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The good news is that I will have only 3 mid-term exams; 报刊, 中级汉语听和说 and 语法 because these are the only classes which I have more than once a week. The bad news is that the exams start tomorrow. wah..

Today we were talking about the after-exams celebration. My classmates and I had planned to treat our main teacher (语法 teacher) and her husband to dinner at a Japanese restaurant but now , the plan got cancelled. Some classmates will be going to a birthday party. I might still go to the Japanese restaurant but on Saturday instead and with other friends. I haven’t been to that restaurant yet but I heard that it’s pretty good. It costs RMB 108 per person and it’s an ‘all you want to eat and drink’ buffet.

It was the deadline for the registration for the December HSK exams a few days ago. After thinking over it long and hard, I finally decided not to take part in that HSK exam. The semester started in September and right now, I still don’t feel like studying much. Moreover, scholarships students at Tongji pay less for the exams in May only. If I sit for the December HSK exams, I’ll have to pay RMB 250. I think I’d better sit for the exam next May instead and hopefully, I’ll get better results than last time if I study. I’m more determined than ever not to procrastinate too much next year.
First year at Tongji was easy but the 2nd year no. My weakness is newspaper reading & listening to the news. The newspaper part is still ‘okay’ but listening to the news. argh. I never liked doing that even back in Mauritius ( the news were in French or English) and now listening to the Chinese news…. I have to admit that I get frustrated sometimes. It’s high time for me to buy a TV and also newspapers.

I got my HSK results on Friday 24th June. I didn’t know that the results were out already but my classmates excitedly told me that the results were out and urged me to go get my results slip (成绩单) and certificate (证书) .
Frankly, I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to ruin my good mood.
I was expecting a 5 because of my poor preparation for the HSK exam. I’ve talked about it before. (link is here)

I thought about what to do throughout my morning classes and finally went to get my results in the office during the 30mins break.
I got Level 7 ( the highest for the intermediate level is with 334 points. I need 3 more points to get an 8 (something like 1 more point for 听力 and 2 more for 综合 ) .
My Grammar teacher seemed pleased upon hearing that I got 97 points for the 语法 (Grammar) exam in HSK.
I was quite surprised myself. Like I’ve said before, many of the words I saw in my HSK exam papers were words that I’ve never seen before. I had to do some guessing work for some words. I guessed the meanings according to the context in which they were used, etc.

All undergraduate students studying Chinese language at Tongji university need to get HSK level 6 by the end of their 2nd year so I guess I should be satisfied since I’ve done it by the end of my first year.
Still, I plan to take the HSK exams again this December and maybe also next year in May. I’ve been told that the May exams are the most difficult. HSK exams can be taken 3 times a year.
I probably won’t be satisfied until I get around 350 points. yes, 加油 !I can do it.

I’ll start to be more serious about my exams now. No more spending hours playing computer games when I should be studying for important exams :no: , no more surfing on the net till morning. :no: I do that so often.
I was going to say no more procrastination but really, it’s hard. I’ll just say “Less procrastination”.
My only other classmate who attempted the HSK exams with me also got a 7, with 328 points. Congrats to Jiachong. He prepared well for this exam and I’m happy for him.
Too bad my other classmates didn’t want to attempt the HSK exam…

It’s a pity that we don’t have compulsory HSK preparatory classes this year. The 2003 class had it during their first year. My Grammar teacher suggested having HSK classes during the 1hr 40mins class we have with her on Tuesday afternoons but some of my classmates didn’t want to. They plan to take the HSK next year only so it would be a waste of their time. ah well..
We do have HSK revision classes but they are optional and I think there’s a fee of 50 kuai. Not sure. I didn’t have to pay since I’m a scholarship student and 50 kuai is not much anyway. I’ve been to some of those classes last December and stopped after some time because I got bored. So did my classmates. I didn’t like the teacher much and the classes were so slow. There were people of different levels in that class, even those who studied Mandarin for 3 months. They should have more classes and should divide the students according to their levels.

