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Home > Turkish > Continuers Course > How to Approach the Exam > The Oral Examination > The Oral Examination

How to approach the exam:

Oral Examination

1. Examination specifications
2. Preparing for the examination
3. During the examination
4. The Board of Studies Website

Examination specifications

The oral examination will take approximately fifteen minutes and is worth 25 marks.

The oral examination assesses the student’s knowledge and skills in interacting in Turkish. It relates to Objective 1– exchange information, opinions and experiences in Turkish and Objective 4 – understand aspects of the language and culture of Turkish-speaking communities, and the following outcomes:

1.1	uses a range of strategies to maintain communication
1.2	conveys information appropriate to context, purpose and audience
1.3	exchanges and justifies opinions and ideas on known topics
1.4	reflects on aspects of past, present and future experience
4.1	recognises and employs language appropriate to different social contexts
4.2	identifies values, attitudes and beliefs of cultural significance
4.3	reflects upon significant aspects of language and culture.

The oral examination is held in Term 3, earlier than the HSC written examinations. The Board of Studies publishes a Languages Oral Examinations Timetable each year at (http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/events/ ). You should be familiar with the practical advice supplied with the timetable. You will be advised of the examination date, time and venue at least three weeks prior to the examination. Make sure that your school and the Board of Studies have your correct contact details.

The examination will consist of a general conversation between you and an examiner and a discussion on a chosen in-depth study. In the conversation, you and the examiner will discuss the topic, personal world, as it relates to the prescribed topics in the syllabus. The focus of the Discussion will be to explore aspects of language and culture of the Turkish-speaking communities. The topic of your in-depth study may be chosen from the sub-topics suggested for study in the syllabus.

You may support your Conversation and Discussion with objects such as photographs, diagrams and maps. Notes and cue cards are not permitted.

You are not permitted to use dictionaries or refer to written notes during the oral examination.

Other useful and related documents provided by the Board of Studies are included at the end of this section.

Preparing for the examination

You should aim to establish effective communication and to maintain the flow of the conversation to create the best overall impression. You should demonstrate how well you can:

• exchange relevant information (i.e. give relevant answers to the questions asked)
• exchange opinions and make comments (e.g. say why you like something, why you don’t want to do something, etc.)
• use appropriate intonation and pronunciation
• demonstrate a variety of vocabulary and language structures.

This is an examination for which you can be well prepared. You may be asked about aspects of everyday life (see the topics listed below), from the perspective of your personal world. This is your opportunity to talk about yourself, your friends, your family, etc.

You are advised to:

• familiarise yourself with the topics prescribed in the syllabus. These are:
  • Personal identity
  • Future aspirations
  • Leisure.
    
    
• learn as much useful vocabulary as you can. This will enable you to speak across the range of topics.
  
  
• practise your pronunciation. There are a number of resources available to help you do this, e.g. the audio material which comes with textbook courses, commercially available material which focuses specifically on pronunciation, etc. Some of these are available electronically. Listen carefully and try to model your pronunciation on what you hear.
  
  
• practise responding to a wide range of sample questions.
  
  
• practise speaking with classmates, with Turkish teachers, etc.
  
  
• record your answers and, if possible, ask your teacher for feedback. This will give you practice in recording your responses and will also help you to assess areas on which you may need to focus, e.g. pronunciation, intonation, variety of vocabulary, sentence structure, etc.
  
  
• practise speaking in full sentences and extending your responses where possible. This will enable you to show a greater facility with the language than if you consistently answer with simple phrases or single words. Practise making a number of relevant comments in your response.
  
  

  e.g.	Examiner:	Hangi sporu yapıyorsun?
  	Student:	Futbol oynuyorum, yüzüyorum.
  	Examiner:	Bu sporu zevk için mi yoksa yarışmalara katılmak için mi yapıyorsun?
  	Student:	Bu sporu zevk aldığım için yapıyorum. İyi de bir yüzücüyüm ama ailem bu spora bu kadar zaman ayırdıktan sonra yarışmalara da katılmam için beni teşvik ediyor.
  	Examiner:	Bu konuda sen ne düşünüyorsun?
  	Student:	Yarışmalara katılmak için daha disiplinli çalışmak ve daha çok vakit harcamak gerekir. Bu yüzden özellikle bu yıl yarışmalara katılmayı düşünmüyorum.

