"bad sound qualitiy in listening test"

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Rumpelstilz (5 posts) Jun-17-10, 07:05 PM (GMT) "bad sound qualitiy in listening test" Hello! Yesterday, I sat the CAE. It went ok, I hope, apart from the listening test: The problem was that the sound quality was really poor. The exam was hold in a congress hall and the listening part took place via loudspeakers (no earplugs). It was possible to understand the bits from which one knew the words anyway. But there was kind of resonance which made it nearly impossible to deduce an unknown word from its context. I practised a lot of listening tests so I think I am able to compare. It was not that this listening was more difficult, it was just not audible clearly enough. Therefore, Iīm convinced it didnīt show my auditory ability. I talked to other examinees and they had the same opinion as I had. Most of them hadnīt practised many listening test, so they couldnīt compare that much. But still, they found it very diffcult to understand. In my opinion, the exam is quite expensive and a centre should be obligated to provide earplugs. Now I need advice: Is there anything I can do? I will for sure write a letter of complain to the centre (maybe they are going to chance it?) and a copy to Cambridge. And I will for sure not choose this cente anymore. But it would really ##### if I fail the exam because of the sound quality.   Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

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Subject     Author     Message Date     ID    RE: bad sound qualitiy in listening test Valaxel Jun-18-10 1    RE: bad sound qualitiy in listening test SirBoss Jun-19-10 2        RE: bad sound qualitiy in listening test Rumpelstilz Jun-22-10 3            RE: bad sound qualitiy in listening test SirBoss Jun-22-10 4                report Rumpelstilz Jun-28-10 5                    RE: report SirBoss Jul-22-10 6                        RE: report Rumpelstilz Aug-03-10 7

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Valaxel (7 posts) Jun-18-10, 08:50 PM (GMT) 1. "RE: bad sound qualitiy in listening test" Hi Rumpelstilz! I wholeheartedly agree. The problem you are describing is exactly what happened to me not only last year at CAE, but also two days ago at CPE. To my disappointment, they used an obsolete stereo both times and this highly affected my performance. The Listening was definitely the worst part in my whole exam. That really gets on my nerves, especially if I think that, at home, I used to score at least 80% using a computer; but during the exam I must have scored around 65%. I doubt it is only a coincidence. I don't know if they will consider your letter of complaint, and yet I strongly suggest you write it. There is nothing to lose after all. Last but not least, don't worry about your general exam result. If you did fine in the other Papers, you will definitely pass it. As I told you, we are in the same boat. Last year I had the same problem and my Listening was evaluated almost borderline. Even so, thanks to the other Papers I managed to get a B. So, just one piece of advice: don't lose heart! Take care.   Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

SirBoss (18 posts) Jun-19-10, 07:02 PM (GMT) 2. "RE: bad sound qualitiy in listening test" Hello everyone. I am Krasen from Bulgaria and like you too I also had some problems with the Listening Paper of the CAE exam last Wednesday. I have done lots of practice tests and I can say that usually I score at least 85%. However, when the listening part of the examination was held the quality of the recordings was so poor that I had trouble hearing what words were said. I hope I got at least the half of the answers right. And when it comes to writing letters of complaint, I did write one right after the examination finished. I just hope I can get a good mark, an A or B mark, because it's reaaly essential for me. Hope you too can pass the exam with flying colours.   Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Rumpelstilz (5 posts) Jun-22-10, 07:31 PM (GMT) 3. "RE: bad sound qualitiy in listening test" Thank you very much for your encouraging responses! I donīt think that I have half of the answers right, unfortunatelly. But I hope the other parts of the exam turned out okay. I hoped to pass with a B at least, but at the moment, I would be happy just to pass! Krasen, I hope you will get the grade you need - I keep my fingers crossed!   Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

SirBoss (18 posts) Jun-22-10, 08:49 PM (GMT) 4. "RE: bad sound qualitiy in listening test" Rumpelstilz I'll keep my fingers crossed for you too. I hope we both pass the exam with at least B marks.   Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Rumpelstilz (5 posts) Jun-28-10, 02:56 PM (GMT) 5. "report" Now I wrote a letter of complain (which I learned studying for the exam )to the centre and a cc to Cambridge. The centre answered that I should have complained immediately after the exam. But the examiners didnīt recognize any problems with the sound system. Therefore, I told all my co-students who didnīt like the soundquality either to complain, too. I think, this is important for the future examinees because the centre also told me that NEVER ANYBODY complained about the sound although I know now (from my teacher) that there were complains every time. Hence it is really important to complain to the centre, even if it doesnīt help yourself, but maybe it helps the future examinees (and maybe Iīll be one too, unfortunately...) AND Cambridge ESOL wrote to me as well. They said that they will investigate the centre. Well, I donīt know if this helps, but if ALL examinees who are concerned complain, sometime in the future, it is going to be changed!!! So in my opinion it is very important to complain if you sit an exam and the sound quality is poor!   Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

SirBoss (18 posts) Jul-22-10, 05:20 PM (GMT) 6. "RE: report" I am sorry that I reply with a huge delay but I also received an answer to my complaint. I did it through the centre which was responsible for holding this particular examination. I was said that a special consideration form has been sent to Cambridge ESOL and that the markers will take into account the difficulties which I experienced during the listening Paper.   Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Rumpelstilz (5 posts) Aug-03-10, 12:15 PM (GMT) 7. "RE: report" Now we got our results and it is obvious that the results in the listening part donīt correspond with our experience in our course. Only one of us (weīre a group of 14 students) had a "good" in listening. All the others had "borderline" or "weak". The results in the training tests were always mostly ok. I think Iīll write again just to tell that our results turned out this way. Luckily, 10 of us passed the exam. So I think this is a sign that the sound quality was really bad because the rest of our performance must have been quite good.   Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

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