Inclusion of oral exams as a regular part of the school-based testing program has the advantages of providing motivation to learn oral skills, oral testing experience, additional opportunities for students to perform well, and improved relationships with students. However, logistical problems can be substantial. Adequate time for and efficient timing of interviews are both necessary. Constructing a test that both provides for a reasonably normal conversation and allows the examiner to assign grades is difficult, but it can be aided by several techniques: isolating aspects of oral competence and testing them separately, scoring according to specific, predetermined level expectations, retrospective grading or use of separate grader and interlocutor, or peer interviews. Techniques such as role-playing can also be used to extend the scope of the exam. At the lower levels, the students' own teacher should be the examiner, and at the upper levels, teachers should test each others' classes for the students to have the experience of different voices and approaches. (MSE)