Miharu's musings: Recuperation underway

I just finished my last paper, Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 3 (JLPT3). Finally, all done.

*Pause*

No, I don't feel any different.
No cause for celebration. Not even an itsy bitsy feeling of relief, but resigned, yes. Oh, well.

Anyway, the JLPT3 was held all the way at the other end of the country, and it took me around 2 hours to reach the venue, which is The Japanese School （日本人学校）. There was so many people of varying age group (yes, aunties and uncles were examinees too!) flocking the school to take JLPT3 and JLPT2. Almost every room in the school were converted into an exam room. My seating was located in a 研究室 (science laboratory). The lab benches there were very low (and cute!) and the whole place is sooooo clean for a science lab. No shoes were allowed inside, so you can imagine how sparkling clean the floor is.

So the exam took slightly more than 3 hours. First, we started off with the Vocabulary paper. It was not that easy, but not exactly tough either. In fact, some of the questions were pretty easy and.... funny. There was one question asking the appropriate usage of the word "ねっしん" (enthusiastic). We were supposed to choose one sentence that demonstrates the appropriate usage of the word. One of the sentences read something like this: "雨がねっしんでふりそうだ” (the rain is falling enthusiastically). I almost laughed out loud. XD Having said that, not all the questions are easy either, I basically hentam on several which I didn't have a good idea what the answer was.

After a short break, the second paper was Listening. I thought I had slightly more confidence in this paper because Sensei had practise the 2005 Listening Test with us. However, I was thrown off composure when I lost track on a few conversations. And I have to say that is wasn't that easy afterall, because some of the questions require you to make a summary of the conversation before you can answer the questions. The answers may not be directly picked up from the conversation itself.

The last paper was Grammar and Comprehension. I thought this one is a goner, because my Japanese grammar sucks. To further prove my point, the first question left me stunned. It was simple, but I didn't know which particle to insert. So I skipped and skipped all the questions I wasn't very sure of and surprisingly, manage to finish ahead of time and even checked once more thoroughly before submitting the answer sheet. Fushigi da na.....

Overall, I find JLPT3 not very difficult, but given time, I think I could have done better. Couldn't really helped it since my school exams ended late and I had only a day to catch up with the remaining syllabi before taking the exam. Hopefully I will be able to pass the JLPT3. Well, regardless I pass or not, I still intend to continue studying Japanese to the advance level （１級）. Funny thing is, I felt happy taking this kind of examinations. Taking up the challenge to improve on my language proficiency has always been an intriguing thing for me.

With all the stress I have been under for the past few weeks, I'll be heading home to recuperate before starting on my final year project (FYP). So my one-week recuperation plan includes: