First thing's first - I PASSED LEVEL 2! HOORAY! From what I had heard and read before taking this level at Sogang University I knew it would be a challenge for me. One blog I read a while back mentioned that only 5 out of a class of 12 or 13 were able to immediately go into Level 3. My class had much better results. After taking the final, 9 out of 11* students were immediately granted the ability to take level 3 (*one student elected not to take the final exams so I left them out of the total). I know a few others in my class that will not continue during fall term due to other obligations but otherwise I believe a lot of my classmates will study level 3 this fall.
The report card Sogang University gives out is quite detailed. There is the oral interview evaluation with 4 categories and 8 level-grades. Then there are all your written test grades (grammar/vocab, conversation/dialogue, reading, listening, and writing). Then an oral test grade (percentage), a classroom activity evaluation, and finally a total grade and next level. There is a box for teacher comments but mine was left blank.
It seemed students struggled with the reading/listening test the most in my class and it may have been due to the time limit. I found myself scrambling to complete the test during the midterm and the final. I luckily made enough points on the final to pass out of level 2 since the reading portion was basically the one area that I had to improve upon from the midterm. The way the grading works is that if you make at least a 70% in all the categories (grammar/vocab, conversation/dialogue, reading, listening, writing, and speaking) you can go to the next level. If you happen to not do well on a category (for example reading) you can do a make-up test the day after the graduation day but your other scores have to be at least 80% I think.
Having experienced a full term at Sogang now I think I know what to expect going forward (at least in level 3). Previewing new material and then reviewing the material after class will be crucial. I started doing both of these things kind of late last term and trying to cram all the vocabulary and grammar in close to the end of the term was stressful. I also don't think I wrote down enough verb examples for all the grammar patterns as I found myself constantly referencing the grammar supplement book.
[3 Months]
I've been living in Korea now for over 3 months and the time has flown by. It's still amazing to think that back in May I shed my life in the USA for a completely new life here in Korea. I'm still getting a grasp on the language but I think that with hard work and studying I will have a decent grasp of it maybe late next year. My goal is to still graduate from Sogang Unversity's Korean language program (complete through level 6). If everything works out, I'll be through level 6 by next summer. Although, just judging from this past term, I may end up redoing a level...but let's hope my brain remains sponge-like through level 6!
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