Language Test

Spring break is slowly coming to an end, and it’s time to start getting ready for school again. It was nice while it lasted, but sitting around the house for too long starts to drive me nuts. I didn’t have a chance to really go anywhere for spring break because of work, but maybe I can come up with something to do over the summer break.

Well, since I am now going to be the president of the International Business Club, I’ll need to come up with some ideas for the club. I’ve thought of some ideas already but I won’t disclose them on here. You’ll have to come to the first club meeting to find out! I want the club to be fun, as well as educational for the students. I tried to browse around different college websites and read about their clubs and activities. I’ve noticed that many of their clubs have their own website where members can keep up with club activities, have access to e-mails and references regarding to the club, among many other advantages. Maybe once the club takes off, and the school allows something along those lines, I could get some members to create a website like that.

Yesterday I got a call from the school that my Polish language test has arrived! I was at work when I got the call, but got very excited because I was able to schedule the test for today. I was scheduled to take it at ten thirty today which was perfect timing, so I got to sleep in a little. Since this test was an off site exam, the proctors at Berkeley College were nice and helpful in the Academic Support Centers, providing an alternate option to take the test here.

The test consisted of four parts. The first part was listening to a story on tape, and then answering five questions about the story. My story was about the history of Poland and a famous castle that is located on the Visula River. The passage was quite boring, but the questions were pretty easy. The second part was to write a story on your own about a topic of your choice. I wrote about my experience coming to America as a child, as well as going back to Poland on my vacation two years ago. The last two sections were about translating. First I had to translate a passage of about three paragraphs from English to Polish and then the other passage of about the same length from Polish to English. From taking the test, I noticed that I have a much easier time translating from English to Polish which surprised me!

At the end of the test my arm felt like it was going to fall off! I am so used to typing everything, that having to write so much killed my arm. On top of that, I wrote the test in pencil so that I can fix any mistakes when it came to edit and review my work. I didn’t think anything of it because when you write during your SAT’s and any other examinations, you have to write it in pencil. As I was done with the test, I reviewed the instructions that the proctor read to me to make sure I did everything right, and there it said it, “Do not write in pencil”. I thought to myself, you have got to be kidding me! So I had to rewrite everything I wrote on top of how tired my arm already was. At the end of it all, I thought I might lose an arm but besides that, I think the test went pretty well!