has anyone succeeded in cramming for a LOTE exam

[Zebra]

TELL ME YOUR SECRETS PLEASE
WHAT SORCERY IS THIS
HOW?!

?!?!

do a super-scaling LOTE? (mine was german)

do you mean tips for the exam?

How did you cram? Like what did you do to cram/study? Im thinking of mainly do listeneing tasks and maybe learn some vocab...

for my oral exam im just going to memorise the 1 min introduction and read the plots for my text, film etc.

[ninwa]

Oral
Probably too late now but we had weekly sessions with our teachers where we just talked at each other... there were only 3 people doing German at my school so it wasn't exactly hard for them to schedule though...

Memorise a few impressive-sounding sentences and nonchalantly throw them in somewhere, preferably with complex grammar like the subjunctive (or whatever).

Memorise the opening few sentences of your answer to the first question (generally something predictable like "tell me about your family"). You'll feel more confident if you can lead off fluently at least.

Learn a few of the typical "umming" words and phrases in the language, like "well...", "my opinion is..."

If you must umm and err, at least use your LOTE's equivalent and not the English (e.g. in German they tend to use "also..."... obv pronounced differently)

Also prepare a "delay phrase" - i.e. "hmm that is an interesting question, may I have a moment to think about it?" I had two teachers who were examiners and they both told me they would prefer it if you said that, took 10 seconds to think and came up with a decent answer to a question rather than ramble on about nothing.

HAVE CONVERSATIONS WITH YOURSELF IN THE SHOWER. Seriously. Especially if you're learning new vocab, use the new words as much as possible, preferably in ridiculous ways, cos that's how you'll remember it

[ninwa]

Listening
If you don't have time to do exercises / can't be bothered, it even helps to just have your language running in the background while you do whatever. It's still useful to get your ears attuned to the sound of your language even if you're not actively listening.

Sometimes I just put ABC podcasts in German or French on my ipod and half-listen while dozing on the train. Yeah, I'm lazy

If you can be bothered doing exercises:
1) Listen to the recording a couple of times
2) On the 3rd time, start picking out the main points
3) Listen to it for a 4th time with the text in front of you and note the areas where you had trouble distinguishing sounds
4) Repeat those bits to yourself. You'll remember it better if you actively recite it

[ninwa]

Writing
Cram as much complex grammar as you can.

Cram useful/fancy phrases (e.g. it is my opinion that, on the one hand... on the other hand, conjunctions like therefore/regardless/however/as a consequence etc.) and then USE THEM IN THE EXAM. Makes your essay sound more impressive

Familiarise yourself with your dictionary (e.g. my German dictionary had sections with awesomely useful templates for letters and stuff and I never realised -_-)

[aiming_95]

Great advice and just 2 quick questions.

 Are we allowed to bring in any type of dictionary or does it have to be by some specific publisher ?

 how much time do you get in between the audio tapes to write answers ?

[onur369]

Just came back from my LOTE oral exam, its easy if you know the topic you choose. Choose something you like and you will be fine. Also note that the assesors smile alot, its more than this ""

[ninwa]

Great advice and just 2 quick questions.

 Are we allowed to bring in any type of dictionary or does it have to be by some specific publisher ?

 how much time do you get in between the audio tapes to write answers ?

I did my VCE in 2007 so it might have changed since then, but we were allowed any kind of dictionary, and the assessors only flip through it to check for notes - I don't think they even realised the dictionary came with templates.

I think it's a minute between tapes

[Greatness]

Great advice and just 2 quick questions.

 Are we allowed to bring in any type of dictionary or does it have to be by some specific publisher ?

 how much time do you get in between the audio tapes to write answers ?

I did my VCE in 2007 so it might have changed since then, but we were allowed any kind of dictionary, and the assessors only flip through it to check for notes - I don't think they even realised the dictionary came with templates.

I think it's a minute between tapes

Yes! our dictionary has like verb/adjective conjugations in it and useful phrases - it will probably save me in the exam
Yeah the examiners did smile a lot, kinda scary and weird in a way lol

[Fyrefly]

Great advice and just 2 quick questions.

 Are we allowed to bring in any type of dictionary or does it have to be by some specific publisher ?

 how much time do you get in between the audio tapes to write answers ?

I did my VCE in 2007 so it might have changed since then, but we were allowed any kind of dictionary, and the assessors only flip through it to check for notes - I don't think they even realised the dictionary came with templates.

I think it's a minute between tapes

Yes! our dictionary has like verb/adjective conjugations in it and useful phrases - it will probably save me in the exam
Yeah the examiners did smile a lot, kinda scary and weird in a way lol

They're probably asked to smile to make students feel more at ease.

[ninwa]

Mine were smiling like and nodding vigorously as soon as I opened my mouth and never stopped throughout. It was weird as hell.

[onur369]

Its scary though :/

[iamtom]

I crammed for my French Oral. I have 8 days between my Apps examination and my French examination.

Definitely not cramming then, so fucking stressful.

[Zebra]

i now have a few more hours to finish cramming .... LOL.... please !!!! lemme get a thirty.....raw

[Zebra]

fuck i cant remember my 1min intro..... mind blank balbnabksfbnas PANIC

going 2 bed NOW
asdfaskdl so worried lol.... all i can have is confidence.....!!!

[Zebra]

is it possible to get an assessor who knows you in the exam... fkn vce this system is so flawed