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CTDL

Product

A complete practice loop for the CT exam

CTDL covers the whole cycle of CT exam preparation in one place: exam-style texts for both task types, AI grading against the rubric dimensions, a conversation about any verdict you disagree with, and a review system built from your own mistakes.

Both CT task types

The Certified Translator test includes two kinds of task, and each is practised the way it is assessed.

  • Task A — Translation

    Translate a non-specialised English text of about 250 words into Chinese. Every text comes with a Translation Brief: domain, text type, purpose and audience.
  • Task B — Revision

    Review a Chinese translation that contains seeded errors. Select the faulty span, assign an error category and enter your correction; the grader checks what you found, how you classified it and what you missed.
  • Exam-like conditions

    Texts are tagged by difficulty tier and domain, and an optional countdown timer keeps your pace honest.

Scored on the published rubric dimensions

Bands run from 1 (highest) to 5 (lowest). Each dimension is scored independently and has its own pass line.

Task A

  • Meaning transfer

    Whether the intent and content of the message are carried over without distortions, unjustified omissions or additions.

    Pass: Band 2 or above
  • Application of textual norms and conventions

    Register, style, text structure and terminology suited to the genre, the audience and Chinese writing norms.

    Pass: Band 3 or above
  • Language proficiency

    Competent, idiomatic Chinese: lexicon, grammar, syntax, characters and punctuation.

    Pass: Band 2 or above

Task B

  • Revision skills

    How many errors remain in, or are introduced into, the revised translation.

    Pass: Band 2 or above
  • Error categorisation

    Whether each error you corrected is assigned to the right category.

    Pass: Band 3 or above

Pass lines reflect the CT assessment rubric as published by NAATI at the time of writing. Always confirm the current rules with NAATI. CTDL scores are practice estimates.

What happens after grading

A band score is the start of the review, not the end of it.

  • Band report and error list

    Scores per dimension, pass-line status and each error with its location, category, severity (major or minor) and a suggested fix.
  • Follow-ups and re-grades

    Ask about any verdict or knowledge point in a threaded conversation. A score challenge can adjust a dimension's band, and every change keeps an audit record.
  • Deep learning

    A reference translation with comparison points, step-by-step breakdowns of long sentences (structure, common misreadings, parsing strategy) and vocabulary cards with common variants.
  • Review library

    Sentence patterns and vocabulary accumulate across texts. Mark each as New, Familiar or Mastered, and jump back to the text where you met it.
  • Weak points

    Recurring problems are classified into categories with priority, first-seen and last-seen dates, and are confirmed only after they repeat across submissions.
  • Progress dashboard

    Band trends for every dimension and pass-rate trends by day, week or month, filterable by difficulty, plus a weekly AI trend commentary.

Where the questions come from

  1. Exam-style seed texts

    A curated set of texts modelled on real CT exam material anchors the question bank.

  2. AI-generated texts

    New texts are generated to match the style, length and difficulty of the seed material, each with a Translation Brief.

  3. Your own material

    Import a text you want to practise; it is assessed with the same rubric as every other text.

Start your next practice text today

Create an account, pick a Task A or Task B text, and get a three-dimension band report in minutes.