A test is not a test.

If you haven't had one yet, trust me, you're going to get a test in the next four weeks.

Don't stress. Don't freak out. Don't be scared.

It's not a test: It's a pat on the back. You can choose to focus on your mistakes. Why not focus on what you did well? If your class doesn't have a cutoff point, why is 80% a failure?

It's not a test: It's a diagnostic tool. The questions you got wrong are not mistakes. They're a way to analyze what you need to study more.

It's not a test: It's a reality check. Sometimes, it's not very pleasant to see your errors in black and white (and red) in front of you, but it's better to know NOW, while you can still do something about it.

Remember that a reaction is always a choice. How you choose to react to a test -- and your test results -- can determine how well you'll do in your English class this year.

Another FREE TOEFL resource

Here's one for you students who will be doing the TOEFL this year - a free online practice page, courtesy of The Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper:

http://toefl.testprep.globecampus.ca/

Why bother with Proficiency?

In this week's CPE newsletter, www.Flo-Joe.co.uk had some interesting thought about doing the Cambridge Proficiency exam:

CPE RECOGNITION - why bother doing the Proficiency exam?An important factor in a student's mind when deciding to take an exam is its currency for study or vocational purposes. CPE is wellrecognised both in the UK and abroad, so what are the typical benefits of passing the Proficiency? Firstly, CPE is recognised by just about all British universities for satisfying English languagerequirements and, according to Cambridge ESOL literature "a growing number of universities in the USA", where traditionally the TOEFL exam has greater recognition. It is not just in the academic fieldthat CPE is useful. Many companies around the world where potentialemployees are required to demonstrate a high level of language competence ask for CPE as evidence; furthermore, ongoing staff development programmes may work towards the exam. If you would like more information about how and where Cambridge ESOL examinations are recognised you can go the Cambridge ESOL website:
http://www.cambridgeesol.org/recognition/index.php

It's worth remembering that motivation is a key factor in how well you learn English. Having a specific goal in mind - doing an exam, for example - may help you improve your English and your learning skills this year.

Spelling as Sport!

One of the peculiarities of spelling words in English is that, many times, there's no direct correlation between an individual letter - the letter "A", say - and the sound it represents. There are a lot of historical reasons for this (most of them too complicated to talk about here), but it has created a uniquely American pastime: the spelling bee.

A spelling bee is a competition, usually for children, where a group of kids are given words to spell. The children start out with easy words, but as the competition progresses, the words become more difficult, and each time a student spells a word incorrectly, he or she is eliminated. The winner is the person who, basically, can spell more words than any other competitor.

In the United States, the biggest and most famous spelling bee is the Scripps National Spelling Bee (http://www.spellingbee.com/), sponsored by the Scripps News Service. Each winner is sponsored by a Scripps newspaper, and this year's winner was Anamika Veeramani, from Ohio, who had to spell stromuhr to win. (A stromuhr is a kind of meter that measures how quickly blood goes through a vein.)

Want to try the test for yourself, to see if your spelling would be good enough to qualify? Click on this link: http://public.spellingbee.com/public/test/publicsample/?page=word.

If you think that only native English speakers would do well at this, think again: 21 of the 273 competitors in the 2010 competition do not speak English as their first language.

(Why "bee", you ask? In addition to the typical definition that everyone knows - a fat insect that makes honey and stings people - "bee" can also mean a social gathering where people combine work, competition, and amusement. No one's exactly sure where the word comes from, but it may come from Old English ben, "prayer".)

Thursday's Word Challenge

Here's one to test your memory and your vocabulary: How many words can you think of that have four or more syllables? Do you know where the stress goes in each word?