PeterMollenburg wrote:Exam prep week one
terrible start to my exam prep ... distracted while listening to podcasts to the point I wasn't taking anything in much ...
... I'm also realising (yet again) that my course only approach was indeed holding me back - too much has been neglected for too long (although it has been good in some ways too) ...
PeterMollenburg wrote:... Podcasts have been 99% of the time RFI Journal en français facile ...
... 'L'humour d'Inter' by France Inter, which I was utterly lost in ... I'm not a solid B2, but maybe an average one ...
... And my writing is weak i've decided. I've lost some confidence ...
You won't listen anyway but I will say it anyway. For the next 6 weeks, I suggest you sit down and consolidate what you already know - organise your knowledge and practise demonstrating them - before you use new material to acquire new knowledge. You've already had 6 years of exposure and learning, and 6 further weeks of them won't make much difference (52:1). 6 further weeks of initial exposure to new material won't be of much use in the exam anyway. And no single piece of knowledge is critical to your exam; not 1 piece out of every 52 pieces anyway. Whereas, if you can't fully utilise and demonstrate your previous 6 years of work, you can ruin those 6 years in 6 weeks.
Here are some concrete examples of what I would do. Many people do languages better than I do but at least I did well at school overall
* I would re-listen to old audio clips played at higher and higher speed (instead of listening to new podcasts).
* I would practise reading fast. In fact, I shouldn't have used the conditional, because that's what I actually did for my exam. It didn't take long to get used to reading faster, and it really boosted my confidence in the exam, and of course actually gave me more time to answer the questions.
* I would think about what topics are likely to appear in the reading exam, and re-read articles that are among those topics. (Instead of finding new articles to read, and reading things that won't appear in the exam such as articles about mafia, prostitution, controversial topics like same-sex marriage, politics, religion) (Also, people here read a lot of fiction as exam prep but I don't think they have fiction or stories in B1-C2 exams?)
* I would go through all my flashcards (instead of adding new words).
And when I (re-)listen to audio or (re-)read articles, I would simulate the exam environment - if exam audio clips are usually 45 seconds long, then I would now, at home, listen to audio for 45 seconds at a time, paying full attention and trying to remember key information or whatever the exam usually expects you to do. Listening to 20-second clips would be insufficient exam prep, same with listening with 20-second attention spans, while listening to 15-minute podcasts is unnecessary for this exam and not the best use of the next few weeks.
In short, I would not aim to
learn in these 6 weeks. I would aim to
consolidate my existing knowledge. And all decision-making would be based on this aim.