The school education system in Nepal is chronically under-resourced, severely lacking in infrastructure and school teachers are often untrained and demoralised. The isolation
of remote areas in the mountainous terrain, the effects of a ten-year civil war, and a culture impregnated with respect for traditional hierarchical, rule- and memory-based
modes of instruction exacerbate this situation. This research is a study of the current SLC English test and how it may be adapted to better suit the testing and educational needs of secondary school education in Nepal. Further, it makes a contribution to knowledge about how ESL/EFL language tests may be adapted and applied in order to meet the system-wide needs for EFL testing in developing countries more generally.