The historical development of the Ethiopian SchoolrnLeaving Certificate Examination (ESLCE) - the transitionrnfrom the General Certificate Education Examination (GCE)rnto the ESLCE and the creation of a new curriculum suitablernfor the Ethiopian context has been thoroughly discussed.rnSeveral attempts have been made to change the form of thernESLCE English examination from a subjective type to anrnobjeotive one and to simplify the difficult items. Argumentsrnfor and against the subjective and the objective tests byrnvarious concerned people have been briefed in the review ofrnliterature. But the various attempts have not changed thernsituation any better. As a policy, the purpose of the ESLCErnhas been stated that the examination, at present , serves asrna hi g h school completion as well as college entrance examination.rnNo sUbstantial inquiry has been made regarding therndual nature of the examination. Due to its dual purpose,rnthe writer of this thesis has attempted to make a surveyrnstudy of the effectiveness of the ESLC English examinationrnas a profic iency test , and if necessary to propose anrnalternative approach . Discussions are opened on the theoriesrnand principles of tests.rnOut of 758 freshmen students enrolled for the 1981-2rnsecond semester , 350 students have been selected for thernstudy. Data have been coll ec ted for the 1980 ESLCE and the1981 F_'eshmen English results by using a table of randomrnsampling. Using the model of linear correlation coefficientrnattempts have been made to find out whether the 1980 ESLCrnEnglish results and the 1981 Freshmen English results of thernsame students correlate or not. Findings show that thernrelation between the two examinations is very low. Thosernstudents who have obtained good grades in the ESLC Englishrnexamination do not seem to show good English language performancernat the University. Findings, therefore, prove thatrnthe ESLC English examination is ineffective in predictingrnthe English language performance of twelve grade leaversrnwhen they join the University. Conclusions are arrived,rnbased on the results, that the ESLC English examination isrnineffective ,as a proficiency test on the grounds thatrn(a) it cannot serve as a criterion for admission to thernUniversity. (b) it cannot be a measure for predictingrnstUdents ' language performance at the University level.rnTo avoid such ineffectivensss , the wr iter recommends as arnpossible alternative approach that the Ministry of Educationrnand the University should set two separate examinations - thernEthiopian School Leaving Certificate Examination (ESLCE)rnand College Entrance Examination (GCE) respectively, specifyingrnthe forms, contents and purposes of the two examinations.rnThe writer makes it clear that the conclusion is not finaland perfect and suggests that further research andrnevaluation on other variables (syllabus, materials,rnquality of teachers, methodology etc) are urgentlyrnneeded before moves are taken.