The Exam Chills

Last week, I had my finals speaking examination for MUET. I was suppose to do before the Raya holidays but somehow, it got delayed. On that day, only Melvin and I were present, the other 2 of the group went missing, or rather, was absent. Therefore we were the only 2 people that day for the exam.

In MUET, there are 2 tasks for us to complete.

Task 1- Individual performance, 2 minutes to speak, 3 minutes maximum.
Task 2- Group performace, 10 minutes to speak, 2.5minutes each, no more.
Each task is given about 1~2 minutes to prepare.

The finals was easier than I expected. Eventhough Melvin and I were the only ones speaking, it turned out quite well. We did butt in on each other too much, which is not good, our elaborations were actually relevant. Therefore, nothing much exciting about that.

Now, comes the REAL one... Today, I had to sit the National MUET Exam, standardised for every school in Penang, not sure if the whole Malaysia is involved. Its the End-Year exam, so mostly should consist of Upper-6 students who wanna retake, but somehow, its only the Lower-6es on the 1st session.

My group consists of Chung Boon Wue as candidate A, me as candidate B, Lee Siu Ming as candidate C and Foo Si Kai as candidate D. As I arrived the library, the place the exam will be held on, buttterflies evaded my stomach. At 7.30, we were told to go to the toilet because starting from 8, we will be quarentined until we finish our exam.

After a few minutes, the examiner walks in and gave us a brief explanation on the exam, and to my surprise, she speaks perfectly fluent English, WITH British slang... I was damn amazed by her language ability, considering her as a normal Malaysian, speaking in such a sophisticated accent. But before she briefed, I noticed something, where is Foo Si Kai??

It seems like he is absent, which makes my group members panicked a little. So, Pn. Mani pushed every position up, making Shafina as candidate A for Group 3 into candidate D for Group 2. After briefing, Group 1 enters and they started their exam. I was so nervous I held my head down on the table. Waiting for our turn is one of the worst experiences when you are nervous, as it is just like adding salt to injury.

After half an hour, they are done. They gotta leave the library immediately as questions will be the same for all groups throughout the entire session. The next turn will be my group... *prays*... As Pn. Mani says 'Alright, ne...' all of my group members including me stood up. Pn. Mani had to stop us as she is just about to give a briefing, since the examiners are still calculating the marks. We had 4 false alarms that time...

Finally, our turn has arrived. I felt an adrenaline rush when I entered the room. The air-condition was turned on at maximum power, adding the nervous-ness by twice. Our question was, "The important factors that are affecting the reputation of the family". Luckily, I got income level, which is practically easy. Just talk like a money-faced sicko and you are done... I talked for about 3 minutes until the examiner asked me to end it up with the sentence.

Next, the group speaking presentation. This time, I jumped from income level to occupation, as I think that with great occupation brings great income level. However, the other 2 group member jumped to education... So, its like a 3 vs 1 battle... I don't really have much points as this is a group talk, but I did not expect this to happen... When they asked our group to conclude, I messed up, and in the end, EVERYONE concluded the group talk... The examiners were laughing silently as only one person is needed to end it up...

That's pretty much all about the exam...After it was all done, went out of the library and into my classroom. NO studies for the whole day, except 2 periods of math... I should've gone home...

Signed off,
Teng Aun.