Well... I've been putting off this update long enough. Unfortunately for yours truly I was unable to cross the level 2 threshold on the DLPT in Listening, finishing with a 1+. As such, I will not receive a diploma, but rather a certificate of completion. It has been a difficult week. The news came as I was on my way to the east coast for the Thanksgiving holiday. I had intended to celebrate, but that was very hard to do considering I didn't make the cut. Needless to say, I am quite disappointed. It has been 16 months of sitting in class and beating my brains out at home, so falling short is a sour pill to swallow. But... I'm determined not to let it get the better of me. I know I am capable of beating this thing, it just wasn't my day. Unfortunately, the school does not allow retesting without several months of additional class. So, I will look to the future and dedicate myself to continuous study until I am able to test again. If at any point in the future I test above a 2 (and inevitably I will), all I need do is notify the school and they will issue the diploma.

The good news is that I excelled with speaking. I've always thought it the least-emphasised subject during the year, and I put a lot of work into seeing to it that I could impress the testers. The result was that I was one of only two students to receive a 2 in Speaking. To me, this is the most important skill for an FAO, being able to converse with Arabs in their language without sounding like a complete novice. In the end, my scores were 1+ in Listening, 2 in Reading, and 2 in Speaking. The standards for the class are 2/2/1+. So, I have the right numbers, just not in the correct order. I was very pleased the the Speaking, but I'm still scratching my head about the other two. If you recall, these are the exact same scores I received after the second semester DLPT, months ago. I have to explanation to offer as to why I did not improve. It seems completely counterintuitive to me that soooooo many additional hours of training could not translate to a better score.

My teaching team leader has the theory that my brain is far too analytical. Those that know me might agree. He feels that I thought too hard about lower level questions and tricked myself into choosing the wrong answer. Perhaps he's right... After all, I can understand every word of a good portion of the test, but the answers are designed to trip you up, and two answers out of four possible choices are almost always so close that it comes down to reading the mind of the test makers. One of them being "more" correct.

Whatever the cause, what's done is done and now I have to move on. What has happened to me is not at all uncommon. Lots of mysterious things happen to students on the DLPT. As frustrated as I might be right now, I can still look forward to being in Jordan in a month and a half, and I will be back to confront this test again, in six months or sooner.