elka's log - Japanese, English, Spanish - doing the impossible

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elka
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Re: elka's log - Japanese, English, Spanish - doing the impossible

Postby elka » Thu Jul 08, 2021 8:44 am

Haven’t posted in a while cause I was busy with life, work AND preparing for CPE. I took the test on 11th of June and I am kinda hopeful that I’ll pass. When I was preparing for the exam I read a lot about other people taking the test and it did help me so now I guess I will try to be helpful to someone who might read this :)

First, I had tried to prepare for the test as best as I could (I might go into detail about how I prepared for it if I pass it) obviously with different test preparation materials and such but also I tried to be as little surprised as I could possibly be. What I mean by this is that I tried to mimic the test day every week on Saturday as closely as possible. All my Saturdays started with waking up at 4 AM (the same time I had to wake up on the test day because I had to catch the 6AM train to Prague), then I did the same morning routine like on a test day, then I rested and then at 8:30 I sat down to do a full mock test with the same amount of breaks. It might seems a bit crazy but I think it worked because I had no trouble waking up and my brain started working at 8:30 and kept working for about 3 hours which is something that wouldn’t happen if I didn’t practice the full exam am as much as I did. Unfortunately, it ended up being like on most of the mock tests - I had hard time concentrating on the listening test because it was after 3 hours of intense focus but hopefully I will get a C for this part of the exam.

Here are a few things I didn’t know about the exam before preparing for it or taking it:
General:
1. When they say no electronic devices - they also mean no smart watches, on the official website I read that you couldn’t have regular watch either so I didn’t bring it but that was a huge mistake cause it was allowed and it would help if I knew how much time was left, especially during the writing part. So I guess it is worth contacting the test centre? I probably should have done that :roll:
2. You can’t have any food either, only water and the break might be 5-10 minutes so not much time to eat. It would be best to have a really big (but healthy) breakfast with complex carbs and protein to fuel your brain for 4 hours. I actually had a meal replacement called Mana that has the right amount of protein, carbs and fat including vitamins and minerals
3. The room temperature can be not ideal for you. I was rather cold and obviously any discomfort has an impact on your exam performance so that is also something to think about when picking out your test day outfit.
4. The ambience in the exam room is very exciting because you are meeting people who are (potentially) on the same level as you (which is something that is hard to come by in the city I live in) and seem very intellectual (also not all that common) BUT it can also be demotivating because for example for the speaking exam I was coupled with a 16 year old girl (doing CPE mind you) who went to a Spanish speaking middle school and was attending a French speaking high school and her accent was amazing and she nailed all the task and….it was rather depressing to be honest :roll:
5. You are allowed to bring a pencil, rubber, a pencil sharpener and a pen. I prefer liners to regular pens but apparently they were not allowed but I was luckily able to get a regular pen.


Specific parts of the Exam:
1. Reading and Use of English - Use of English was much easier than I expected (I did exercises in kindle ebooks, that were much harder) and the Reading part was harder than I expected - it was not so much for the unknown words (there were not many of them) but the meaning behind the words was though to understand, the questions were indeed abstract and I had to reread every passage quite a few times. With all the preparation I finished on time but I realised I forgot to put all the answers on the answer sheets so I spend the last 5 minutes, that are always announced, quickly copying all the answers. I suppose it is better to put down the answers as you go through the exam
2. Writing - The essay extracts were boring even more than I had thought and I had to write about 280 words on a topic I couldn’t write a 100 words on in my native language. I guess I should have practices writing about topics that don’t interest me more. The second part of the writing exam was rather ok, I chose to write an article and I did ok on it. I probably should have spend more time planing the essay and more importantly brainstorm all the advanced words and phrases I should have used, I don’t think I have used enough of them and obviously you have to write your essay as you go because you don’t have time to make a draft first.
3. Listening - like I said tough because I have already spent 3 hours doing intellectually demanding tasks. The recordings were however easy to understand, no unknown vocabulary, very clear accents, the pace wasn’t fast (quite slow actually compared to normal speech in TV shows). The second task were you have to write a phrase they said in the recording was probably the hardest because you do have to listen intently and you can’t guess the phrase.
4. Speaking - OMG! The hardest part for me as always. I had practiced answering basic questions, I also practiced everything in task 2 and also speaking for 2 minutes on a (boring) topic many times over and yet..it was a disaster. To be honest I would not pass a speaking exam on this level in my native tongue. The girl that was with me in the exam later said that “they want you to pass” (I suppose because less people would pay for the exam if it was extremely hard to pass) which is a really good thing because the grading of this part of the exam is very subjective unlike the other parts of the exam.

