ЕГЭ по английскому языку (аудирование №17)

Speaker 1
Today the ‘mock’ exams began. I had the history paper this morning. The choice of essay questions was really tough. I managed two of them reasonably well (origins of WWII and the Tudors) but struggled like mad on the Russian history task. I chose one on Kerensky in the end but realised I simply hadn’t done enough revision. This afternoon we had the multiple choice biology paper but again I had to do a lot of guessing. I’ll have to work much harder before the real exams.

Speaker 2
We had another of Mr Corner’s impossible revision tests today. I simply hate maths and can’t wait until it’s all over. Each practice test has 15 marks and we then pass our finished paper ‘two mathematicians to the right’: He then reads out the answers and we all mark the paper of our next but one neighbour. Again I did really badly, managing to score only 6. ‘The Corner’ says I have as much chance passing as getting an Olympic Gold in Figure Skating!

Speaker 3
Susan took her Art History paper this afternoon. Her question was ‘Compare and Contrast the work of six 20th Century Sculptors’. Unfortunately, she had only revised three, so in desperation she ‘invented’ three more. She ‘created’ three little known sculptors who modelled in clay and lived obscurely in tiny villages. She decided they were based in Sweden, Slovenia and Spain and is hoping and praying that she will get some marks for creativity and some for her real knowledge of clay sculpting techniques.

Speaker 4
Harry struggles with remembering the useful quotations you should always use to illustrate your points in exam essay questions. He’s OK with names and dates but he’s lost when trying to back up his answer with good quotes. So he has written all the most important ones out and to revise he sings them with his guitar! It is the craziest revision strategy I have ever heard of but he says it works for him.

Speaker 5
There are loads of revision aids on the internet providing sample answers for the questions that are likely to come up in the exam. The trouble is that everybody reads them and our teachers believe that this will result in 1000s of kids making almost identical answers. For teachers who have to grade the papers, they can see instantly which students are recycling internet answers. They are much more likely to give higher marks to students who have prepared thoroughly, read independently and are not afraid of writing their own ideas.

Speaker 6
Our French teacher seems to believe that practice tests are valuable regardless of whether you have covered the material already. Maybe she’s right. At least with French there are ‘compensation strategies’ and alternative ways of expressing things. Still I hate to be quizzed on vocabulary I have not yet learned. It seems such a waste of time.