I was really pleased to sign up for a French Immersion course in Trois Pistoles, Quebec, Canada. I was pleased until I was 30 minutes into the placement test. And needing to depart for reheaseal.
I don’t know where this attitude comes from exactly. Maybe it’s sort of a musician thing: Placement test? I didn’t see that coming. How hard can it be? I have fifteen minutes let’s bang it out!
It was hard. I was hating all grammar and thinking about life itself by question 24. In all, there were 80 questions. The first 40 or so were, “What word works best in this sentence?” That was all about the rules of agreement, the concepts of the partitive, possession and conjugation of verbs.
When I started to realize that I would not finish the test in my allotted 15 minutes, I thought what am I going to do? I’m not gonna lose this. So I tried to print it. But guess what, printer didn’t work because I had upgraded the network and failed to re install the printer. So I tried to print it to a file. Clever, these Canadians. You can print it but not with the answers.
Oh crap. I just gotta finish this and be late. Then I got to the Oral comprehension. Guess what. No sound. Why? Because I ignored the instructions that said, “Do not do this test in IE. Only in Firefox or Chrome. Because the sound won’t work. Dumbass.”
I started Chrome in another window. Then with the two windows open. I transferred my answers to the Chrome test manually. Then I tested the audio. It worked. But I was out of time. So I went to orchestra, with the window open in Chrome, hoping it didn’t time out. It was one hour from when I started.
The next day was uneventful. Uneventful-ish. The Oral part was easier for me. Or a least it was easier on me. I feel more comfortable in French conversation. I trust me ear. I really don’t know why. I haven’t had a ton of immersion. But enough I guess. So I don’t know if I will perform better on the test but it at least causes me less anxiety.
I finished the test and hit “Grade me.” Ok. 71%. That’s not bad. And even a list of what I wrong and right. 57 out of 80 sounds pretty good. Let me just print it. and close the the window! ARRRRRGHHH! I didn’t fix printer.
I quickly wrote down the score and hoped that would be good enough. Thankfully, it was.
I finished the application. Later I received a nice email telling me that I had ben “accepted” into the program. So I will be in Trois Pistoles, QC, at least from August 9 through August 15.
The placement test is really about getting you in the right classes while you are there. I also had to submit a paragraph in French about what I hoped to get out of the experience, and my personal interests. Again this was to make sure you get involved in things that you want.
I take the score to be second from the top. Above 88%, why are you here? So there is one level between Why-are-you-here and my level. That’s pretty good, I think. And I’ll probably really profit from the experience. In short, I did better than I thought I would.
I’ll put the information below so you can see my level in very academic terms. Perhaps only Christine would care. But hey, I even feel “accepted.”
Less than 32.99% – French 1002 or French 1003A/B (unless Grade 11 French has been taken).
French 1003A/B is recommended for students with Grade 10 French or with a Placement Test score between 23% and 32.99%.33% to 55.99% – French 1010 or French 1011A/B (unless Grade 12 French has been taken). French 1011A/B is recommended for students with a Placement Test score between 46% and 55.99%.
56% to 67.99% -French 1900E or 1910, or French 2207 A/B, 2208 A/B, 2209A/B
>>>>68% to 77.99% -French 2905A/B, French 2906 A/B, French 2907A/B (or French 2900), or any French course 2200-2999
78% to 87.99% -French 3905A/B, French 3906A/B, French 3907A/B, French 3908A/B or French 3900 or any non-language French course 2200 or above
88% and up -See an academic counselor.
Here is the placement Test:
http://www.uwo.ca/french/undergraduate/placement_test/testTP/popquiz.htm