Sunday, May 15, 2005

Shockingly big mistake (accident) during the IELTS !!!!!

I really really shouldn't have done that!! Before the test, I was quite confident that I could pass IELTS (Band 6.5) this time. Actually in several self-practice of reading task, I was able to find out the answers of 2 out of 3 tasks' question within 15 minutes. This is my best record. I was sure that the abilities teachers had taught (and trained) me would help me make it. The first test is, as usual, speaking. The examiner was Ellizabeth. Actually I had known her before that, but had never spoken with her. The questions were not that difficult this time (compared with those of my last exam). After the speaking test, although I personally felt that there're some vulnerebilities in my answers, I estimated that it should be 6 or more. The listening part is my Achilles heel. Although I didn't do too bad in my self-test, I still had to be careful on it. Task1, task2, and task3. Not too bad. However, I got stuck in task4. I couldn't see what and where the tapescript was talking about even though I'd skimmed the whole questions before the tapescript started, thus I could just guess and fill in the gaps. I guessed it'd be 6. The reading test has always been a big puzzle game. The heading and True/False/NotGiven questions are usually time consuming (especially T/F/NG one). Some questions were even asking about the structures of aeroplane and I once thought I'd just guess. Fortunately I got some time after answering (and guessing) the whole questions, so I just looked at those strange "structure" questions and tried if I could dig out some answers of them. Indeed, I found some, and thus corrected the answers. No sooner than I just finished correcting the last word had the examiner told us stop writing! Whew... Maybe 6.5 or 7, I suppose. The last part - writing test - was where I had the most confidence of the four parts, and I knew I shouldn't miss it. I tried to calm myself down (I had been in "high tension" due to rescuing the last reading questions at the moment) and also keep myself aware of the following writing tasks. Mark (one of the examiners) said we could go to the toilet if we want (certainly he'd follow us). Unfortunately, I was the one that would like to go to the toilet. I knew I shouldn't waste too much time on it, so I raised my hand and dashed to the toilet with Mark after reading the writing questions. Somehow, I felt I had stayed in the toilet for quite a long time, and I wasn't quite sure how long I had spent on it. So when I finished task2, I asked Mark "do I still have to finish my writing by 16:03? Or do I get extra time on my writing?" Mark didn't say anything but just show me the timer which showed "10:26". What came to my mind was that "I have spent 10 minutes and 26 secends in the toilet, so I have that more time than the others". I didn't (also couldn't) think too much about Mark's meaning because I was totally thinking about the content of my writing task1 at that point, So I wrote the task with the normal (or maybe somewhat slow) speed. Then you may imagine what happen next. Just as I had wrote the 2nd (or 3rd) line on the 2nd page, the timer alarmed and Mark took our answer sheets away, including mine! At first I didn't realize what on earth happened and even thought that Mark might had forgotten how many minutes I still have. Mark told me that I had EXACTLY THE SAME TIME as the other candidates and the "10:26" meant the time we (including me) still had. I was so shocked and stunned for a while at the seat. I was thinking, "why is that !? Is that mean I have to take another IELTS exam 3 months later? What should I do?" Knowing what had happened to me, Mark explained and analyzed the situation: "You still have the chance. The writing test actually largely depends on task2". I certainly know that (because task2 worths twice as much as task1 does). That is, if I did well in task2, I still have a chance to get 6 for the writing even though I didn't finish task1; otherwise there's no chance if I didn't do well in task2 even though I had finished task1. "Did you finish task2?" I did. I wrote 1.5 pages so I suppose there're about 300 words. "How far have you gone in task1?" 1 page and 2-3 lines. But I was just finish writing the topic sentence of the 2nd part of the graph. Roughly 120 words. I was sure that I'd been doing well on the structure, vacab and variation, but I didn't know how it would be assessed if the task wasn't completed, so I guess...3 or 4? "Do you think you've done well in task2?" Could be. I was quite sure I could get 6 in task2 (at least from vacabulary, variation and structure's viewpoint). However, as long as I didn't have the time of checking my grammar, I wasn't really sure if I could approach 7. In other words, "to pass the IELTS or not" really depends on how I did well in task2, and the probability of the result...I suppose 50 and 50? "Then don't worry too much.Don't think too much during the weekend." I would. "But you can do nothing about it now, except waiting." ...I have to say it's true. So, I came home with regretful mind. As I had applied the fast-result, I'll get my mark on the next Friday. ...I really really shouldn't have been to the toilet and also shouldn't have misunderstood what Mark meant !! Otherwise I am quite sure I can get 7 for overall !!! How shocking !!!! What an idiot I am !!!!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

A good summary of what could have been a very stressful day!

I think your experience in the writing test serves as a useful reminder to other IELTS candidates - go to the toilet before the test, because you don't get any extra time!!!

I hope your results were OK.

Good luck.

semin said...

Actually I had been to the toilet just before the test.