german2k01 wrote:And have all the students openly said that they find it too challenging? Have you said: 'I understand 99% of what you normally say, but I can't follow this dictation'?
Yes, after the test the teacher shows how each student fares in listening, writing and reading. Everyone got between 40-60% marks in listening. There were 15 students in total. Nothing above 60%. I scored 57%. Yes, I can understand my teacher who is a native speaker when he is teaching the class. Speaking normally. But we miss a lot of important keywords when he is "dictating". Where the grade actually matters in listening, he is dictating he is not playing a pre-recorded conversation. While he is dictating we have to fill in the correct answers on a question sheet. He is not slowing down. He is speaking like it is already a pre-recorded audio. (As shown in recording1 and recording3).
All he told us we need to do more listening exercises at varying speeds and note down important information. More practice is needed.
It may be less problematic than you think. I've done listening exams like this. I missed stuff and so did most people. In one exam there were only four of us who managed 75%. I think it's more the case that there is a high barrier on purpose as a real test. Also that in real life you'll rarely face this barrier on a daily basis, if at all.
I understand the concept of needing to get a certain grade for a presentable certificate, but consider the information you already provided: that you understand him when speaking 'normally'. This is all you really need in terms of your own daily existence within German. Every exam in every subject which is examined is different and more difficult than you encounter in most situations, this is what exams are, a test under pressure.
I didn't do two of the German exams, but of the ones I did do I thought I had failed them and so did most others in the class. Yet we didn't. There were also people who felt they'd been unfairly marked down on things that were unclear or too difficult etc. I suppose this is the imperfect nature of exams. Reassure yourself that what matters in the final analysis is how you actually communicate. That is: if you can understand people and they can understand you in the vast majority of situations. If you can do that even in difficult scenarios, but the exam result says: 'B1', well they don't match and that's that. People aren't stupid, they'll see a person more/less able than the letters and numbers declare.
Think about this. You turn up for a job interview/education entrance interview or any formal meeting and you communicate perfectly well. Understanding your interlocutor and they understand you. It would be pretty foolish for them to simply revert to the certificate declaration as the only measure. That goes for a high score as well as a middle score. Of course this is all stressful in the exam period, but you just have to do what you can and also make it known if you think it's genuinely problematic.
sure, as a rule, he has to read out the text twice for listening purposes. But still, students find it challenging. Don't you think it is really challenging indeed?
