i have expressed this view too many times but it is too hard to do well in hebrew for an average, english speaking, never been to israel, no one in family speaks hebrew student who has been doing it a few years. its discouraging everyone from doing hebrew which lowers the number of people doing it which makes it even harder to do well because the number of israelis doesnt go down which means that there are fewer high scores to give out. my advice is not to do it unless you are israeli. for the same work or less, you can achieve a good score without all the hysteria and stress. maybe im just bitter but the experience was not worth the effort. my friend skipped hebrew, worked solidly in health and got a 50. the markup is down so dont expect it to cushion the low marks. if you do dare to tread the styx, my advice is to read the paper weekly, highlight every word u read and dont understand and LEARN it, make lists of important words and phrases according to topics, come up with a list of 100 essay words/structures to learn for the exam, choose a detailed study no one else is doing because then u dont need much depth, write 1-2 essays a week, towards the oral don't overdo the speaking because it feels less routine and keeps you on your toes. the exams arent very hard but everything else is.... the oral examiners are easy to impress (they asked me if i lived in israel) if you memorize a few good sentences. for the exam, read the instructions carefully and get used to the twisted and not very syllogistic logic used in the listenings and readings because that can screw you up in a major way. the essays require lots of practice and need to be done quickly and efficiently.