi) is free-of-charge and it’s just the first step of a full learning path. It covers the CEFR-equivalent range of A0 (absolute beginner) to B1 (intermediate).
Svenska som andraspråk (abbreviated to SVA) is the next step. It comprises four levels: Bas, SVA1, SVA2, and SVA3. It covers CEFR-equivalent range of B1 to C1. Bas is almost the same as Sfi level D and there is a possibility to skip it and enroll directly into SVA1 depending on one’s proficiency.
Sfi is very practical and you learn to read, speak, listen, and write to deal with activities of daily life. Use the time at school to practice, practice, practice!
Study every day and dedicate sufficient hours per day/week to ensure good progress and mastery of the language. It’s no good to just pass an exam and not being to use the language in a practical way! I dedicated almost 40 hours a week excluding weekly evening class time; I will continue to do so.
The duration of study for each level differs from person to person. It is possible for one to complete a course level and pass the NP within 3 months while it may take another up to 10 months to do so. I was placed under “Study Path 3” for levels C and D, so I didn’t do levels A and B; I completed level C within 3 months.
In the coming posts, I will talk more about the books and resources used for Sfi level C, both by the school I go to and my own.