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I was a bit amused to see my blog’ stats during this past two weeks. The most popular search keywords were “december 2005 HSK test answers” or something similar. Were people expecting to find the answers to the 11 December 2005 HSK exam before the exam itself?:laughing:
The exam was this morning. Like I said before, I didn’t sit for the exam. Who feels like studying in December? Christmas is coming! I don’t have any plans yet but I love Christmas.

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 8) 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 more surfing on the net till morning. 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.

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.

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