This article describes an empirical study of a sommative and diagnostic evaluation carried out at the Facultat de Traducció i d’Interpretació of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in 1997. A comparison is made between the results of a sommative evaluation (final inverse translation exam from Spanish to English for students at the end of the first cycle of their FTI degree) and the results of a diagnostic evaluation (second cycle entrance exam in inverse translation from Spanish to English for students with degrees from other faculties). The same translation exam and marking criteria were used for both groups. The hypothesis was that the transfer competence of the first group, after two years at the Faculty, would be much more developed than that of the second group. The criteria used for choosing the text used in the exam and for marking were based on the objectives of the second year teaching programme.