This is close enough to the end of September. Tomorrow's going to be busy, and there'll be no time for reflection. This is the arbitrary turning point from me "just learning" German, to deciding to focus on the A2 exam in November.
What have I accomplished? I started this quest as a false beginner on 9th August, and have kept a rough log of my hours and activities.
Total 160 hours:
- Course: 31.5
- SRS (Memrise and Anki): 65.5
- Listening: 31.25
- Reading: 29.25
- Writing: 2.5
Main achievements:
- Worked through TY Complete German in its entirety.
- Learnt around 2100 words/phrases on Memrise.
- Read four books, including Zweig's Schachnovelle and Brian Smith's Intermediate German Reader.
Towards ExamConcrete steps I must take are:
- Take a placement test. The Goethe Institute has one, including a telephone oral test
- Work through the A2 level vocabulary list, to find the words I do not yet know
- Download samples etc, and find out how the exam works
- Consider getting a "prep book"
I must also turn my attention around, and start focussing much more heavily on productive activities, i.e. speech and writing. Speech needs a lot of work - my pronunciation is bad. My sporadic diary writing needs to become a stronger daily activity. I should try doing that first thing, instead of Memrise.
I will continue:
- with my SRS routine. With Anki, I am revising the words from the TY course. With Memrise, I have been working through the courses 1-7. I am now part way through German 6 and, with 25 new words/phrases a day, I will be finished around the middle of November.
- with reading. I need to re-read the books I have read, to rehearse the vocabulary, but will also look for more graded readers.
I am expecting (hoping!) to put in a regular 2 hours a day, making at least a further 100 hours study before the exam. I'm assuming I have enough grammar, from the TY book, and that my main tasks will be to make this knowledge active and to continue to broaden my vocabulary.