EU Law exam


My EU law oral exam was one heck of a difficult trial. Apart from having just 1 day to squeeze all the information into my very rusty brain, tolerating rowdy and noisy neighbours having after-exam parties at my kollegium ( I gave them a piece of my mind by shouting my lungs out the following-'mother fucker!!!!'. Effectively the music volume was reduced.), ran a fever over night and persisted in the morning few hours prior to the exam, having to wake up at 6am to memorise all the stuff I couldn't complete the night before, the lousy school system had to further agonize me by making us all come at 9am, just to sit around and wait for our turns. They didn't even put us in isolated rooms etc. Nothing. Just sit wherever you want or just come late because it's according to the list of names listed. Each person had 20 minutes to 'talk cock sing song'. Then why couldn't they say so in the email earlier? I waited for 4 hours just starring at my notes and I think my stare was beginning to create a hole on my paper. Was so damn boring!I was so unlucky because when it was just 1 more person till it was my turn, the teacher and moderator decided to go for lunch. Hence, I had to continue to wait for another hour just for them. Rats. I mean, I could have spent the valuable time resting more, making my mind more alert, ,less stressed etc. No. The lousy unorganised school had to torture me and the other exchange students. However, in the nick of time, I managed to squeeze something really important into my brain- a very pertinent material that I believed got me through eventually.
The oral exam was simply nerve wrecking. Basically, it runs by a whole load of memory work (memorising all the answers) and pure sheer luck (choosing the question that you are most confident with). Folded papers with numbers seperated as section A and section B, you choose one of each and answer them right after 1 minute of preparation time. Basically, the one minute of preparation was nothing but a time for you to calm your mind rather than scribbling down the stuff you wuna say. I think I was never this nervous other than my driving test 2.5 years ago. I began stuttering like a dumb ass, just beating around the bush. Luckily my professor began asking me questions and guided me through the exam-shooting questions at me out of the blue just to get my engines working. It was also a miracle that I chose the (only) question that my friend Lilin( my smart ass lawyer friend) discussed with me about, and hence I gave a very valuable 'personal' opinion about the important articles on the EC treaty. I scored double the points. At times, I gave personal input in which I so happened to have come across at articles on the internet etc. God was really on my side. Also, it was a blessing in disguise when I chose question 3 instead of question 1 ( I thought I was really good at answering it). Turned out that the way I interpretated the question (for #1), was incorrect because apparently someone from my class had the same interpretation as I did and gave his answers during the exam and it was wrong. He did very very badly because of the mistake. I could have suffered the same consequences if I had question 1 ( something that I was crossing my fingers to have). Anway, after making the professor and the moderator laugh at my rather unorthodox comments about the law, and having no time to complete the last part of the question because of sudden mental block, I walked out of the room thinking that I wasn't going to do too well. About 10 seconds later, the professor called me into the room. He asked me whether I was holding on to my folded papers with the question numbers in it and digging into my bag pockets, I realised that I was so nervous that I just stuffed them into my bag without realising it!It was so embarassing. The Danish moderator tried to crack a very lame joke by saying ' why, you wuna bring them back to China huh?'.
Right. China? just because I have a chinese name? I didn't care too much but retorted 'I'm not from China. ' hahaha...
The good news was they decided to give me 10 marks out of 13 because although I was a little unsure at times, I gave a very 'strong performance ' and he liked the fact that I gave my own opinions. Also, they gave me the benefit of the doubt that I could answer the question that I missed out if not for the lack of time. I walked out feeling relieved and elated.
On a whole, this exam was to me, not directly a challenge to one's application of knowledge. It was by pure memory work and luck . Although the professor did once in a while surprised me with questions to test whether I really knew my work, but hey, to me there are 2 kinds of students in this world-one who can just mug their heads off and regurgitate everything on paper; the other just by using their own brilliance. Both should be given equal and fair opportunity to compete in an exam. Having an oral exam such as mine, will only serve those who are smart and not neccessary having to put in any effort. Just using your language skills is good enough to get you a pass. It doesn't mean that you really know what you're talking about. While those who just worked really hard , I mean, what if they couldn't answer what the professor posed? Would that mean that they should deserve a lousier grade? Luckily I had Lilin and my group mates to go through the questions with me otherwise I would not have made it. It just doesn't make sense. Everyone should be given an equal opportunity to put what they've learnt on paper. I think if it's an oral exam, the questions shouldn't have been revealed to us and instead give us a couple of minutes to prepare a surprise exam question. That would be indeed a fairer approach. Oh well, Nuff said. I'm really happy with my grades and the fact that the only 2 girls (Anne and I ) in the whole entire list of male participants for the day beat everyone else with our Tens. Girl power (sia).