The results will be announced in about 2-4 weeks I am kind of nervous about them but hopefully I will pass…And if I won’t I will retake it in the following year :)
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elka
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Re: elka's log - Japanese, English, Spanish - doing the impossible

Postby elka » Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:22 am

I’ve got the results of the CPE test. I passed with solid grade C. It was a bitter sweet moment though when I looked at the Statement of results because my reading is between grade C and B, my speaking on exactly the line between C1 and C2 and that is all great and all but my writing and listening is slightly below the threshold of C2, meaning it is on C1 level, though a very high one. So even after all those years of constantly listening to something in English, I am on a C1 level? Disheartening of sorts. Despite all this, I have a 230 score in the Use of English part, meaning I didn’t make a mistake. The Use of English is a couple of very peculiar grammar and vocab exercises and is supposed to be hard so I guess that is good. After I told my sister the results she was like “the results are great l! You haven’t had a teacher in years, you prepared for the exam alone and you had nobody to correct you writing and the listening part was after 3 hours of doing the exam…” but I was still like the results are not that great so then my sister said that I can retake the exam next year which is not a bad idea but I don’t feel like paying 5000 crown to get another C2 certificate? That seems wasteful or doesn’t it?

I’m thinking that I might go into detail of how I prepared for the Use of English part and perhaps the reading part if anyone is interested? Let me know please :)
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Re: elka's log - Japanese, English, Spanish - doing the impossible

Postby Xenops » Sat Jul 24, 2021 4:06 am

To be fair, many Americans would not score a C2 in English, even if it was their native language. ;) I think I might, because I'm educated in biomedical sciences, and I read a decent amount, but certainly not all Americans.

From a testing perspective, I would b interested to read about your technique. :)
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elka
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Re: elka's log - Japanese, English, Spanish - doing the impossible

Postby elka » Mon Jul 26, 2021 7:51 am

Mission English C2 was successful so now my next goal is to pass the DELE exam (Spanish). In my point of view, fluency starts at the lower C1 level and that is why I am aiming for C1. God knows how long that’s gonna take. It took me years to go from B1 to C1 in English. However, with Spanish I am more driven to pass the exam and I know what to do when learning a language. I ordered the Cronometro B2 since the Cronometro C1 would now be too much of a step up. I am looking forward to progressing further in my Spanish studies.
Even though I passed the CPE I am not done with improving my English. Firstly, my writing and listening are borderline C2 and I need to work on these skills in order for them to be on a C2 level. Secondly, there is always more general words and phrases to learn, likewise with grammar structures. Moreover, C2 might be the official highest level and it probably is the highest one you can study for but there is further proficiency beyond C2. I once read a recount of someone passing the JLTP 1 and the person said something along the lines of passing an exam on this level means that you have all your bases covered and now you are free to focus on the stuff that interests you and I understand what it means now. I might be rather proficient foreign language learner but I’ve recently read notes on the GCSE Mathematics (an exam students in the UK take when they are around 16) and I encountered many many many unknown terms I am otherwise completely familiar with in Czech. I guess my next focus in studying English will be expanding my vocabulary so that I know words someone who successfully finished high school would. Looking forward to learning about mitochondria being the powerhouse of a cell :)
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Re: elka's log - Japanese, English, Spanish - doing the impossible

Postby luke » Mon Jul 26, 2021 10:14 am

elka wrote:I guess my next focus in studying English will be expanding my vocabulary so that I know words someone who successfully finished high school would. Looking forward to learning about mitochondria being the powerhouse of a cell :)

Congratulations on your Mission Accomplished!

