learn_russian | ТРКИ-3 / TORFL-3

ТРКИ-3 / TORFL-3

Дорогие друзья!

Хочу вам сообщить, что сдавал экзамен ТРКИ-2 в августе - и сдал.
Теперь готовлюсь к сдаче экзамена следующего уровня, то есть, ТРКИ-3.

Спасибо вам за вашу поддержку.

Вам всего хорошего.

ФБ.
Dear friends,

Just want to let you know that I sat the TORFL-2 exam in August, and passed.

Presently, I'm preparing to take exam at the next level, i.e, TORFL-3.

Thank you for your support.

All the best,

FB

Справка/Inquiries

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

congratulations!

by the way, did you do any sort of practice tests? did you find any online for free?

Yes, lots of practice tests online at no charge. Just about everything in the practice test is covered in the real test, except, perhaps with greater variances, i.e. depth. You need to learn the "hidden rules" behind the practice questions. This includes even some of the obscure ones that you almost never run into in real life, as there will likely be a whole bunch of questions on something you thought too insignificant to dedicate a lot of time to. Also, the real test is timed, so one really has very little opportunity to think over one's answers. I think the biggest challenge is speed. For example, 165 grammar questions in 90 minutues. No time to think. I'm certain that this is the same for others. Basically, you've got to do the test "shooting from the hip while riding a galloping horse". But if you stay focused and not allow yourself to be distracted by the testers' manner (during audio and speech parts of the test), while remaining calm, then your chances are certainly improved. Speed and accuracy is the name of the game here. So it boils down to good old Russian drill. You've got to know the answer to the question before it's asked.

You've also got to write a couple of texts. Here, the chief factors are appropriate style and vocabulary. Again, time is not on your side, only 60 minutes altogether for 3 texts, including reading time to understand the tasks and thinking time to devise your solution. Speed writing is not my strength, much less doing so in Russian. Keep in mind that Russian is highly regimented (you must follow the general rules of language etiquette), so your best bet is to spend some time learning specific writing styles. Picked up a couple of books in advance to help out here.

They are: 1. "Этикет Русского Письма" by Акишина Алла Александровна and Формановская Наталья Иванова; 2. "Деловая Переписка" by М.Ю. Рогожин.

Reading was also a challenge. Again, mainly because of time. You've got to speed read through a couple of texts and then anwer questions that require some degree of interpretation. Not easy even in one's own language, considering the speed.

Listening (audio) was, in my opinion, relatively easy. Just don't allow yourself to be intimidated. For example, the first dialogue was about 20 seconds long. And there were seven questions. I swear, I only heard the answers to 2 questions, had to infer the rest from the context. The rest of the audio-test was, gratefully, relatively easy, until we got to a televised interview. That's when I realised that my listening skills are still somewhat weak for that level. So, have since put myself on a diet of 1 to 2 movies in Russian per day.

The "speaking" part of the test, I think, is fairly easy. The main thing they seem to look at is your degree of flexibility and confidence in language useage. The only way to prepare for that is "lots of speaking practice" prior to the event. I think impromptu role plays will be very useful in this regard.

Here are a couple of useful links:

http://www.zlat.spb.ru/catalogue/index.php?category_id=10 (High quality practice tests for downloading)

http://www.joensuu.fi/fld/russian/kirilka/testit/sertif2_1.htm (Watch out. This one has a couple of publishing errors. Online practice tests. Generally good quality.)

http://russianremote.com/ (Free Russian language movies. Poor video quality. But, never look a gift horse in the mouth.)

http://www.webtelek.com/ (Free Russian language TV)

http://novafilm.tv/ (Free movies, generally, US TV series dubbed in Russian)

thanks a lot!

by the way, i looked on the website and it seems the main motivation for taking this test is doing university work in russia, which is something i am considering. was that your goal as well, or are there other uses for this test?

As a purely technical matter, the current rules are that you don't get to graduate from a Russian university, unless you've passed the TORFL-2. So, for anyone planning to read for a degree in Russia, that's a convincing argument.

Beyond this, but also related, it's good for employment in Russia where knowledge of Russian beyond the kitchen variety is a prerequisite. There are lots of jobs being created in Russian companies for foreigners, e.g. Western managers that speak fluent Russian. You could say that this is my main focus. From a purely practical point of view, I'm motivated by the growth potential of the Russian market and want to be a part of that strategic project.

Finally, from the point of personal joy, learning Russian is an interesting challenge the mastery of which provides joy and, I think, personal growth. From this point of view, passing the test is a way of determining how far one has come and how far one has yet to go.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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