Oral Examination

[jourdy]

Hi guys, I'm currently in Year 11, doing Unit 1/2. I was just wondering about how difficult the end of year oral would be for a non-Chinese student? Take into account though my marks are 98% average for Unit 1/2 and the two oral tests so far were 100%, so based on that do you think it would be easy for me or would it still take quite a bit of work? Aiming for 39 raw next year. Any response is appreciated. 

[TrueTears]

May I ask what nationality are you? Are any of your parents of Chinese descent or from a country that speaks Chinese?

If not, then Chinese is extremely competitive, even in SL, there are fluent (Chinese) speakers doing SL who are of Chinese background and heritage. At the very least, their pronunciation and intonation would be better than someone who isn't of Chinese descent (unless you're really really good!). The oral exam itself is not very difficult as long as you prepare thoroughly for it, however it's the competition that's intense, if you are aiming for the top marks, you need to be VERY good at Chinese.

[jourdy]

May I ask what nationality are you? Are any of your parents of Chinese descent or from a country that speaks Chinese?

If not, then Chinese is extremely competitive, even in SL, there are fluent (Chinese) speakers doing SL who are of Chinese background and heritage. At the very least, their pronunciation and intonation would be better than someone who isn't of Chinese descent (unless you're really really good!). The oral exam itself is not very difficult as long as you prepare thoroughly for it, however it's the competition that's intense, if you are aiming for the top marks, you need to be VERY good at Chinese.

I'm quarter Chinese (grandfather speaks Cantonese though), quarter Hungarian and half Australian. I don't speak any at home. But my pronunciation is fine and the intonation is decent. I don't find it hard to memorise tones so that part should be fine. Not trying to come off as cocky here, I'm just trying to inform you of my circumstances so you can help me better. I have got the top student in my year level for Chinese for the past 5 years and even having severe glandular fever earlier in the year I still managed an A+ global grade. I'm thinking the SACs I can get either 100% or very close to it, but I'm just worried about the oral exam. 39 raw is my aim, though a 37 raw would suffice. Do you think it's achievable? I really haven't had to do much work at all to achieve my 98% average in Unit 1/2. Maybe 30 minutes of homework a week, so I'm hoping if I put in it will be enough for a 39 raw? Let me know your thoughts and thanks for your response

[TrueTears]

Okay awesome, as long as you have that "Chinese"-sy pronunciation, then you should stay quite competitive. As long as you prepare thoroughly for the oral exam, ie, memorise your detailed study and memorise ways of responding to the general conversation part of the oral exam and also knowing your stuff for the written exam, then a 39 is definitely achievable. Remember that although you may have the top SACs at your school, whilst definitely a good thing, you will be competing against the whole state, thus most of the time, SACs scores in Chinese aren't very reflective of how you will compete against others in the state, especially in Chinese.

But yes - I suggest you start preparing for you oral exam early, start researching into your detailed study and start to write up and memorise perfect answers to different sorts of general convo questions and I'm sure you will do fine in the exam.

Best of luck

[jourdy]

Okay awesome, as long as you have that "Chinese"-sy pronunciation, then you should stay quite competitive. As long as you prepare thoroughly for the oral exam, ie, memorise your detailed study and memorise ways of responding to the general conversation part of the oral exam and also knowing your stuff for the written exam, then a 39 is definitely achievable. Remember that although you may have the top SACs at your school, whilst definitely a good thing, you will be competing against the whole state, thus most of the time, SACs scores in Chinese aren't very reflective of how you will compete against others in the state, especially in Chinese.

But yes - I suggest you start preparing for you oral exam early, start researching into your detailed study and start to write up and memorise perfect answers to different sorts of general convo questions and I'm sure you will do fine in the exam.

Best of luck

Thanks very much! I appreciate your help.

[jxzheng]

You are a very particular case. I agree with all of TrueTears comments. Chinese SL is an extremely competitive subject and though I did SL myself as a student with a Chinese background, I personally find subject itself quite unfair for students like you who have practically no Chinese background or heritage. Though having said that, I just want to add here that you will most likely have an advantage in the oral exam, because the Chinese SL oral assessors tend to favour 'white' kids or non-background speakers more because of the fact that they acknowledge you are essentially 'disadvantaged'. I know that saying this would create controversy, yet I know for certain that this is the actual case.
Good luck for Chinese next year!
---JX