I love being a student--it is so good for my ego.

[kareina]

So today was the exam for my Swedish for Beginner's 1:a class. This course meets for slightly less than half the term (only 8 class sessions!), 1:b starts tomorrow and goes till the end of the semester.

Section A of the exam required us to write the correct question word into the blanks in a bunch of sentences (and a list of question words was provided). Easily done.

Section B required that we re-arrange given words into sentences, putting the underlined word first. Easily done.

Section C provided a list of verbs and required that we insert them into the blanks in the below sentences, and warned that there would be one left over verb. Mostly easily done--two verbs I didn't recognize (and checking my list of hand-written verbs that we copied from the sheet our teacher showed us shows that they aren't on that list, so it will take some digging reading through the other handouts to see if I can find them). However, the third unused verb (heter = to be named) clearly didn't belong in any of the sentences, so I put those two into the two remaining sentences and will need to rely on luck for that section being all correct, or being two wrong.

Section D required us to read a short essay about a student and describing his day and then answer questions based upon the reading. The questions were phrased in such a way as to make it necessary to use the same phrasing as was used in the essay most of the time, though occasionally I was able to craft a sentence that answered the question correctly without copying the answer verbatim.

Section E required that we write a short essay on ourselves or describing our typical day. I'd put some work into practicing writing out the essay I wrote yesterday and tried to learn the spelling of problem words. As luck would have it every word for which I was concerned about my ability to spell it correctly appeared in a sentence somewhere else on the exam, so I was able to write out my full essay without fear of spelling errors (anyone who knows what my spelling is like in English can be impressed at that point). The assignment required us to write at least 60 words and reminded us to count them before turning it in. Therefore I wrote out my essay and then counted my words. 120. Overachiever? Perhaps.

I was the first person in the room (which was quite full, since all four groups had the exam at the same time) to finish my exam and leave. The exam was scheduled to begin at 16:30, at 16:35 they still hadn't given me my paper (and I didn't take my phone back out to look at the time when they did). I was done at 17:02. Yup, less than 30 minutes of entertainment--I actually love that sort of exam--it is fun to fill in the blanks and match words and answer questions for which the answer is clearly written above. I really do miss being an undergrad--school is so easy for me! But then again, I love doing research, too. I guess this is why I've been a student for most of my life. The sort of intelligence I was given happens to be exactly the sort that does well with the way our classes are taught and tested.

Edited to add: because I enjoy doing this sort of exam I've never been troubled with test-taking anxiety as some people are. Heck, for this class there is even less as I don't need the credit, I am only wanting the education.

Comments

[kahnegabs.livejournal.com]

Your blog reminded me of a dare I accepted once. An egotistic Spanish Instructor (and TERRIBLE teacher) was bragging that he spoke Spanish like a native and had proved it by completing his driver's test in Spanish.

Note: It was his style to fail over half the class by the end of the term, and his tests were absurd: "Complete this sentence in Spanish: 1) El _____ (noun) ______ (verb) la ______ (noun)." Now that doesn't sound impossible, does it? Well, it was, because for him, there was only ONE correct answer! It was a guessing game, nothing more.

Anyway, one of the boys in the back of the room raised his hand and said, "If one of us could pass the drivers' test in Spanish, would you give that person an A for the class?"

"Indeed," responded Professor Fails, "it would show that you were really comfortable with the language."

Oh what a dare that was. My birthday was next week, and I figured I had little to lose. If I didn't pass, I could always take the test again in two weeks. I didn't have to do much more guessing than I'd have had to do with his test anyway, so off to the DMV I went.

And I passed! But it was not my knowledge of Spanish that did it. After taking many driving tests through the years, I used my very basic knowledge of Spanish and my excellent knowledge of driving exams.

I brought him my exam paper publicly in class and he gave me the A, whether I deserved it or not. I don't know if it took him down a peg or not. It was my first class in Spanish.

[corvideye.livejournal.com]

I'm glad there is someone who enjoys such things. Not that that particular test sounds very hard, but the main reason I wouldn't want to go back to school is that while I will always love to learn, I am tired of being tested.