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試験の難しさに悲鳴
いよいよ期末試験が始まりました。
1科目は「会計」です。
予想通りの難問に手を焼いた武藤さん。
顔に血がのぼり、耳は火照り、手は汗ばんで、もうパニック状態です。
心の中で「誰か助けて!」と叫ぶもむなしく、3時間の制限時間はあっという間に過ぎてしまいました。
でも、悲惨な出来に落ち込んでいる暇はなく、武藤さんの残りは「政治」と「ビジネス」の試験に挑みますが…。
SOS!
The first exam was accounting, and I went into the exam room armed only with a pencil and a calculator (that was all we were allowed to bring with us). There were more than 100 people there. Actually, there are about 900 of us studying accounting, but the others were sitting for the exam elsewhere. Some looked nervous. Others looked relaxed. No prizes for guessing which group I belonged to.
We had three hours to complete the exam. I browsed through the exam paper and noted that it was unsurprisingly very difficult. One of the toughest things in accounting is, simply put, analyzing transactions and classifying them as either debit or credit. If you do it all properly, the debit and the credit come out equal, but during the exam, each problem question stubbornly refused to resolve itself, and so I panicked.
I felt my face turning red, my ears burning, my hands beginning to sweat. The sound of others doing their calculations irritated me. In my mind I was screaming, "SOS! Someone help me! Please!" But all I heard was a cold "Please put down your pens" from the examiner. The three hours had passed in a flash.
I left, my head drooping. I was convinced it had gone disastrously. After the exam, I bumped into one of my friends. He looked disappointed too, and said, "I couldn't do it. I'm going to fail this unit." "Don't say that," I said.
I didn't really have time to dwell on the exam. I had two more to go.
Next was the politics exam. The lecturer had been kind enough to tell us the content of the exam in advance. He'd said that it would have two sections. The first section would be made up of 10 short-answer questions on important theories. Each of these questions needed an answer of about 70 words each. The second section was made up of a short essay of about 700 words.
A quick calculation found that this meant around 1,300 words in two hours. That seemed beyond me. How could I possibly write so much in such a short space of time? And not only that, the exam effectively revolved around the second section, the essay, and I'm awful at writing essays under pressure. I never know where to start, and once I start, I never know where to go.
Unfortunately this time was no exception, but I plowed in and wrote frantically, doing my best.
The last exam was my business exam. It was multiple choice. My first impression of multiple-choice exams was that they're easier than other types of exams, but with around 140 questions to solve in two hours and so about 50 seconds per question, they can be a lot tougher than they seem. On the other hand, if you don't know the answer you can guess it, although in the end the answer you pick is either right or wrong — there are no in-betweens.
I only managed to answer about 120 questions.
I've been banging on about how tough the exams have been for a while, and my confidence has been shattered by them. All I can do now, I suppose, is wait for the results.
- accounting
- 会計
- armed only with 〜
- 〜だけで武装して
- calculator
- 計算機
- were allowed to bring with us
- 持ち込みが許されていた
- elsewhere
- 別の場所で
- nervous
- 緊張した
- No prizes for guessing 〜
- 〜は皆さんのご想像通りです
- belonged to
- 属していた
- complete 〜
- 〜を終える
- browsed through 〜
- ざっと〜を見た
- noted that 〜
- 〜に気付いた
- unsurprisingly
- 当然
- toughest
- 最も難しい
- simply put
- 簡単にいうと
- transactions
- 取引
- classifying 〜 as 〜
- 〜を〜に分類すること
- debit
- 借方
- credit
- 貸方
- properly
- 正しく
- come out equal
- 同額になる
- problem question
- 問題
- stubbornly
- かたくなに
- refused to resolve itself
- 解かせてくれなかった
- my face turning red
- 顔が赤くなる
- my ears burning
- 耳が火照る
- sweat
- 汗ばむ
- calculations
- 計算
- irritated 〜
- 〜をいらいらさせた
- was screaming 〜
- 〜と叫んでいた
- put down 〜
- 〜を置いてください
- examiner
- 試験官
- had passed in a flash
- あっという間に過ぎた
- drooping
- うなだれる
- was convinced 〜
- 〜だと確信した
- disastrously
- ひどい
- bumped into 〜
- 〜にばったり出会った
- looked disappointed
- 落ち込んでいるように見えた
- fail 〜
- 〜を落とす
- unit
- 単位
- dwell on 〜
- 〜にこだわる
- had two more to go
- 試験はあと2つあった
- politics
- 政治
- lecturer
- 講師
- content
- 内容
- in advance
- 事前に
- be made up of 〜
- 〜から成る
- theories
- 理論
- seemed beyond me
- 自分には不可能に思われた
- possibly
- どうして
- a short space of time
- 限られた短い時間
- effectively
- 事実上
- revolved around 〜
- 〜が中心だった
- (am)awful at 〜
- 〜するのがうまくない
- under pressure
- プレッシャー状態で
- once 〜
- 〜したら
- Unfortunately
- 残念ながら
- was no exception
- 例外ではなかった
- plowed in
- 取りかかった
- frantically
- 必死に
- multiple choice
- 選択式
- solve
- 解く
- per question
- 1問につき
- On the other hand
- 一方で
- in-betweens
- 中間
- only managed to 〜
- 〜しかできなかった
- (have)been banging on about 〜
- 〜について話していた
- for a while
- しばらくの間
- confidence
- 自信
- has been shattered
- 打ち砕かれた
- I suppose 〜
- 〜だと思う