Some people asked me whether I’m happy about my results. Well, I’m not happy but not sad either.
I can even say that it’s the first time that I’ve done this badly for a Chinese exam. I wonder what my parents will say. They’ll probably be disappointed. I was ranked first in Chinese language when I took the C.P.E (in primary school), O level (in secondary school) and AO level (in high school) exams in Mauritius. They expect so much from me. If they know that I spent most of my time playing computer games instead of preparing for that HSK exam, they’d probably kill me. I’ll have to find something to say when they phone me next week.

I won’t waste my time thinking about the May 2005 HSK exams. I need to revise. My end of the semester exams start tomorrow and finish on Thursday. I’ll soon be on hols. :party:

Okay so maybe I shouldn’t have attempted that exam after only 8 months studying Chinese language at Tongji University but I didn’t think I’d do this badly. I usually do well in Chinese exams without studying much.
The wireless headset I was using during the Listening Exam (听力) was not working properly. Or maybe it was just the guy’s voice which was like that… muffled, like he had a cold or was speaking too close to the microphone when they did the recording. Many other students complained about that .
The other 3 papers weren’t any better.

It’s the first time that I do all 4 papers one after the other. Maybe I should attempt the HSK exam again in December. The results for this exam should be out before July.
It’s the first time that I’ve done this badly in a Chinese language exam. That feeling I had during the exam reminded me of the time I was sitting for my Chemistry exam in High School.
Stressed.
Panicky.
It’s the first time I feel like that during a Chinese Language exam. My fave subject ever since I was a kid. Arghh.
One thing I have to admit is that I started studying for this HSK exam only one week ago. I procrastinate too much. Still, the only other student in my class who also sat for the HSK today said that he found the exam difficult too. I wonder if studying more would have made any difference. Many of the words I saw in my exam papers today were words I’ve never seen before. They are certainly not in the books I’m using this year in class. Maybe that’s why undergraduate students studying Chinese language usually attempt the HSK during their second year at uni.
Anyway, I changed the photo in the sidebar to show my not-so-good mood. My sister said that I look a bit ill and sad when she saw me on webcam earlier.
No more playing World of Warcraft or Rose Online right before an important exam. :no:

-edited on Sunday 26th June 2005-
Got my results.

I’m finding it hard to blog nowadays.
It’s not that I have nothing to write about. I do. I’ve been jotting down my thoughts in my school copybook which is almost always with me.
I just hope that my teacher won’t ever ask for my copybook to have a look at the homework. The copybook is filled with my thoughts. It would be embarassing. Moreover, I’m not ready to have anyone read that copybook. It contains my private thoughts… especially the not-so-happy ones. *sigh* I always feel better after writing.

My mid-term exams start tomorrow. I don’t really feel like studying nowadays.
I really should grab my books, sit down and study.

There’s also the HSK exams in May. I don’t have to take them this year.
All chinese language undergraduates have to get at least HSK level 6 after 2 years studying at university to be able to move up to 3rd year. The highest is HSK level 8 for our level. Then in the 3rd and 4th year, I’m supposed to sit for the advanced HSK exams.
Another classmate and I have decided to try taking the intermediate HSK exam this year. As ‘ben ke xue sheng’, we cannot take the beginner HSK exam. That’s what the teacher said. Still, it’s the same exam. It’s just that the levels required to achieve a pass is different. For the beginner HSK, I think level 3 is considered as passed. For the intermediate level HSK , it’s Level 6.
Right now, I’m just full of doubts.

I’m still waiting for the office to let me know where I’ll have to go for the exam. It should be either Fudan University or SISU. Both are close to Tongji University so it should be okay. So far, all I know is that it will be in the middle of May and on a Sunday.
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I’m working on a layout . I removed Lovebug for the time being. I don’t know how long it will take me to make a new layout. I’m going to be quite busy with my exams. If only someone would make me a CSS layout. ^^

Anyway……… for now, i’m using a theme .
Theme Name: Grubby Slipcovers
Theme URI: http://dmin.net/wordpress

I downloaded this theme quite a long time ago.
I get a 404 error when I try to go to that url now.

I just love checking the letter box in my floor to find envelopes addressed to me. :love: :laugh:

Today, I got :
my internet bill,
a returned Xmas card,
a package from Mauritius.

There’s nothing exciting about internet bills but I’ve been waiting impatiently for this one because I want to pay before leaving Shanghai. I sure don’t want to pay an extra amount when I come back. I wonder how much they make people pay if it’s a late payment.

