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地獄のような中間試験
いよいよ中間試験です。この日受験したのは、武藤さんにとって最難関の
「ビジネス」の試験で、この点数が成績に25%反映されます。
内容は、組織で働く人々の行動を研究する「組織行動論」についてで、
「解答は選択式」「辞書持込OK」なので、間違いなくパスできると踏んでいた
のですが、試験は無事終わったのでしょうか?
Hell
You might have noticed that these days, my articles tend to revolve around study. That's because most of my time these days is spent studying.
Recently I sat for my biggest mid-term exam. It was for business and the exam was 25 percent of my final grade. In business, I'm studying "organizational behavior," which looks into how a person behaves in certain organizations and how you might motivate that person. It's a difficult subject, more akin to psychology than business, and so there were a lot of terms to remember.
One good thing, though, was that my exam was multiple choice. Better still, the lecturer said all international students could bring a dictionary (but not an electronic dictionary) into the exam. I was thrilled. I thought I could definitely pass. But I didn't let up with the study. The day before the exam, I even sat up reading all night.
On the day, I went to the classroom and sat myself down. There were more than 300 people there. Most of them were still reading their textbooks, which were worn out and filled with underlining. Some were just smiling and chatting to each other. I was a little daunted by this. Perhaps I should have studied harder.
The lecturer entered and started explaining about the exam. I didn't pay much attention. I was too worried about the exam. All I heard was that we had five minutes reading time and that the exam would be one hour long.
The five minutes of reading time went by like lightning. Before I knew it, the lecturer (who was now the only relaxed person in the room) was saying, "OK, guys. You can turn over your papers now."
I looked at the first question and froze. I couldn't understand the first question. I moved onto the next question. I couldn't understand the next question either. Each question had five answers to choose from. That sounds easy, but the problem was that both the question and the answers were very long and very confusing! It would have been easier simply writing answers to the questions than choosing from the answers.
Twenty minutes into the exam, the lecturer said, "Guys, if you're finished, you can go." I looked up and was surprised to see a quarter of the students leaving. Forty minutes later, the lecturer said the same thing again, and more students left. Only half of the students were left!
I started to panic. I had to speed up. Otherwise I'd never get to the end. There was no time to use the dictionary now.
About five minutes before the end, I changed my strategy and started guessing. I started choosing the longer answers because I remembered reading somewhere that examiners enjoyed hiding their correct answers in longer sentences. But then I remembered that the person who had set this exam was from the psychology department, so he probably already knew that. My heart sank.
I came out of the classroom, a broken man. Normally, I have some confidence that I've done reasonably well, but this time, I had no confidence at all. People around me started checking answers with one another. I didn't want to join in, but unfortunately one of my friends came up to me and said, "How did you go, Kazu?" "So so," I said and fled.
- Hell
- 地獄
- might have noticed 〜
- 〜に気付いているかもしれない
- articles
- 記事
- tend to 〜
- 〜する傾向にある
- revolve around 〜
- 〜中心に話が進む
- sat for 〜
- 〜を受けた
- mid-term exam
- 中間試験
- final grade
- 最終的な成績
- organizational behavior
- 組織行動論
- looks into 〜
- 〜を検証する
- behaves
- 行動する
- certain organizations
- 特定の組織
- motivate 〜
- 〜を動機づける
- subject
- 科目
- akin to 〜
- 〜に近い
- psychology
- 心理学
- terms
- 用語
- multiple choice
- 多肢選択
- Better still
- さらによいことに
- lecturer
- 講師
- international students
- 海外からの学生
- electronic dictionary
- 電子辞書
- was thrilled
- 興奮した
- definitely
- 間違いなく
- pass
- 試験を通る
- didn't let up with the study
- 勉強の手を緩めなかった
- sat up reading all night
- 徹夜で勉強した
- sat myself down
- 席に座った
- textbooks
- 教科書
- were worn out
- 読み込まれていた
- (were) filled with 〜
- 〜でいっぱいだった
- underlining
- アンダーライン
- (were) chatting
- おしゃべりしていた
- (was) daunted
- おじけづいた
- started explaining about 〜
- 〜について説明し始めた
- didn't pay much attention
- ほとんど気に留めなかった
- be one hour long
- 1時間だ
- 〜 went by like lightning
- 雷のような速さで〜が過ぎた
- Before I knew it
- すぐに
- relaxed
- リラックスした
- guys
- 皆
- turn over 〜
- 〜を表にする
- froze
- ぞっとした
- moved onto 〜
- 〜に移った
- had five answers to choose from
- 答えの選択肢が5つあった
- That sounds easy
- 簡単に思える
- confusing
- 分かりにくい
- Twenty minutes into 〜
- 〜が始まって20分たって
- looked up
- 顔を上げた
- was surprised to 〜
- 〜して驚いた
- a quarter of 〜
- 〜の4分の1
- Otherwise
- さもなければ
- get to the end
- 最後まで解く
- strategy
- 作戦
- started guessing
- 勘で当て始めた
- examiners
- 試験官
- enjoyed hiding 〜
- 〜を隠すことを好んだ
- correct
- 正しい
- department
- 学部
- My heart sank
- 気落ちした
- came out of 〜
- 〜から出た
- a broken man
- 弱り果てて
- confidence
- 自信
- reasonably
- それなりに
- with one another
- お互い
- unfortunately
- 不運にも
- came up to me
- やってきた
- fled
- 逃げた