It was one early morning of November 2010. That morning, my way to school was very much different from my ordinary route. It was extremely cold unlike the other days. I was walking with my parents on a different road, heading different school. I was feeling nervous, but was strangely calm at the same time. That morning, I was about to take the biggest exam in my teenager life: Suneung – the college scholastic ability test of Korea.
Every year, the forecast of the day before Suneung was busy to remind us that the Suneung day would be unusually cold day. That year also, the forecast got it right; the Suneung day was exceptionally colder than the other days. In the middle of the coldness, I was walking to Jinmyung High School, which was not my school, with my parents in silence. For three of us, it was the day that nothing could be screwed. We all knew how much I tried for few years, just for this one particular day. My hands were shaking because I was too stressed out, and my parents didn't want to burden me more. So we walked to the school without any words.
Finally, I got to the in front of the gate. I could see many people with various faces there: students who were there to encourage their seniors, parents who were praying toward their child's back, and examinees just like me. It was time for me to walk into the entrance, but I couldn't make my feet move, just like those were stuck to the ground. I was scared and afraid because it seemed like everything would be decided with this one exam – people's assessment, my career and my life. So I didn't want the day to come, but it had. I had to get in to the classroom. When I was leaving the gate, my parents said nothing. They just smiled and waved at me. At the second I turned around and headed the gate, suddenly tears started to run down my face. Even now, I don't get the meaning of the tear, but I assume that my complex emotion turned into those tears. After crying for a minute, I could stay little bit calmer.
When I sat in my seat in the classroom, I tried to think as positive as possible. I kept telling myself that everything would be fine and I would be okay. Soon, the first session started. It was Korean session and started with listening comprehension. When the voice started to read the first passage, I panicked that the exam of my life has finally begun. I couldn't catch what the voice was talking about, although it was in Korean. I was in extreme tension during the five passages that voice read. After the listening section, I finally could calm down and read through the given questions. It was the first and the only panic I had to go through. After that section, I became quite rational and solved numerous questions.
After the second session was lunchtime. In that school, I couldn't find any friends to have lunch with, so I had it alone. In fact, I needed someone to talk about that horrible morning and empathize with. However, there was no one to talk to, so I felt slightly lonely. But looking back, I think having lunch alone might have helped me to control my mind. If I had talked with somebody about the exam, I might have had a conversation about tricky questions. Than, I might have shared the answers. Imagining the situation after me finding out my answer wrong, I think I wouldn't be able to stay as calm as I did throughout the other sessions.
After lunch, I had three more sessions to go, which were English, Social Studies, and Japanese. I remember that time flew with English and social studies sessions because I concentrated the hardest ever. But the problem was the last session, Japanese. Too much time was given to solve problems, so I didn't have anything to do anymore after finishing the marking. At that point, I was deadly tired after going through 10 hours of exam and turbulence of emotions, and I was hungry. All I wanted that moment was a nice dinner and my bed. I was looking at my watch every one minute just wishing time to be passed.
After a long waiting, Suneung was finally over. The clock was passing 6 p.m. I rapidly packed up all my stuffs and got out of that nightmarish classroom. On my way home, I felt really strange. It was the same road I took in the morning, but everything looked fresh and new. I felt freedom at the one side of my heart, but also futility at the other side. In that moment, I felt like I completed the mission of my life and there was nothing more to do – which was not true because I had few more admission exams to go through for couple of weeks. Anyway, I was carefree and lighthearted. Everything that burdened me for my whole high school life was over.
201102861 Huyoung Lee
ReplyDelete1. What I like about this piece of writing is your excellent ability of using words and making sentences. I was surprised and impressed with your nice writing skills.
2. Your main point seems to be what you felt during Suneung. First you felt nervous but as time goes by you could calm down and control yourself, concentrate on the exam and then finally worn out and became carefree. I could exactly feel the complex mix of feelings you had had and that maybe is what you want to convey to the readers.
3. These particular words or lines struck me as powerful: I was in extreme tension during the five passages that voice read. As I also had Suneung, I could vividly imagine the scene and reminded of my Suneung day. Especially the phrase 'extreme tension' struck me powerfully because it well conveyed the extreme nervousness you felt on Suneung.
4. Some things aren’t clear to me. These lines or parts could be improved (meaning not clear, supporting points missing, order seems mixed up, writing not lively): The last paragraph. It seems like your flow of writing suddenly stops. Reading the last sentence in the last paragraph, I felt like something is missing. It would be better if you added some more sentences that could clearly organize your feelings and thoughts.
5. The one change you could make that would make the biggest improvement in this piece of writing is going through with your last paragraph. Compared to your beginning and middle part, the last one seems to relatively weak. So by adding some more details, the writing would improve a lot, in my opinion.
