Arvosteluasteikko - Grades

Here's a nice picture to calm you down from the thought of exams...

It will come as no surprise to anyone if I say I don't really like exams. I mean who does? Equally I have never really thought I was any good at languages, as a stunning CSE grade 2 at French backs up. (For those of you who are to young, or as old as me but not from UK, a CSE grade 1 was equivalent to a C grade 'O' Level (a pass) back in the days before GCSEs... so a 2 is not very good).  And when it comes to Finnish language tests my only previous experience (in London a few years ago) was less than a happy one.

So I am now the proud owner of a todistus (certificate) showing I achieved Grade 4 at Level 1 'Finnish for Foreigners' and completed 52 lesson modules worth 4 ECTS credits, at Helsingin Seudun Kesäyliopisto ... err, hang on, was that a Grade 4?

It did take me at least 30 loooong seconds to realize that the Finnish grade system goes from 0 (fail) to 5 (excellent) so a 4 is kiitettävä or very good; Wow! And as the papers were given out in order, I must have got the third highest mark out of our twenty odd group of ulkomaalaiset. 

Then we got our papers back and saw my actual mark was 92%... flippin' heck, what do you need for excellent!?

Still, only one down and three more to go before Christmas, and I had done half of this before, but maybe I'm not so bad at languages after all. Minä sanon 'ehkä...'!