Test of the Swedish language
В понедельник, 4 мая, я ездил в Хельсинки сдавать вступительный тест по шведскому языку для университета Åbo Akademi. Тест проходил в Шведской высшей школе торговли (на фото). Тест был достаточно трудный, т.к. в нем в основном проверялось понимание на слух, а я привык читать тексты. Тем не менее, я набрал высокий балл - 159 из 200. Для гуманитарного факультата, куда я подал заявление, достаточно 135.
Svenska handelshögskolan
On 4 May I went to Helsinki to take part in the entrance test of Swedish for Åbo Akademi. This is a test for those, whose native language is not Swedish.
The test was held at Hanken (Svenska handelshögskolan), in the city centre, at 13 o’clock.
I had not prepared specifically for that test, because I could get almost no information about the test structure and what skills were tested.
The test proved to be difficult, because it was primarily aimed at listening comprehension (while I'm mainly used to reading texts) and it was also was fast - it lasted only an hour.
I had a problem with the 1st assignment, where a speaker (on a tape recorder) talked about university studies and then I was to fill in blanks of a text based on this talk. Unfortunately, I did not have time to read the text before listening to the speech. I just got a general idea and jotted down a few words. The written text was long and contained many gaps, in which I was to write "suitable" words, which sometimes had to be very specific. For example, I did not know the names of all three parts of student financial support: while listening to the speech I wrote down studierpening and studielån, and there was also the third one which I missed, but only that word was asked for in the text. So, for a few blanks I could not write suitable words.
The following assignment contained small oral texts with questions, for which I was to choose “true” or “false”. It was easier, because I did not have to retain so much information in my head. Besides, two texts were based on articles, which I had previously read in the newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet.
One of the articles was about cats living indoors. Their fur becomes very poisonous, because it collects poisons from furniture and carpets due to static electricity. When a cat licks its fur, it swallows poisons. As a result, the level of poisons in the blood of cats living indoors is 20 times higher than in humans.
The other article dealt with the fact that the Swedish language has been largely replaced by Finnish and English on shop signs in Helsinki.
In the 3d assignment I was to fill in blanks in the text (also about higher education) choosing one of three given variants. That was the easiest task, because I could use my passive knowledge of the language. The variants were mainly prepositions or words of the same root like visa, påvisa, bevisa.
The 4th assignment was again listening comprehension of small texts, with one question each, for which I had to provide a written answer. Here my background knowledge also helped me, because the topic of one text was familiar (that Swedish being gradually phased out as a scientific language in Sweden).
For the last part of the test we listened to a long speech about study experiences of Finnish-language speakers at Åbo Akademi. Then we were asked either to summarize it or to write why we want to study at Åbo Akademi. I chose to write a summary, because the speech was straightforward and it was still fresh in my head.
Today I have looked up my result at the site of Åbo Akademi. It’s 159. The maximum possible score is 200 and the Faculty of Humanities, where I applied, requires 135.
P.S.
The average result of the takers of this test was 112. It's mentioned in the test result, which I received by post.
Svenska handelshögskolan
On 4 May I went to Helsinki to take part in the entrance test of Swedish for Åbo Akademi. This is a test for those, whose native language is not Swedish.
The test was held at Hanken (Svenska handelshögskolan), in the city centre, at 13 o’clock.
I had not prepared specifically for that test, because I could get almost no information about the test structure and what skills were tested.
The test proved to be difficult, because it was primarily aimed at listening comprehension (while I'm mainly used to reading texts) and it was also was fast - it lasted only an hour.
I had a problem with the 1st assignment, where a speaker (on a tape recorder) talked about university studies and then I was to fill in blanks of a text based on this talk. Unfortunately, I did not have time to read the text before listening to the speech. I just got a general idea and jotted down a few words. The written text was long and contained many gaps, in which I was to write "suitable" words, which sometimes had to be very specific. For example, I did not know the names of all three parts of student financial support: while listening to the speech I wrote down studierpening and studielån, and there was also the third one which I missed, but only that word was asked for in the text. So, for a few blanks I could not write suitable words.
The following assignment contained small oral texts with questions, for which I was to choose “true” or “false”. It was easier, because I did not have to retain so much information in my head. Besides, two texts were based on articles, which I had previously read in the newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet.
One of the articles was about cats living indoors. Their fur becomes very poisonous, because it collects poisons from furniture and carpets due to static electricity. When a cat licks its fur, it swallows poisons. As a result, the level of poisons in the blood of cats living indoors is 20 times higher than in humans.
The other article dealt with the fact that the Swedish language has been largely replaced by Finnish and English on shop signs in Helsinki.
In the 3d assignment I was to fill in blanks in the text (also about higher education) choosing one of three given variants. That was the easiest task, because I could use my passive knowledge of the language. The variants were mainly prepositions or words of the same root like visa, påvisa, bevisa.
The 4th assignment was again listening comprehension of small texts, with one question each, for which I had to provide a written answer. Here my background knowledge also helped me, because the topic of one text was familiar (that Swedish being gradually phased out as a scientific language in Sweden).
For the last part of the test we listened to a long speech about study experiences of Finnish-language speakers at Åbo Akademi. Then we were asked either to summarize it or to write why we want to study at Åbo Akademi. I chose to write a summary, because the speech was straightforward and it was still fresh in my head.
Today I have looked up my result at the site of Åbo Akademi. It’s 159. The maximum possible score is 200 and the Faculty of Humanities, where I applied, requires 135.
P.S.
The average result of the takers of this test was 112. It's mentioned in the test result, which I received by post.