Just took my Chinese Oral...
It's finally here!
For some reason, being able to see how the 'O' levels work really excites me...
I was the first of the private candidates to reach the school
Turned out there were more than I expected
Almost ten of us were there, not counting the ones who didn't turn up
The teacher-in-charge took our attendance and gave us instructions
We couldn't bring our bags in so we put it at the bench just outside the hall where we could see it
Those who didn't have any bags had to put their valuables in an envelope and give them to a teacher
No unauthorised materials allowed
That's what we kept hearing the teachers tell us
The teachers had us sit according to alphabetical order (our names)
Thank goodness my parents named me 'Charlotte'...
I was one of the first few among the private candidates who took the exam
We took our oral with some of the students from the school
There were 5: 3 girls and 2 boys...
The students took their oral before the private candidates
So, although I was one of the first few, technically, I was in the middle
Just before the exam started, the teacher told us that those who had finished their oral before 3 pm had to be quarantined at the front of the hall, until the teacher let us off at exactly 3 pm
So I was mentally counting how long it would take until my turn
The last school candidate finished her oral at exactly 3 pm
So I didn't have to be quarantined...
We had to wait at 3 "stations"
- waiting for our turn
- signing our attendance list as proof that we had been there and pre-reading the passage (only one copy of the text was provided for all the candidates at the pre-reading table)
- "peforming" before the examiners (three copies of the text -- one for the candidate, two for the examiners)
From what I observed, the examiners weren't from the school
We had 5 minutes to pre-read the passage
I had heard 2 of the private candidates talking, and found out that the passages and questions given were different from the previous days and tomorrow (the chinese oral exam spans over approximately 2 weeks, today's the 2nd last day of the exam)
Today's passage was about courtesy in the MRT
(Nowadays, people are always rushing for time, and sometimes, they forget that they are not the only ones in the world who are busy. Most of the time, people rush into the MRT trains the moment they pull into the station, and the passengers who wanted to get off are always pushed back in.)
Anyway, after 5 minutes, the teacher-in-charge would hold up her stopwatch to prove that our 5 minutes was over and we would proceed to the examiners table
Sometimes, the candidate before us would take a longer time, so we would sit on the chair provided between the examiners table and the pre-reading table until the previous candidate had finished his/her turn
After we had read our passage to the examiners, the examiners would ask us questions based on a topic that was relevant in some way to the passage
Our questions for today was based on the topic of parents who are too strict with their children (in the passage, the author is a parent who was listening to his/her daughter tell him/her what had happened in school)
The first question was about our thoughts on this topic
The second was about why we thought parents were very strict
And the last was about what children can do to let parents feel less worried for them
After we answered all these questions, the examiners would ask us if we had anything else to add, and we could go...
For some absurd reason, I felt like laughing out loud just as I was about to step out of the school
I realised that it was because my subconsciousness knew that today was the first day of the Direct Polytechnic Admission (DPA) exercise and I was excited to finally be able to fill in the form that I had waited so long for(I had forgotten about the DPA when I was on my way home after the oral)...
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