PNQ & SCNL Test 2009

After passing the FSOT, I began work on my Personal Narrative Questions. It's challenging to fit the narratives into such a limited space, but I worked at it until I was satisfied with my answers and submitted them. Each one requires that you include the contact information of someone who can verify your story, if necessary.

After submitting, I received an email encouraging me to schedule a telephone test for bonus language points, as I had indicated limited proficiency in a SCNL when registering for the FSOT. This was done, and on the day, I made myself comfortable and made the call. It was difficult to hear on the phone (I don't like speakerphones!), and the conversation started out easily enough. At first, I felt that I was keeping up, but the native speaker had an accent that I was not accustomed to, and I quickly realized that I was way off in a different conversation altogether. This might be comparable to someone studying English hear in the States, but being tested by someone from the United Kingdom, and talking about "putting something in a boot". Each side will completely misunderstand what the other is trying to say.

I tried to salvage it as best I could, but was not surprised to receive the email a few short weeks later stating that I did not pass the language test.

Then when I later received the PNQ letter stating that I had not passed them either, I was disappointed but not shocked. This was my first time to muddle through the PNQs since they were added to the process, and I historically fail my first attempts with each section of this process. Back to Square One again in 2010.