Writing Feedback / CAUSES OF LOW PASS RATE OF PROFICIENCY EXAM [4]

I am a preparatory student from Turkey. I will have proficiency exam in august. I am waiting your advises for that.

Proficiency is one of the biggest blocks for the students who want to start their license courses.Boğaziçi University has the most difficult proficiency exam in Turkey. Every year, more than fifty percent of students can't manage to pass it.Therefore, there must be critical problems about students' effort or capacity, test and education system.

Boğaziçi University is the choice of the most successful students at YGS-LYS , but they have hard times in preparatory class and exams.I think there are two reasons of that: not working enough and english education level of their high school. Students studying non-stop for YGS-LYS need a long holiday after that. Most of them consider prepatory class as an opportunity for it, yet Boğaziçi is not right choice for that. Most highs chools don't care english level so much while preparing students for LYS success. Hence, students graduate from high school with low english level. Passing proficiency is too difficult for those starting as beginner.

Education system of preparatory classes must be maintained for higher pass rate. Number of native teachers isn't enough for a university whose education language is English. Besides, lack of teaching experience may be a reason for this failure rate. Teachers must be capable of improving students to pass proficiency. Also YADYOK's course resources aren't good enough to improve us. Most of students, especially lower levels, need extra books to reach better levels.

The system of proficiency exam is challenging for most of us. Altough all of class exercises are parallel with the type of exam questions, students aren't happy about the system of proficiency. Noone can say easy for an exam lasting five hours. Writing is the most difficult part of the exam. Writing two essays in eighty minutes about freaky topics like general pardons is a nightmare for science students. YADYOK should find another way to test our writing skills.

Proficiency is harder than it should be and student's aren't happy with that. Such a low pass rate is not acceptable. YADYOK must maintain test and education system and students must work harder for success.

Writing Feedback / (IELTS) Studying abroad is a trend among university students in Turkey [5]

I am waiting your tips and comments for improving my writing skills.

Studying abroad is a trend among university students in Turkey. Students mostly prefer more developed countries like USA and BRIC. These countries attract them with better education, higher life standards and gaining experience opportunity. However,students are afraid of culture shock and expensive life.

Developed countries have countless advantages for young people. Effective education is the first thing that they look for. Most of the best universities around the world are located in the USA, while Turkey has 1 or 2. Besides, learning a foreign language can be much easier with native friends and teachers. Most of these countries' welfare states are better than us. Students going from here will find impressive life with cultural and social possibilities. Also, they will live away from their families, which means freedom and responsibilities. They will gain life experiences and learn how to stand against difficulties without taking help, which make them adults.

Of course, these countries aren't perfect, they have disadvantages, too. As I mentioned above, students will discover a country with full of opportunities, but definitely there will be different from hometown. Every country has typical food, cleaning and daily routine habits and getting used to them can be tough for a stranger. Students who can't manage to live in that culture may feel alone and depressive. On the other hand, everything that the countries offered have a price. Most students need scholarship for studying abroad. Those don't have scholarship must find a part-time job for a better life, which affects their lessons.

Consequently, studying abroad isn't as easy as it seems. Better education and life standards have price that you must pay. Finally, I think that all students must experience this adventure for better career and future.

(40 min,286 words)

Writing Feedback / Learning a new language process [4]

I wait your feedbacks especially general ones like proficiency level of it.

Nowadays, many people want and try to learn new languages for their career and cultural interaction with tourists. Although schools have a couple of foreign language lessons, that is not enough to speak fluently. Reaching advance level may take years like the mother tongue process. It requires a sequence of steps that must be followed carefully.

The first step is going a course to learn basic grammar rules. You need grammar to form sentences, even easy ones. In schools this phase lasts at least five years, but with an effective course it could last just 1-2 years. After basic rules and times, you need to learn how to form a complex sentence with conjunctions. Besides, you need to have an adequate level of vocabulary which is a big problem for most students.

At the end of the course step, practice stage starts. You need to exercise to improve your new language. Watching movies with subtitles is one of the most effective ways of it, especially for the listening skill. After several movies you will have the ability to watch movies in original language. Reading books appropriate for your level boosts your reading and vocabulary skill. In universities, academic writing is a critical skill so you need to learn that how to write a perfect essay. Consequently, never forget that practice makes perfect.

The final step is interaction with native speakers. You can prefer tourists In your country or you can go abroad like most students. Abroad trips are more attractive for most people because of you have to speak their language and also understanding their culture helps, too. Being exposed to this language so much your sense of language will increase and speaking will be much easier for you.

Beside travelling, you may find a pen pal to chat which is another effective way.

To sum up, learning a new language is a hard and long process which needs determination. If education in the school is not enough for you , you should go to a course as the starting point. After learning basics of that language, the only thing that you need is practicing regularly.

40min/356 words