The Xmas card .
I don’t know why they sent it back to me. Was it the address? I was so sure i wrote it right.
Sorry J. My card made it to HK but got sent back to SH. I’ll give you the card in person when I go back to MU in 6 months. I don’t want to go back to MU so soon but I need to renew my passport.

The package from Sab.
I got a lovely 2005 calendar with pics of Mauritius on each page.
Thanks girl! :cloud9:

I’ve been having fun with those webcam captures. In a weird mood today. hmm.. my hair looks so different. Maybe it’s the light? It’s a bit dark in my room. I had to turn on my desk lamp as well as the main light.

I’m so tired. I had my first end of the semester exam today. It was from 10:00 to 12:00 but I finished my paper at 10:35 . There was no essay writing this time. I was very disappointed. (The teacher seemed amused upon seeing the look on my face. )
Moreover I didn’t know what to do until 12:00. I went through my paper 3 more times and by 10:45, I had enough.
She corrected my paper within a few minutes. I got 99 marks. Arghh… Lost that one mark stupidly. I always lose marks in the easiest part of the paper. So careless.
I was worried about this paper because I hadn’t revised properly. Surprisingly, the last minute cramming worked. I was so worried that I wouldn’t be able to wake up early this morning. My mum called me from Mauritius to make sure I don’t miss my exam. Thanks mum!:wink:

I’ve been going out too much lately.
Still, it’s only my first year here. I’d better enjoy while I still can. My second year will be tough.

Tomorrow it’s Oral chinese exam. We didn’t have an Oral exam for mid-term so I’m kinda worried about this one. 阅读(yuedu) on Wednesday, 听力(tingli) on Thursday and then hols!!! I can’t wait.

My mid-term exams are finally over and I already got my results.
听力: 98.5
综合: 98
阅读: 94

My results are okay but I’m not really satisfied with them. I was aiming for 95+ marks in all my papers, especially since it’s my first term here.
Note to myself: Spend less time online, less time on MSN messenger, less time watching Chinese drama series, etc…. Spend about an hour doing given homework and personal work everyday, i.e study more.

The阅读考试 was a bit difficult compared to the others. I don’t know what came over the teacher but the paper was full of words we haven’t learned yet. The other students and I had a lot of ‘guessing’ to do. I had to be extra careful when writing the answers but I still made two silly mistakes.
Same for my 综合 exam. I lost the 2 marks in the easiest part of the paper; pinyin and made no mistakes in the essay or grammar parts. My 语法 teacher knows that I hate writing pinyin.

:no: I usually have no problems when it comes to reading pinyin but the writing part is another matter.
I write the pinyin right but sometimes I make mistakes when it comes to writing the tones. I have a problem with the 4th tone and neutral tone, the 2nd tone and 3rd tone. There are some Chinese characters which are 4th tone characters but when there’s another Chinese character in front of it (hence a compound word) , it becomes a neutral tone. Compound words with 3rd tone characters are read as 2nd tone in certain cases but the tone is still written as 3rd.

I didn’t expect having to write pinyin at university.
In Mauritius, the last time my Mandarin teacher made me write pinyin in an exam was back in primary school. In secondary school, the emphasis was more on the Chinese characters. I guess that’s why I neglected my pinyin. My other Mauritian friend who’s in my uni also has the same problem.

When it comes to writing Chinese characters, I forget how to write the characters sometimes. I never forget how to write the words I use quite often so I’m going to do more personal work and make sentences with the new words I learn. This way I’m more likely going to remember how to write them. I already talked to my 语法 teacher about it and she said that she’ll be glad to have a look at my sentences & essays and correct my mistakes.
Yes, it’s high time for me to do some personal work.

Unfortunately we don’t have Oral Chinese language exam for mid-term so I’m going to have to wait until the final term exam to know how an Oral Chinese language exam is like.

I remember my first class at Tongji University.
Our first class was Oral Chinese language and we all had to stand up in turn and say our names, where we are from, our hobbies, number of people in family,etc.
The teacher asked us what we found most difficult when it comes to learning Mandarin. I said writing and remembering how to write the Chinese characters.
My classmates said the speaking part (saying the tones right) or the grammar part. ah well.. It’s different for everyone.