There are prep books for High School Equivalency exams. These are for native speakers who dropped out of high school but want to show that they're not idiots. One of those exams is called the GED. These books are generally very inexpensive, huge, and cover the basic topics that a high-schooler is expected to know. Math is a part of it.

I started using one of these in Spanish. It's good, as far as unconsciously shifting from "I'm studying language" to "I'm reviewing high school stuff".

For English, there are other similar prep books for certain college entrance exams and even master programs. They're all cheap and huge.
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elka
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Re: elka's log - Japanese, English, Spanish - doing the impossible

Postby elka » Sun Aug 01, 2021 11:11 am

luke wrote:
elka wrote:I guess my next focus in studying English will be expanding my vocabulary so that I know words someone who successfully finished high school would. Looking forward to learning about mitochondria being the powerhouse of a cell :)

Congratulations on your Mission Accomplished!

There are prep books for High School Equivalency exams. These are for native speakers who dropped out of high school but want to show that they're not idiots. One of those exams is called the GED. These books are generally very inexpensive, huge, and cover the basic topics that a high-schooler is expected to know. Math is a part of it.

I started using one of these in Spanish. It's good, as far as unconsciously shifting from "I'm studying language" to "I'm reviewing high school stuff".

For English, there are other similar prep books for certain college entrance exams and even master programs. They're all cheap and huge.


Thank you luke for the suggestions! I might buy one of those books you mentioned :)
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elka
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Re: elka's log - Japanese, English, Spanish - doing the impossible

Postby elka » Sun Aug 01, 2021 11:12 am

Like I said in my previous post, I’m going to go more into detail about how I passed the CPE (English - C2) and how I scored the highest score in Use of English (a set of peculiar grammar/vocabulary exercises), a section that is said to be the hardest. Woah, that sounded rather conceited, didn’t it? To me it definitely did. To put it in other words, I am gonna describe how I prepared for the exam (I actually already mentioned how I prepared for this exam in my earlier post :) ) and how the Use of English part is much easier then people say.

I think I’m gonna dive right into the part of the exam people might be most interested in - the Use of English. Firstly, this part is said to be the hardest and after reading several posts (this forum, Reddit, Quora) about people who passed the CPE I sort of know why it has this reputation - quite a few people in these aforementioned posts described how they hadn’t prepared for the exam at all and they just “winged” it. I even came across a person who bragged about partying the night prior to the exam. I suppose they are millionaires or something because they didn’t seem to mind potentially throwing the exam fee out of the window. I, on the other hand, didn’t want to waste the opportunity, not just money-wise. Of course, if someone doesn’t study at all for the exam specifically, they are going to find the Use of English exercises challenging. Because it is…unusual, to say the least.

I started preparing specifically for the exam about 3 months prior to the exam. After doing a DIY mock exam, I realised that the Use of English part of the exam is very unique and one needs to practice these exercises quite a bit in order to do them well. The thing I did early on in the preparation for this exam is buying all the kindle ebooks with these exercises I could find. There are several books that contain the exercises found in the Use of English section, with every book focusing on one specific part of the Use of English section. Most books are about the “key word transformations” section which really is not easy if you are unprepared. From the day I started preparing I made a habit of doing one set of exercises that are in the exam in the exact same order every day. Some days I did more, other days I didn’t do any exercises because I barely managed listening to something in English as I was mentally tired.

I think it would be best to briefly introduce each part and then mention some tips and tricks I had found to be helpful.

