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March 28, 2024, 10:36:04 pm

Author Topic: 50 in CSL last year - ask me anything!  (Read 24396 times)  Share 

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Bazinga!

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50 in CSL last year - ask me anything!
« on: November 11, 2013, 02:56:41 pm »
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Heyyyy guys, considering the CSL & CSLA exams are in a little more than a weeks' time, I thought I'd answer some of your questions in case you guys had some :)

I got a raw score of 50 in CSL in 2012 and received the Premier's award in 2012

« Last Edit: December 01, 2014, 04:16:42 pm by Bazinga! »

Tasmania Jones

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Re: 50 in CSL last year - ask me anything!
« Reply #1 on: November 11, 2013, 06:13:24 pm »
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Hey Cindy,
Congratulations on your 50! I am not doing CSL this year so you can take your time to answer this question:

Can you bring two dictionaries of different brands into the written exam? e.g a small dictionary to look up how to write characters you forgot and a large one for idioms etc.
2014: Mathematical Methods CAS | Chinese SL

JieSun92

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Re: 50 in CSL last year - ask me anything!
« Reply #2 on: November 11, 2013, 09:45:29 pm »
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hey bazingaa!

how do you minimise mistakes in reading and responding section ? I always lose marks for saying the wrong thing or not writing in enough detail eg. translation.

thanks

Bazinga!

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Re: 50 in CSL last year - ask me anything!
« Reply #3 on: November 11, 2013, 11:35:36 pm »
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Hey Cindy,
Congratulations on your 50! I am not doing CSL this year so you can take your time to answer this question:

Hey, thanks!! It came as a massive surprise, albeit a really great one :)

Can you bring two dictionaries of different brands into the written exam? e.g a small dictionary to look up how to write characters you forgot and a large one for idioms etc.

I'm not too sure, but after checking the exam specifications (http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/exams/chinese2nd/2008chinsl-sample.pdf) it says you can bring in 2 seperate volumes. I might add in though, in the actual exam, you barely have time to look up a lot of things, so try not to rely on the dictionary too much when you do it yeah? I remember I memorised a load of idioms beforehand and I think that really helped me bump up my essay mark

Bazinga!

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Re: 50 in CSL last year - ask me anything!
« Reply #4 on: November 11, 2013, 11:39:05 pm »
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how do you minimise mistakes in reading and responding section ? I always lose marks for saying the wrong thing or not writing in enough detail eg. translation.

thanks

Hey! I remember making those mistakes when I was doing my practice exams too. I actually realise (not sure if you're the same or not) that I basically lose careless marks and that I just needed to check over my work more often. With the Chinese exam (and with any exam really) I think that it is sooo important to aim to give yourself 10 minutes just to check over your work, making little changes can actually raise your marks and really refine your answers

Other than that I think it might come down to practice, really getting the hang of picking up little subtle translation points - you know like those one or two phrases are easily dismissable, but need to be translated otherwise you'd lose a mark? Picking up those tricky points really depends on how much practice you've done imo :)

poiuytrewqqwertyuiop

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Re: 50 in CSL last year - ask me anything!
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2013, 06:21:23 pm »
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Hi cindy!
do you have any tips on writing essays? or how you put your ideas into a paragraph? i feel like when im writing its all over the place!

Bazinga!

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Re: 50 in CSL last year - ask me anything!
« Reply #6 on: November 13, 2013, 12:18:36 am »
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Hi cindy!
do you have any tips on writing essays? or how you put your ideas into a paragraph? i feel like when im writing its all over the place!

Hi! From what I remember, my Chinese school teacher in year 11 (if you or anyone go to Balwyn, not sure if she's still there but 付老师?) told me, when brainstorming ideas for your essays, think of 3 KEY aspects you're going to talk about, maybe write it down somewhere. Give these aspects a topic sentence, and then build on your topic sentences with 2 or 3 more ideas.

The key part to making your essay really beast is to add in idioms, but add then in subtly and not abruptly, that /really/ scores you the highest marks, and is the hardest part imo too!

I tried to write an example for you but I can't think of a really good one from the top of my head :S Maybe give me a message sometime and I'll try to think up a good one in the mean time?