To Jieun Choi / From Choe Kyung-Yo / 2nd Assignment
ReplyDelete1. What I like about this piece of writing?
-> You gave a vivid and detailed description of the atmosphere of the day. They were so realistic that I felt as if I had been in the moment.
2. Your main point seems to be what you felt, thought, and during Suneung.
3. Any particular words or lines that struck me as powerful?
-> “It was the same road I took in the morning, but everything looked fresh and new”
I like this line very much, because it is exactly the same what I felt after finishing the test. I’m sure most students would have felt like that. You exactly put the feeling into words, which I think is very great.
4. Some things that aren’t clear to me?
-> All paragraphs have almost same length, which makes the piece of writing look neat and well-organized. Sentences are easy to understand and clear. Everything was good to me.
5. If your writing is titled, it will be perfect.
The Suneung Day
ReplyDeleteIt was one early morning of November 2010. That morning, my route to school was very much different from usual. It was unusually cold unlike the other days. And I was walking with my parents on a different road, heading different school. I was feeling nervous, but was oddly calm at the same time. There was a reason for these differences: that morning, I was about to take the biggest exam in my teenager life, Suneung – the college scholastic ability test of Korea.
Every year, the forecast of the day before Suneung was busy to remind us that the Suneung day would be unusually cold day. That day also, the forecast got it right; the Suneung day was exceptionally colder than the normal weather. In the middle of the coldness, I was walking to Jinmyung High School, which was not my school. I was assigned to other school in prevention of possible cheating. It was closer to my home, but there were nothing I could emotionally stick to because there was nothing friendly to me.
That morning, I was not alone on my way to school. I was walking with my parents in silence. For three of us, it was the day that nothing could be screwed. We all knew how much I tried for few years, just for this one particular day. I was so stressed out that my hands were shaking, and my parents didn’t want to burden me more. So we walked to the school without any words. Although we didn’t share a word, their existence was a big cheer for me.
Finally, I got to the gate. I could see many people with various faces there: students who were there to encourage their seniors, parents who were praying at their child’s back, and examinees just like me. It was time for me to walk into the entrance, but I couldn’t make my feet move, just like those were stuck to the ground. I was scared and afraid because it seemed like everything would be determined with this one exam – people’s assessment, my career and my life. I didn’t want the day to come, but it had. I had to get in to the classroom. When I was leaving the gate, my parents said nothing. They just smiled and waved at me. At the second I turned around and headed the gate, suddenly tears started to run down my face. Even now, I don’t get the meaning of the tear, but I assume that my complex emotion turned into those tears. After crying for a minute, I could stay little bit calmer.
When I sat in my seat in the classroom, I tried to think as positive as possible. I kept telling myself that everything would be fine and I would be okay. Soon, the first session started. It was Korean session and started with listening comprehension. When the voice started to read the first passage, I panicked that the exam of my life has finally begun. I couldn’t catch what the voice was talking about, although it was in Korean. I was in extreme tension during the five passages that voice read. After the listening section, I finally could calm down and read through the given questions. It was the first and the only panic I had to go through. After that section, I became quite rational and solved numerous questions.
ReplyDeleteAfter the second session was lunchtime. In that school, I couldn’t find any friends to have lunch with, so I had it alone. In fact, I needed someone to talk about that horrible morning and empathize with. However, there was no one to talk to, so I felt slightly lonely. But looking back, I think having lunch alone might have helped me to control my mind. If I had talked with somebody about the exam, I might have had a conversation about tricky questions. Than, I might have shared the answers. Imagining the situation after me finding out my answer wrong, I think I wouldn’t be able to stay as calm as I did throughout the other sessions.
After lunch, I had three more sessions to go, which were English, Social Studies, and Japanese. I remember that time flew with English and social studies sessions because I concentrated the hardest ever. But the problem was the last session, Japanese. Too much time was given to solve problems, so I didn’t have anything to do anymore after finishing the marking. At that point, I was deadly tired after going through 10 hours of exam and turbulence of emotions, and I was hungry. All I wanted that moment was a nice dinner and my bed. I was looking at my watch every one minute just wishing time to be passed.
The clock struck 6:05. It meant everything was over. Everyone in the classroom sighed in relief, and I could smile for the first time that day. I rapidly packed up all my stuffs and got out of that nightmarish classroom. Regardless of the grade I would get, I just felt freedom and relief. The test that has made me to race and burden myself for few years was finally over. When I got out of the gate, I stared the school for a moment. Unlike the morning, I felt some kind of bond to that school because it was the school I spent the roughest day in my life. On my way home, I felt really strange. It was the same road I took in the morning, but everything looked fresh and new. I was carefree and lighthearted, and everybody looked merry and joyful, just like magic. Then, I realized that my long, long day had finished. The day that has driven me for few years was officially over.