I've finally finished my Japanese exam this morning. It was both harder and easier than I expected. The topics covered have been pretty much the topics we've covered in class, which has led some to believe that this semester was nothing more than something you guess at, based on what we've done in class. The exam itself was split up into three parts with another listening exam, two hours later;

Translation - This was the one which was just fiendish. To make matters truly worse, our teacher even used an idiomatic phrase we learnt in week one. In fact the entire piece was just an extension of everything we did in week one - in which we were told not to worry about too much. There was a ton of vocab and kanji I didn't know and just guessed at. Stuff like　定年 and 不動産業者 will haunt me for the rest of my life. At the end, was a monster sentence which I managed to somehow write in broken English. Terrible stuff. If he marks like a translation pedant, I am screwed.

Reading - People said this was hard, however if you bothered to take on board what Angela was teaching us in class (don't translate - interpret) you would find this quite easy. I managed to answer all the questions and understand them, but I still felt as if I screwed up one or two. Still, it went a lot better than the practice one I did in class. I did this last, and had about 30 minutes to do it. I then spent the remaining 20 odd minutes of the exam, furiously checking all my answers - especially the translation.

Writing - My sakubun was utter drivel. The only saving grace was that it had a beginning and an end. The less said about the stuff in the middle the better. Perhaps the fact I managed to sneak in some useful constructions will save me. Not a 2.1 material but easily a 2.2 depending on what mood my teacher is in when she marks it. Its definitely the same standard as most of my other pieces, although this one will be full of silly mistakes - but maybe more so than usual.

Listening - This was difficult, I understood about half of it, guessed a quarter of it and the other quarter I wrote some utter bollocks and hope it worked out for the best. That's about a 40% er right there.

Conclusion - I think I've passed but the result will not be pretty. My coursework throughout the year has been about 55% ish and I reckon I'll get a 2.2 for this module. if I've failed, I know several people who will be in the same boat as me. However, I'm just glad to have done it. I know in my heart that I am still improving, still taking aboard new grammar and kanji and working towards some tangible goal of understanding this language. Obviously its nice to have a 2.1 and be considered for a scholarship for next year. But that's never gonna happen and I'm just glad to see the back of half of this year. I hope I've passed and I hope all the people who worked so hard this semester have passed as well.

Still got my oral exam on Monday plus my Lexicology and Minorities crap. So a wonderful weekend of study for me. *sigh* See you on the other side folks.

jaa ne...