TrueTears

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Re: 50 in CSL last year - ask me anything!
« Reply #7 on: November 13, 2013, 12:40:45 am »
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Can you bring two dictionaries of different brands into the written exam? e.g a small dictionary to look up how to write characters you forgot and a large one for idioms etc.
Not sure if the rules has changed since 2008, but yes I brought in two dictionaries, one for words, other for idioms. You won't have time to rely on them heavily though.

do you have any tips on writing essays?
Memorising chengyu and using them strategically is a must if you want to score high.
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j23

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Re: 50 in CSL last year - ask me anything!
« Reply #8 on: November 13, 2013, 07:55:53 pm »
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hey cindy! Would you be able to give us some of the idioms you remembered? or if you had a word document? I feel like theres so many its hard to exactly refine them to a limited amount that would be useful in our essay writing! Congrats on your 50

All†Fiction

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Re: 50 in CSL last year - ask me anything!
« Reply #9 on: November 15, 2013, 06:11:49 pm »
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Hi Cindy, congratulations on your 50!

Just wondering, in regards to evaluative type essays, for the two negative aspects, would you recommend putting them in two separate paragraphs, or one combined paragraph?

Thanks!

TrueTears

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Re: 50 in CSL last year - ask me anything!
« Reply #10 on: November 15, 2013, 06:19:56 pm »
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Hi Cindy, congratulations on your 50!

Just wondering, in regards to evaluative type essays, for the two negative aspects, would you recommend putting them in two separate paragraphs, or one combined paragraph?

Thanks!
I had 2 positives and 2 negatives, each on a different paragraph. So 4 paragraphs in total (excluding intro + conclusion)
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datfatcat

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Re: 50 in CSL last year - ask me anything!
« Reply #11 on: November 15, 2013, 06:25:31 pm »
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Hi Cindy, congratulations on your 50!

Just wondering, in regards to evaluative type essays, for the two negative aspects, would you recommend putting them in two separate paragraphs, or one combined paragraph?

Thanks!

If you have two negative aspects, make them into 2 paragraphs.  You should never put two ideas (or more) in one single paragraph.  The best essay structure is to have a topic sentence for each paragraph, covering one topic/idea (so anyone can read the topic sentence and know what to expect in that particular paragraph).
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Tasmania Jones

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Re: 50 in CSL last year - ask me anything!
« Reply #12 on: November 16, 2013, 03:31:33 pm »
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Not sure if the rules has changed since 2008, but yes I brought in two dictionaries, one for words, other for idioms. You won't have time to rely on them heavily though.

Hey, thanks!! It came as a massive surprise, albeit a really great one :)

I'm not too sure, but after checking the exam specifications (http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/exams/chinese2nd/2008chinsl-sample.pdf) it says you can bring in 2 seperate volumes. I might add in though, in the actual exam, you barely have time to look up a lot of things, so try not to rely on the dictionary too much when you do it yeah? I remember I memorised a load of idioms beforehand and I think that really helped me bump up my essay mark

Thanks both of you for answering my question  :) :) I was busy with exams and haven't had a chance to reply until now.
2014: Mathematical Methods CAS | Chinese SL

Bazinga!

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Re: 50 in CSL last year - ask me anything!
« Reply #13 on: November 18, 2013, 05:56:40 pm »
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Hi Cindy, congratulations on your 50!

Just wondering, in regards to evaluative type essays, for the two negative aspects, would you recommend putting them in two separate paragraphs, or one combined paragraph?

Thanks!

Thank you! Regarding your question it's exact what TrueTears and William Jones say, pretty much one idea per paragraph, and 4 paragaphs in total including 2 positives and 2 negatives. To be honest I wouldn't really encourage people choosing this type because you need to fit /all/ that in within 250 or 300 words. However obviously if you get to the exam and the evaluative question is perfecctt for you, go for it! :)

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Re: 50 in CSL last year - ask me anything!
« Reply #14 on: November 19, 2013, 04:52:53 pm »
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Hi Cindy!
The exams tomorrow and i'm starting to feel really nervous. I was wondering if you could give us some last minute tips :)