15th February 2006 - Day 121

Didn't sleep well last night. Kept waking up for no reason.

I made my way down to the exam venue on the other side of the town after having a larger than normal portion of cereals. I might not have the time for lunch due to the scheduling of another exam.

I reached the venue 15 minutes earlier than the appointment time. One of the secretaries had to open up a room for me to go in and wait.

I spent the time taking out the gelbe Zettel for the Bewertung later and kept all the remaining stuffs.

The secretary came and told me to go into the office for the Prüfung. The professor and the Beisitzerin were already there. The usual greetings and such, and the Prüfung began.

According to my observations, I believe this is how the grading goes. Of course, take it with a pinch of salt.

Let us begin with the assumption that any student who first steps into the office starts with a Note of 5,0. This is the lowest possible grade in the grading system here (which corresponds to a "fail"). The lower the number, the better one's exam performance is (to a maximum of 1,0).

• Student enters the office - 5,0
• Student shows gelbe Zettel proving exchange student status - 4,0
• Laughing at the professor's jokes even though they are not funny or you don't understand a thing - 3,0
• Giving some comments reflecting the background of your studies and that you do know what you're actually doing - 2,7
• Professor asks a question and student is stumped - 3,3
• Student sprouts some nonsense which is not even vaguely related to the question - 3,0
• Professor gives clues to help student - 3,7
• Student answers question correctly after some time - 2,3
• But still with some misconceptions - 2,7
• Professor ask another question to which the student answers correctly - 2,0
• Allowing the professor to relate his adventures, with the student confirming that the phenomenon observed by the professor is indeed true - 1,7
• Taking the advice which the professor has to offer and showing determination to continue learning German in the future - 1,3

There you have it. I walked out with a final Note of 1,3 for this module. The fact is, I learnt more during the 35 minutes discussion than all the lectures I've attended for this module.

You could say I was not paying attention to the lectures or how little I've absorbed. But the professor touched on some issues and it set me thinking. That is correct. The jelly in my thick skull is hardly ever utilized.

By the way, Umsatz can either mean "conversion" or "turn over". I almost answered wrongly because of that.

I happily made my way down back to attend another lecture, which I would have the exams for the module shortly after.

It has been enjoyable attending the lecture, even though the professor does not write legibly. It seemed to have revived my interest in a certain field. I finally knew what the funny looking, inverted cone shaped structure along Old Tampines Road is for. It's funny how answers come up at places where you never expect to find them.

I followed the professor to the exam venue after the lecture ended. This is the last time this module would be offered. As I have said in the earlier entry, it has to make way for newer modules.

Along the way to the exam venue, I asked the Professor some questions.

1. He's been teaching since 1977. The module which I'm taking, has been offered since 1985!
2. No doubts about it, he drives from Köln to Karlsruhe everytime there's a lecture. That's about 6 hours for a return journey.
3. Arbeitslos rate remains high at over 10% in Germany.
   
4. There are good job opportunities for a process engineer in Germany. Apparently there is a shortage of Verfahrenstechniker.

The exam began shortly after the Beisitzer arrived. This really feels like an exam where in a short span of 30 minutes, everything under the sun could be asked.

I thought I was ready for this exam since I spotted the questions (although the voice said spotting 5 chapters to read out of 6 doesn't really count as spotting) and made all necessary preparations.

I was wrong. Remember about the illegible handwriting? It turns out that the parts which I scribbled (because I wasn't sure what he wrote on the blackboard) were tested as well, even though I thought they were relatively insignificant.

Coupled with the fact that my short term memory shut down yesterday, there were a few graphs which I either forgot how to draw, or what the axes should be labeled as.

Language difficulties can be an advantage with such a good professor. I pronounced the first and last syllabus of a word, he filled in the blanks for me.

Still, ich habe die Prüfung gut bestanden.

I even had time left to catch lunch before going off for another lecture.

I tried to register for another exam after that. It was quite amusing. The secretary described a certain event to me. After which she proceeded to write the word down. I just said genau at the word, and she thought that my German is good!

Well, you told me what the word meant. Einzelprüfung simply means individual testing according to what I gathered from the secretary.

Today was the last lesson for Phonetik classes. There were only 4 students. We did some revision on the previous exercises.

Frau Böhmer told us the some funny Nachname. Like Herr Rund, Herr Dick und Herr Lang. Or Herr Schwarz, Herr Rot und Herr Grün. When she was a student, she was known as Herzog. Along with her at her Studentenwohnheim there were 2 other girls known as Kaiser und König. Wouldn't know if she made the story up but it was funny.

It feels strange when things are coming to an end. The thought of people you might never see again. The people who have been in the same class with you for 14 weeks. The people who you do not talk to, but quietly acknowledge the existence of. You start to miss them. Then slowly, you forget about them. Until your path crosses theirs again.

So, a little celebration for completing 2 exams in German!