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Stressing (1 Viewer)

JustClarence

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hey
im im year 12 studing the continuers course
and was wondering if anyone had any advice on what things i should kinda know or stick to when studing for test.. im starting to stress out cause im not sure where to start..
any advice would be a great help
especially any advice on speakin and listening!!
Thanks
 
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Don't worry, you're not alone. I'm stressing too.

It really depends on what kind of test you're having, but generally if it doesn't count toward your final mark, you shouldn't stress over it. Study hard for the assessments.

The most important thing to learn is your senior structures. They're essential for the written and speaking and to understand listening. Try to know as many as you can.

For Listening, you have to practise. I'm quite bad at Listening because I always tend to not hear things properly, but the first time you hear it, try to get a general idea of what's happening and write down the key words. Second time you hear it, fill in the gaps you missed the first time.

The best advice for speaking I can give is, again, practise with your friends. Ask yourself what sort of questions might they ask you, and see if you can answer them. Generally they will ask you about your personal world: family, neighbourhood, hobbies, sports, school. They will stem other questions from the basic ones depending on your answer. So keep it simple, but set out to impress. Don't try anything you don't understand yourself.

I had some mini-speeches prepared and memorised them, but I'm telling you it didn't help because she shot all these random questions at me. I spent half the time going "moo ichido hanashite kudasai" or "wakarimasen" :( You have to be able to function under pressure and not freak out when you get something unexpected. If you can't incorporate senior structure into it, just answer it in basic japanese. Better than staying blank.

Hope that helped.
 

rhia

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there's no advice to give than to practice. you can't really study for japanese, unless you're actually practicing speaking and listening to japanese. it's like studying for the test to get your ls - while you might know intelectually the all the road rules off by heart, when you sit behind the wheel for the first time it's a completely different story. speak japanese as much as you can by incorporating it where possible into your everday life - borrow CDs from your library, even if they're more elementary. read anything you can grab your hands on - the internet is SUCH an incredible resrouce - there are japanese people using it, afterall.
 

mushroom_head

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don't memorise speeches for your speaking exams because more likely than not the questions they ask you will be worded differently, and your answer will not make complete sense.

It's best to let it flow. Frequently one question relates to the next so try not to lie when you give your answer because you might end up giving one lie after another, and your latter answer may contradict your first answer.

Make sure you listen carefully to the question eg. did the examiner ask the question in past tense (-shimashita). if so, you must reply in past tense.

anyway..that's all i can think of today. goodluck
 

abcd9146

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well since the hardest part is speaking (imo), this is what i do:
i memorize apragraphs to do with each chapter/section of the textbook, and then when the teacher asks a question to do with that chapter, i just regurgitate and change it a little so i am answering the question.
and dont answer a question for too long, or too short, as long as you answer the question thats enough...
lastly... DIRECT the questionoer to the next question, when they ask you a question, keep fpcusing on something you like talking about, and then they will continue talking about that :p, well that is until the subject totally changes...

for writing, just memorize structures, and how to use them together, so it sounds sophistaced, even compositions in your exam may help you get ideas

for comprehension style, its normally pretty easy, except there are interpretive style questions, so i guess you have to develop the skill to answer those properly

lastly, for listening, since this is my strong point, and i never study for listening... i can't really help you :p... just learn vocab i guess, as long as you pick up key vocab, you can sometimes make out the meanings... and dont leave blanks! just guess :p
 
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bambilina

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Hi there :)
For listening, the only way you can study for it is by learning and memorising as much vocabulary as possible. What I did was, everyweek we had a new list of vocabularly to remember so I wrote them down on a piece of paper with the definitions next to each word, then reading them out loud. Keep doing that till you know what each word means!

For writing, as well as knowing as much vocabulary you will need to know your senior structures. This is very important. The more senior structures in your sentences, the more marks you earn. It's better to write a piece of composition which is short but consists of many senior structures and sounds sophisticated, rather than a long composition which hardly has any structures at all.

For speaking! I had prepared questions and answers, and I tried to memorise as much as I could. You'll need to mention structures in your sentences as well. Senior structures are very important! Another good way of practising your speaking is practising with another Japanese buddy. :) Converse in Japanese as much as possible!

Anyway I hope that helped... if you still need help with anything don't hesitate to contact me. Good luck!! xx
 

HSCsimulator

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I'm also stressing out, my teacher keeps bothering me and its freaking hard, i mean who the hell knows what ni-san, matte-yo is
 

TNguyen

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HSCsimulator said:
I'm also stressing out, my teacher keeps bothering me and its freaking hard, i mean who the hell knows what ni-san, matte-yo is
i know how you feel kisoh!
 

Wackedupwacko

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japanese imo is one of those subjects where you have a knack for it or you dont. if you dont by now honestly you shouldnt have continued into hsc continuers. but if you must well u can try and study for it. listening. good ways to study for that is to 1) visit japan
or if thats not possible
2) grab a japanese person whom you have some of relation to, lock them up in a cage and force them to speak at you.
failing that
3) grab japanese media (anime, drama) preferably without the subtitles. of course that can be a bit hard at times.. but after a while you kinda be able to tell the gist of most things you dun understand which does come in handy for exams.

speaking :
i believe its not that great to rote learn a section off by heart. whats better is to have like a mini story. forexample: for my jap hsc from the start of year 12 i created my fictional best friend named bob. he is also in yr 12, goes to a different school, wants to be a sports star, use to live close by but now has moved etc etc.

i basically built a profile for each section (of course after you do that you need to be able to say all that) then as the situation demands just use that. in reality ive createda fictional character i know and practised on so many times that by the time the exam rolled around i dont need to rote learn. the reason for this is that whilst its good to have a story ready to ramble about its not good if it sounds rote learnt. keep it interesting and dont forget the intentional/unintentional "etooooooooooooooooooooooo"s
 

misericordia

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hi i'm a japanese background speaker and i just had this idea that i help whoever need help and h/she help me out on either biology or math2u...? just a suggestion (its give and take, its a good thing...isnt it?
 

malayansurf

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misericordia said:
hi i'm a japanese background speaker and i just had this idea that i help whoever need help and h/she help me out on either biology or math2u...? just a suggestion (its give and take, its a good thing...isnt it?
haha i could probably use that help..though im not exactly the best at 2Unit math.



anyway whats the best way to prepare for a writing task? also whats a good way to start off studying for japanese because im so deeply rooted in a hiatus mode and my mind cant seem to budge.
 

Akeru

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The best way is the way that works for you.
I just think up what i want to write in English, then write it in Japanese.

As for the studying, make it interesting like drawing pictures, turning words into a song... Whatever floats ur boat.

[I do 4u math. :rolleyes: and dropped bio & phys ]
 

Rekkusu

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Speaking section is particularly challenging for most students, since Japanese isn't your native language. The only times you can practice effectively is at class with other students...What I used to do, was to maintain gatherings outside of class i.e. during Free-Periods, or weekends, owing to the fact that if you practice at home by yourself it's hard to know whether it's grammatically correct.

For Writing section, yes Writing in English can help, especially with line to line translations ;) but always keep in mind that Japanese is the other way round.

Good Luck 07'ers!

Btw If you're taking Language as part of HSC, don't attempt to overload unless you're sure you can do it, otherwise it will (and I emphasis this) lower the amount of time you can study for other subjects.
 

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