The FSI Language Proficiency Test is administered orally and lasts approximately two hours from beginning to end. The test is intended to elicit a sample of the ability to use the language in real-life communicative tasks. At the same time, the test is designed to produce a language sample that will elicit in a short time the best possible information about the examinee's abilities to speak and read the target language. The testing team uses the sample to match the examinee's performance against the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) Skill Level Descriptions. This is the rating scale used by all U.S. Government agencies.