So something a bit depressing happened today: I got the result of my second B2 exam. As I might have mentioned, it didn’t go as well as I hoped but I was expecting to creep up a bit from the miserly “suficiente” I got twelve months earlier to a “bom”. Today, it finally came through and it said…. “insuficiente”… meaning I have actually got worse after a full year of study.
Except of course, I haven’t, I’ve got quite a bit better. My conversation is still a bit stilted but I can write reasonably well, understand most of the podcasts I listen to, and I read 17 Portuguese books last year, some of them pretty heavy. So, what went wrong? Well, ultimately, I suppose, I am still pretty weak on a lot of important points of language. Add to that a lack of exam prep and just general having-a-bad day, and you get a pile of poo. It was a bit of a blow to my confidence. I’m not going to bloody stop though. Exams are a useful way of motivating myself (well – heh – sometimes) but I’m in it for the books and the mind-expansion, so. I’m not going to lie down in a ditch and give up because I got one shit result.
Luso 
I know how you feel. At school I got a D in my English ‘O’level, re-sat it in November & got another D. Re-sat it again in the summer & got an E! At that point I just gave up, because I’m a lazy cow.
Years later I went back & did English GCSE & got a B.
I found out later that I would’ve got an A if I had entered ‘Higher’, rather than ‘Foundation’ where B is the highest mark you can get. I’d just assumed I was going to do badly so went for the easier option.
You keep going, third time lucky 🙂
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Thanks Ellie. BTW, Your English is entirely acceptable so don’t worry 🙂
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