First is the “Multiple Choice Cloze” section. It consists of a text with gaps and you need to choose a word that fits in the gap. There are 4 possible answers for each gap - A, B, C and D. Now, if you’ve read something about the exam, the advice you might have encountered is to read the text first. I would argue that it is a waste of time because it is a rather long text to remember (at least for me) and after I finish reading such a text, I don’t know what happened in the beginning. I would suggest start guessing the answers right away - read a sentence or two before and after the gap and select the option you think is correct. Here is a “strategy” that can help you with this and that is to cross out words that definitely don’t belong to the specific gap. If you are looking for the right answer and you don’t rule out any options, you have a 25% chance to choose the right answer. If you rule out 1 option, you have a 33% chance that you will find the right answer. In most cases, though, you will be able to rule out two choices, which brings you to 50% chance of guessing the right answer. Not bad, huh? I would also suggest to do this “crossing out” with every gap because the chances are the words you encounter will be quite advanced and perhaps you won’t be familiar with them completely. If you are choosing from 4 possible answers and there is a difficult word, you are likely to panic and focus on that difficult word even though there might be a relatively simple word that is the correct answer.

Second section is “Open Cloze”. Here you also have a text (also quite long) with gaps, except that in this exercise you don’t have any words to choose from, you just have to think up the right word that fits into the specific gap. This might sound rather scary BUT most of the words that fit in the gap are the most basic words. I mean in the CPE there are one or two words that might be more complex but generally the correct word will be “the” or “some” or perhaps “those”. No need to reinvent the wheel here. I’m not sure if I remember this right but in one of the kindle ebooks I mentioned earlier is an Appendix with the most common answers. It is basically a list of basic words people learn in A1 courses. With some practice, it will be easy breezy :)

Third section is “Word Formation”. It is yet again a text with gaps but now you have a basic version of the word that fits into the gap right next to the text on the same line and you have to choose the appropriate form of the word. Meaning, for instance, changing the word “ordinary” to “ordinarily”. It is good to know that you have to change the word in every gap, in other words, every cue word needs to be changed. To be honest, I don’t have any other advice because (and yes, this is me bragging) I do this exercise kind of…intuitively? I have heard some people say that you have to figure out from the context whether it should be a noun or verb, etc. and then change the word accordingly. I unfortunately don’t know much about grammar..tenses?..and stuff so..yeah.

The fourth section is “Key word transformations”. This is the “hardest” of all the sections. Allegedly. I mean it is an unusual exercise, for sure, but with some practise you can at least score one point for every answer. This is because you can actually get two points for each answer depending on how closely your answer matches the correct answer. So, what is this exercise exactly? First, there is a full sentence that could be quite long at times, then there is a cue word and then there is a sentence with a large gap. Your task is to fill the gap with 3 to 8 words (the number of words is important) so as to make a new sentence that has the same (also very important) meaning as the first full sentence. Sounds tricky, right? It kind of is actually IF you don’t study for this section. It might seem that the answers and cue words are very varied and unpredictable but it can’t be further from the truth. There are several kindle ebooks that are solely focused on this exercise and I strongly suggest you go through at least two of them. If you do so, you will be able to see the patters and the repetitiveness of the correct answers. Another thing worth mentioning is that you will probably need to change the first sentence twice to have a correct answer, meaning you won’t just have to think of one specific phrase but in order to get the answer right, you will need to change the first sentence one more time. Lastly I am going to mention that I suggest if you don’t know the right answer, write at least something because you might get at least one point. Although, like I said, after doing about 100+ sentences like this, you will be able to answer correctly, at least most of the time.

What surprised me the most about this Use of English section was how easier it was compared to all the ebooks I recommended earlier and I mean way easier. For that reason, you should’t beat yourself up for not getting most of the answers right because the real test will probably be a piece of cake after completing all the ebooks, I can tell you :)

So there you have it, well, at least the part I was actually good at. I am not sure what else to write about, though. In my next post, I might briefly mention the other parts of the exam like listening and writing. Don’t expect anything special, though, as I haven’t exactly excel in them :)
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elka
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Re: elka's log - Japanese, English, Spanish - doing the impossible

Postby elka » Wed Aug 18, 2021 1:06 pm

It’s been a good day today. First, it’s my birthday and second (more importantly) I had a eureka moment this morning and now I understand Spanish so much better. I mean I can read articles in Spanish and understand what is going on. I guess my reading moved to B1 level? Very excited about this. Obviously, I am nowhere near C1 but I am slowly getting there.

