Funny test results
Jun. 25th, 2013 02:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
davvA few days ago I got the results for the two written tests, and they did amuse me.
A bit of background here. In Norway, we have two variants of Norwegian. They're called Bokmål and Nynorsk. Everybody has to (or had to, in my time) take written tests in both. Nowadays, only those who manually apply for the certification required for higher education - i.e. those who don't go the usual track - have to take both. The rest have to take one and may or may not be chosen to also take the other.
In any case, there are two variants. One of them is the variant you'd use in ordinary language. Let's call that the "main variant". The other is the variant you don't, call it the "secondary variant". For most people, myself included, the main variant is Bokmål and the secondary variant is Nynorsk; for about 10%-20% of the population, mostly on the western side of the country, it's the other way around.
Well, on the main variant test, i.e. the Bokmål test, I got 5. On the secondary variant, I got 6.
And I had to laugh :) I haven't written any Nynorsk (before the test and the associated learning beforehand) for... years? I don't even remember. Yet I that one, while I get the second one down at the variant I do use outside of education.
I know there's a more mundane explanation: I was sloppy at the main variant test (or used experience gained from it at the Nynorsk)[1]. But just this image of doing exceptionally well on the language I had less experience in, yet not so well on the one I do use? Hee!
(I imagine it's a bit like a Dutch Belgian doing better on a French test than a Dutch one... only the languages aren't that disparate in the Norwegian case.)
[1] I think I know what I did wrong, too. Well, the grade's there and won't change (unless I retake the test, which is unlikely), so I'll just learn from my mistake!
A bit of background here. In Norway, we have two variants of Norwegian. They're called Bokmål and Nynorsk. Everybody has to (or had to, in my time) take written tests in both. Nowadays, only those who manually apply for the certification required for higher education - i.e. those who don't go the usual track - have to take both. The rest have to take one and may or may not be chosen to also take the other.
In any case, there are two variants. One of them is the variant you'd use in ordinary language. Let's call that the "main variant". The other is the variant you don't, call it the "secondary variant". For most people, myself included, the main variant is Bokmål and the secondary variant is Nynorsk; for about 10%-20% of the population, mostly on the western side of the country, it's the other way around.
Well, on the main variant test, i.e. the Bokmål test, I got 5. On the secondary variant, I got 6.
And I had to laugh :) I haven't written any Nynorsk (before the test and the associated learning beforehand) for... years? I don't even remember. Yet I that one, while I get the second one down at the variant I do use outside of education.
I know there's a more mundane explanation: I was sloppy at the main variant test (or used experience gained from it at the Nynorsk)[1]. But just this image of doing exceptionally well on the language I had less experience in, yet not so well on the one I do use? Hee!
(I imagine it's a bit like a Dutch Belgian doing better on a French test than a Dutch one... only the languages aren't that disparate in the Norwegian case.)
[1] I think I know what I did wrong, too. Well, the grade's there and won't change (unless I retake the test, which is unlikely), so I'll just learn from my mistake!
no subject
Date: 2013-07-03 07:20 am (UTC)The lesson of which is: more time planning what to write, less time actual writing. And I might have been more sure of how to divide the time the second time around.
Did the tests include essay writing? Those can become pretty stressful.
That's pretty much what they are. At one of the tests, you get a fixed small task (involving writing about 250 words or so), and then you get your choice of one of.. six or seven different "major" tasks (about 1k). At the other, you only get the major task.
If I remember correctly, the main variant had both tasks while the other one had only the major task. I don't think I erred on the smaller task, though, because it was about analysis of an advertisement, something that I'd done quite well on earlier at an oral exam.