Ten minutes into the listening section of the Korean Language Proficiency Test, I was still able to make sense of what I heard. Before twenty minutes were up, my brain was already working at its limit to interpret what it received. From twenty minutes onwards till the end, the brain ceased to make sense of anything heard. It seemed that either my hearing or my brain was deteriorating by the minutes.
I experienced the same feeling when I sat for a placement test in Kyunghee University. It was a listening test and after attempting the first five questions or so, I gave up listening completely as I was unable to understand the remaining 10 to 20 questions and not to mention finding the correct answers for them.
KLPT was difficult for my standard. However, the pressure of preparing and taking the test was good in the sense that it exposed all the weaknesses in my Korean language. Now I know exactly which are the critical areas to work on. The other benefit of taking KLPT was that my Korean language learning took on an exponential curve. Within a short period of time, my Korean vocabulary expanded with hundreds of new words and expressions. I learnt the usage of many more particles, conjunctions and sentence endings that were not covered in my normal Korean lessons.
In my next phase of Korean learning, I shall be concentrating on pronouncing my hanguel accurately which in turn will help me to listen better. I shall also train myself to listen, read and understand the language faster. But I am not about to start today. Maybe next week. It has been quite some time since I enjoy a free Saturday afternoon. Perhaps I shall just laze around this afternoon.
I experienced the same feeling when I sat for a placement test in Kyunghee University. It was a listening test and after attempting the first five questions or so, I gave up listening completely as I was unable to understand the remaining 10 to 20 questions and not to mention finding the correct answers for them.
NEX students concentrating during the placement test in Kyunghee University
KLPT was difficult for my standard. However, the pressure of preparing and taking the test was good in the sense that it exposed all the weaknesses in my Korean language. Now I know exactly which are the critical areas to work on. The other benefit of taking KLPT was that my Korean language learning took on an exponential curve. Within a short period of time, my Korean vocabulary expanded with hundreds of new words and expressions. I learnt the usage of many more particles, conjunctions and sentence endings that were not covered in my normal Korean lessons.
In my next phase of Korean learning, I shall be concentrating on pronouncing my hanguel accurately which in turn will help me to listen better. I shall also train myself to listen, read and understand the language faster. But I am not about to start today. Maybe next week. It has been quite some time since I enjoy a free Saturday afternoon. Perhaps I shall just laze around this afternoon.
You were busy taking picture when your other classmates were trying very hard to attempt the questions. Hmmmmm.......
ReplyDeleteThat's what I thought initially until they told me they were just guessing the answers. Oh well, at least I took their picture. No harm done. ^^
ReplyDeleteI had the same experience with the placement test at Khung Hee Uni :(
ReplyDeleteNow you know you are not alone . ^^
ReplyDeleteThe listening part is always one of the toughest in learning a second language...
ReplyDelete