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This lesson is suitable for intermediate-level learners. After listening, test your knowledge with our quiz.
Learning notes:
Examples of phrases you can use when talking about school exams:
- NAPLAN’s coming up next week, and it suddenly feels very real.
- The test is just around the corner.
- My child’s already stressing about it.
- My child’s worried about the exam.
- We’ve been doing a bit of revision at home.
- We’re practising for the test.
- We’re going over schoolwork at home.
- We’re catching up on our reading.
- There’s so much pressure around exams.
- There’s a lot of pressure on students.
- This test is just a snap shot, not the whole picture.
- This test isn’t everything.This test doesn’t define who you are.
- I smashed the test.
- My son nailed NAPLAN.
- My daughter aced it.
Colloquial expressions:
To run into someone means to meet them by accident.
If something is coming up, it is happening in the near future.
To catch up means to get back on track with something or to get back doing something you haven’t finished.
An off day is a day when we don’t do something particularly well.
To smash a test is to find it easy and do it extremely well.
To nail a test is to find it easy and do it extremely well. .
To ace a test is to find it easy and do it extremely well.
Vocabulary:
NAPLAN is a national test in Australia that students Year 3,5,7 and 9 sit each year. It assesses their literacy and numeracy.
Literacy includes skills like reading and writing and understanding words and texts, and being able to express yourself in writing.
Numeracy involves understanding and using numbers, maths and solving problems.
To stress about something means to feel worried or anxious about it.
Pressure means stress, particularly stress from people who expect you to do something.
Revision means reviewing or going over something you have already studied, usually in order to prepare for a test or exam.
A snapshot is literally a photograph and we use it to mean a small moment in time or a quick look at something.
Learning focus:
When we are talking with a friend, we often use little ways of agreeing with and connecting with what someone says, particularly if we go on to make a point that could be seen as offering a different viewpoint.
This keeps the conversation friendly. Notice in the dialogue how Claire and Allan do this before they make a new point:
- Claire: Tell me about it.
This is a colloquial way of saying she has noticed the same thing.
- Allan: Same here.
Allan shows that he is in the same situation.
- Allan: True, but it's really just a snapshot, not the whole picture.
Allan acknowledges that what Claire has said is true before he goes on to making a point that sligtly disagrees with her.
Transcript:
(Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript)
SBS acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country and their connections and continuous care for the skies, lands, and waterways throughout Australia.
School drop-off feels normal, until exam season starts. Suddenly, parents are whispering at the gate, teachers are sending reminders, and your child comes home asking questions you weren’t expecting.
One word keeps coming up again and again: NAPLAN.
Hi, I’m Josipa and in this episode, we’re talking about school exams using NAPLAN as an example to talk about tests at school.
So, let’s go back to our school drop-off, you know that busy moment when parents bring their kids to school before the day begins. Well, in the car park Allan and Claire run into each other, that is, they met by accident, and start talking about...
Allan
NAPLAN’s coming up next week, and it suddenly feels very real.
Claire
Tell me about it. My son’s already stressing about it.
Allan
Same here. We’ve been doing a bit of revision at home.
Claire
We’re catching up on reading. There’s so much pressure around exams.
Allan
True, but it’s really just a snapshot, not the whole picture.
School exams can feel stressful, and sometimes it helps to hear how other parents talk about them. Let’s look more closely at what Allan and Claire said and see what we can learn from their conversation.
First Allan said,
NAPLAN’s coming up next week, and it suddenly feels very real.
NAPLAN is a national test in Australia that students Year 3,5,7 and 9 sit each year. It assesses their literacy and numeracy.
Literacy is all about reading and writing and understanding words and texts, and being able to express yourself in writing, while numeracy is about numbers, maths and solving problems.
When Allan says,
Allan
NAPLAN’s coming up next week.
He means the test is going to happen next week. If you say something is ‘coming up’ it means that it is happening in the near future. You can use this phrase in a lot of different situations not just for exams. For example,
Claire
My holiday is coming up.
Or,
Allan
We’ve got a meeting coming up tomorrow.
But let’s go back talking about exams. If you have an exam coming up, you could also say,
The test is just around the corner.
Next, Claire said,
Claire
My child’s already stressing about it.
To stress about something means to feel worried or anxious about it. You can stress about work, money, time or anything really...It’s a very common phrase in everyday English. You could also say,
My child’s worried about the exam.
Or more simply,
Claire
They’re feeling nervous.
Then Allan said,
We’ve been doing a bit of revision at home.
Revision means reviewing or going over something that has already been covered in class, usually to prepare for a test or exam.
If your child is doing revision, they are practising and refreshing their memory of something they have studied before. You could also say,
- We’re practising for the test.
- We’re going over schoolwork at home.
Next, Claire said:
We’re catching up on our reading.
To catch up means to get back on track with something or to go back to doing something you haven’t finished.
Here, Claire is talking about helping her child go over the reading work they might have not done. You can ‘catch up on’ in all kinds of things in different situations.
For example, after I’ve finished recording this podcast, I need to catch up on my emails.
Claire also said,
There’s so much pressure around exams.
Pressure means stress or expectations. In this situation, the pressure can come from school, parents or even the child themselves. You might also hear people say,
There’s a lot of pressure on students.
What do you think? Do schools in Australia put a lot of pressure on their students?
Finally, Allan said,
It’s really just a snapshot, not the whole picture.
He means that the test is only one small window into someone’s abilities. A snapshot is literally photograph and we can use the word to talk about a brief moment or a quick look at something.
When Allan says the exam is just a snapshot, he means it doesn’t show everything a child knows or can do. This phrase is often used to remind parents and students that one test does not define a person.
It happens to all of us. Sometimes we sit a test and it doesn’t go well. Everyone has an occasional off day – that is, a day when we don’t do something particularly well- and it’s not the end of the world. In those moments, it can be helpful to comfort people with phrases like:
- This test isn’t everything.
- This test doesn’t define who you are.
Sometimes the test goes really well, and it’s fun to celebrate that success. Here are a few phrases you can use when you or someone else has done a great job:
I smashed the test.
If you smashed the test, it means you did extremely well.
My son nailed NAPLAN.
When you nail a test, it means you did it easily and everything went perfectly. You could also say:
My daughter aced it.
This is another way of saying that she found it easy and did very well.
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Paul Nicholson and Lily O'Sullivan voiced the characters of Allan and Claire, and Professor Lynda Yates was our educational consultant.
