202 exam & End of BSL Level Two.
So, I took the last of my level two exams on Monday night. A 3-4 minute presentation on one of three topics from your chosen theme (my theme was Travel & Holidays and my topic was “Being Lost”). I have to say, I found the entire experience completely horrific! I was suddenly extremely nervous when I sat down in front of the camera, and it took me an inordinate amount of time to compose myself and be ready to start filming! I did manage to get in all the necessary criteria, which included one or more role shifts, four finger spellings and a multi-channel sign, as well as the usual expectations like strong BSL order and hand shapes. However what I fell down on, was my flow. It was practically non-existant!
I really struggled to string together the different aspects of my story, and it felt very jumpy in places, flitting from one topic to the next and then back to the first as I’d forgotten to include something that I’d planned to say. Altogether it felt like a complete disaster and I’ll be extremely surprised if I pass. Although if I don’t, I’ll just re-take that exam and at least then I’ll know how to prepare a bit better.
I’m also waiting on my 203 exam results, which hopefully will arrive in the new week or two, although I’m fairly confident I did well in that exam, and struggled no where near as much as I did with this one.
The 202 exam marks the end of my Level Two learning experience. I’m reluctant to start level three at the moment, as I really struggled with level two, and found my enjoyment of learning sign less than during level one.
I’m also coming to the end of my other qualification – HND Computing, which I will graduate from in July, and in September should be starting the 2nd year of an Honours degree course. I think I’m going to at least wait to see what the work load on the degree course is like before thinking about going any further with BSL.
I’m hoping to keep up my skills by attending Sign Club as often as I can over the summer, and practising with friends. I’ve recently started trying to sign along to music, so hopefully that’ll keep my confidence up until I can start level three!
In the mean time, I’ll update the blog when I recieve my exam results and hopefully my Level Two certificate!
Lally.
8 Comments
Well done! I’m studying at Wirral Met College and have 202 coming up in a couple of weeks and 203 in June. I’ve been practising my 202 into a camera to try and get the ‘flow’ and to fit in 3 – 4 mins. Holidays and Travel is my subject matter too, though we’re not sure what the sub-topics will be until we get back to college on 9 May. I’m hopeful they’ll still have ‘Problems when travelling’ …
Best of luck with your exam Pete! I think practising into a camera is a great idea, wish I’d thought to try it. One of our other topics was “If I had a magic carpet…” but I can’t remember the third one! Most people said they just adapted the topic to fit in as much of the practice content they’d prepared, 3-4 minutes gives you plenty of time to deviate if the topic doesn’t exactly fit.
I was hoping one of the topics would be “Problems Travelling” but heard a whisper that’s not one of the topics. Time for a rethink and more practice for the exam on Monday (6 June). Thanks for the good wishes. When do you think you’ll have your results through?
202 Topic was… “Longest Journey”
Ah ell, gave it my best shot. Now, onto 203 prep, that exam’s only 3 weeks away!
Did 202. Passed 203 first. 202 was awful – thought it woukd be easier. Magic carpet. My story was confused and my hands were shaking most of the time. We flew to a temple in japan which was peaceful with buddhist monks and beautiful sculptures…. But also busy full of queues because it was world famous. Peaceful and busy. How awful. I literally made it up on the spot because I was so nervous. How do we stick the course vocab into a question like that? Feel embarrassed and hope to pass some how :0( think level three would be easier because “poo exam” lol
Hey Lee, I felt exactly the same about my 202 exam, the topic was difficult to work with (lost on holiday) and I had no idea how I was going to work in my vocabulary. I went to pieces in front of the camera despite not feeling nervous right up until that point! So I feel your pain. All you cam do is hope for the best
I was pleasantly surprised when I passed, as I thought I’d failed for sure. Good luck!
What are the topics for level 2 I have passed my 201 and my 203 but failed 202 and I cant find the information any where please HELP
Hi Sophie,
For my level two, the topics I chose were Food & Drink and Travel & Holidays, it’s so long ago I can’t remember what the other topics were. I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful!? Perhaps check the comments on my other posts to see if anyone else can help?
Thanks for checking out my blog and good luck with your exam!