Hallo.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006//

i love tuesdays. the school timetable isn't hectic and there isn't any tutorial in the afternoon. as it is now a tuesday afternoon, i am obviously free. hence, i've come to blog once again. this time, i shall talk about my 'o' level english oral examination i had yesterday.

i myself felt intriguingly surprised at the start of yesterday because i did not even feel a tinge of tension or nerve at all. i was relaxed and calm. therefore, i thought i was being over-confident or complacent, when i was actually being myself. there was a lot of self-criticism in me too. haha.

when i entered the examination room, i still wasn't feeling nervous at all. however, when the 1st pupil went to start her preparation, the nerves gradually set in. i did not know what to do during my wait. i tried reciting some of the passages i found in my bag softly. it only made me feel more nervous.

as the line-up of students became smaller and smaller, my nerves went wilder and wilder. haha. i started pondering,"what would happen if i made a serious blunder? and what would happen if that serious blunder cost me my target of a distinction for english? and what would happen if it affected my o level aggregate and therefore restricted my choices of what i wanted to do when i graduated? and what would be of me if i really COULDN'T qualify for the jc i aimed for or the course i wanted to take in poly because of that blunder? and what would happen if the jc/course i took in the end turned out to be something i did not enjoy myself in? and because of that what would happen if i didn't have the heart to be conscientious enough and therefore didn't do well in my examinations? and with the lousy grades what would happen if i could not qualify for a job i wanted in the future? and what would happen if my my life would be full of regrets in the tens of years to come?"

my hands were already trembling by the time i got up and walked to the desk for my 10 minutes of preparation. things were already not looking to be good.

i took in deep breaths in trying to achieve equanimity as i walked to the 2 examiners. "Good afternoon madam, good afternoon sir," i greeted. they smiled and ask me to produce my identification card. after which, they told me to sit down and start when i was ready.

my voice was croaky as i began with the first few words. i read with a moderately slow pace, which was perhaps too slow. i think i tried too hard to be safe. i didn't express well enough and had a couple of tongue-slips when i was at the middle of the passage, where my concentration level was decreasing. thus, i honestly don't think that i would do well for the reading part of the 'o' level english oral examination.

the picture i had to describe showed 4 primary school students walking on a pavement in a modelling contest. the theme of the modelling contest was probably on racial harmony as i could see that the girl right in front was wearing some chinese ethnic clothing. however, i somehow said that "the theme of this modelling contest is probably on NATIONAL DAY.". dang. i described the picture with quite a lot of hesitations and wrong phrasing of words. therefore, i do not think i would do very well for my picture description either.

the conversation was a little better. i was asked 2 questions - "Have you ever performed on stage in front of an audience before?" and "What do you think of fashion of today?" . i made up a story but i think it sounded convincing enough. i don't think i said good or uncommon points on the fashion question but at the very least, i managed to say my stuff out quite smoothly.

in conclusion, this is my prediction for my english oral. Reading - 8/12. Picture description - 8/12. Conversation - 11/16. Total - 27/40. Damn, this isn't looking good. to cover up from this bad start of the final battle this year, i think i better get started on my revision.

good bye!

brandon--
3:33 PM