Another thing is that I picked up Japanese again. I know I should be focusing on one language and I would, indeed, progress more quickly but often I am so overwhelmed by all those new Spanish words and grammar that I need a break so I am “resting” while doing Wanikani (and sometimes Japanese from Zero vol. 1).

And a third thing is that I discovered a gem in the Spanish resources thread - listeningpractice.org. Basically, you listen to a sentence in whatever language they offer (Spanish in my case) and then you have to type what you’ve heard. It’s really helping with understanding what is being said, so thanks for the resource list, to whoever added this link there.

I would also like to add a fourth thing - I’ve read once somewhere that if you want to master a language you should read 100 books in that language and this really speaks to me - 1) it is a challenge and 2) I kind of think that whoever wrote this was right. I mean it might not be 100, it depends on who is doing the challenge, but 100 is a nice round number to aim for I guess. In other words, in my previous posts I mentioned that I want to further improve my English and I think this is the best way for me to improve because it is easy to track progress and I like reading in English. I made a list of all the books I’d (fully) read and it turns out that I’ve read 35 book in English in my life. Another more 65 to go. Might take a while but I am not in a rush with this challenge.

That is all for now, I will be back to report next advancement in Spanish and/or English and possibly Japanese.
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Re: elka's log - Japanese, English, Spanish - doing the impossible

Postby DaveAgain » Wed Aug 18, 2021 2:47 pm

elka wrote:It’s been a good day today. First, it’s my birthday and second (more importantly) I had a eureka moment this morning and now I understand Spanish so much better. I mean I can read articles in Spanish and understand what is going on. I guess my reading moved to B1 level? Very excited about this. Obviously, I am nowhere near C1 but I am slowly getting there.
Happy Birthday! :-)
I would also like to add a fourth thing - I’ve read once somewhere that if you want to master a language you should read 100 books in that language and this really speaks to me - 1) it is a challenge and 2) I kind of think that whoever wrote this was right. I mean it might not be 100, it depends on who is doing the challenge, but 100 is a nice round number to aim for I guess. In other words, in my previous posts I mentioned that I want to further improve my English and I think this is the best way for me to improve because it is easy to track progress and I like reading in English. I made a list of all the books I’d (fully) read and it turns out that I’ve read 35 book in English in my life. Another more 65 to go. Might take a while but I am not in a rush with this challenge.
Just William's a fun read, it's been adapted for the radio/TV several times. I'm currently reading Travellers in the third reich.
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Re: elka's log - Japanese, English, Spanish - doing the impossible

Postby golyplot » Wed Aug 18, 2021 3:10 pm

It was pretty interesting, reading about your experiences taking the CPE. Anyway, since you mentioned not having anyone to correct your writing, I figured I would offer some corrections:

elka wrote:5. You are allowed to bring a pencil, rubber, a pencil sharpener and a pen. I prefer liners to regular pens but apparently they were not allowed but I was luckily able to get a regular pen.


FYI, in the US, we say "eraser", not "rubber". "Rubber" is actually slang for a condom.


elka wrote:Secondly, there is always more general words and phrases to learn, likewise with grammar structures.


Secondly, there are always more general words and phrases to learn, likewise with grammar structures.

elka wrote:I once read a recount of someone passing the JLTP 1


Account, not recount


elka wrote: I might be rather proficient foreign language learner


I might be a rather proficient foreign language learner

elka wrote:It might seem that the answers and cue words are very varied and unpredictable but it can’t be further from the truth.


It might seem that the answers and cue words are very varied and unpredictable but that couldn't be further from the truth.

elka wrote:What surprised me the most about this Use of English section was how easier it was compared to all the ebooks


What surprised me the most about this Use of English section was how easy it was compared to all the ebooks
OR What surprised me the most about this Use of English section was how much easier it was compared to all the ebooks

elka wrote:as I haven’t exactly excel in them


as I haven’t exactly exceled in them
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