  
  
  
• practise giving a range of information in your answers. You may be asked a range of questions from the perspective of your own personal world and you should not limit yourself to extremely brief answers. Conversing well, across a range of topics, will create a good impression throughout the examination. It is up to you to maximise this opportunity during the examination. You should remain consistent throughout the conversation, e.g. it is inadvisable to say you have three brothers at the beginning of the examination and then claim to be an only child at the end.
  
  
• familiarise yourself with phrases and structures that are used regularly in a conversation. Draw up a list of useful vocabulary and sentence structures for each topic.
  
  
• for the discussion topic, prepare the materials well. Work with your teacher during the year to organise this. Prepare your discussion well in advance.

During the examination

You should:

• remain calm and speak confidently and clearly.
  
  
• avoid the temptation to rush into a response. If you need a moment to think about your answer, then take this – just as you might in a normal conversation. On the other hand, long pauses would not be natural, and should be avoided, especially as this examination only lasts for seven minutes.
  
  
• listen carefully to the question. If you have not understood, or are uncertain, then ask the examiner (in Turkish) for clarification, or to repeat it, e.g. Soruyu tekrarlayabilir misiniz? or Soruyu farklı şekilde sorar mısınız?
  
  
• be aware that the questions asked may follow on from the answers you have already given. However, a number of different topics may be covered in the examination,so there may be a switch to other topics during the course of the conversation. You should be prepared for this to happen.
  
  
• be prepared to expand your answers. This does not mean giving a prepared monologue and attempting to dominate the conversation. However, you should attempt to expand your responses by making a number of relevant comments to demonstrate the range of vocabulary and language structures you have at your disposal. You may find that aiming for roughly three comments in an extended response will assist you in this.

• try to treat every question as a springboard to show what you know. Avoid the temptation to restrict your response to (yes) evet/tamam or (no) hayır/yok/değil, or to simply repeat the question. Consider the following examples. Which response do you think would make the better impression?
  
  

  Example 1	Examiner:	Kardeşin var mı?
  	Student:	Var.
  Example 2	Examiner:	Kardeşin var mı?
  	Student:	Biz beş kardeşiz. İki ablam bir kız kardeşim bir de erkek kardeşim var.

  
  
  
• be aware that this is not a normal ‘conversation’, but rather a one-way conversation, with a series of questions provided for you to demonstrate your knowledge. It is therefore not appropriate for you to ask the examiner questions, e.g. whether he/she has seen a film, where he/she goes on holidays, etc.
  
  
• remember that there is a wide range of possible questions that you could be asked. It is impossible to accurately predict the questions in this type of examination. However, if you have practised, you can be confident you will be able to handle any line of questioning that develops.
  
  
• answer as best you can, but do not worry if there is a question you cannot answer. A range of questions may be asked across a range of topics.
  
  
• be aware that you should not ask the examiner for assistance, other than to repeat or clarify the question.
  
  
• note that if you are asked a question with siz (‘you’ plural), then you are being asked about yourself and other people, and will probably want to respond with biz(‘we’).
  
  

  e.g.	Examiner:	Ne tür filmler izlersin？Komedi türü filmler hakkında ne düşünüyorsun?
  e.g.	Examiner:	Arkadaşlarınla ne tür filmler izliyorsunuz? Niçin bu tür filmleri tercih ediyorsunuz?

  
  
  
• be prepared to answer a question(s) in the past tense.
  
  
• avoid using English words if you don't know the correct word or expression in Turkish. You should have a range of appropriate vocabulary at your disposal and should keep to what you know to be correct. The examination is not a good time for experimentation.
  
  
• always remember that the examiner’s role is to facilitate the examination. The aim is to provide you with a positive experience, by giving you the opportunity to show your range of ability in spoken Turkish.

The Board of Studies Website

At the Board of Studies website (http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/ ), you can access the following:

• Turkish Continuers syllabus
• HSC (Year 12) Examination Timetable
• Past HSC examination papers
• Notes from the Examination Centre
• Equipment Checklist for Higher School Certificate Examinations and School Certificate Tests
• Rules and Procedures for Higher School Certificate Candidates.