Quiz

You might think you have spent so many hours studying that matura must appear to be a piece of cake. Obviously if your knowledge is so deep, you have a great chance to pass it. But it might not be enough if you are mentally not ready. Are you sure you won’t break down? You won’t run away? You won’t be blocked and unable to say anything? Solve this quiz and check if you are really ready for the most important exam in your life. What would you do in these situations?

1. The night before the exam.
a) You study all night, drink energy drinks, call all your friends telling them you won’t pass, go to the fortune teller or get drunk.
b) You don’t study. In the evening you go for a walk and you go early to bed.
c) You write crib sheets or check in the Internet how much it costs to buy Matura.

2. It’s the day of the exam and you oversleep. You wake up and see in terror that the exam starts in 30 minutes.
a) You start to shout and cry, you throw all your books through the window and when the attack of panic finishes, you run to school in pyjamas.
b) You call your teacher to tell her/him that you are ill at hospital, then you call your father to explain and ask him to ask his friend, a doctor, to give you doctor’s certificate, then you go to sleep again.
c) You call for a taxi, in the meantime you get dressed quickly and prepare a sandwich which you eat in the taxi and you are on time.

3. You have to write an essay but you notice in terror that you haven’t written anything for half an hour and your head is completely empty.
a. You write an sms to your friend: ‘Sell me your essay for 500 zlotys.’
b. You hand in the blank paper and run away in tears.
c. You change the topic and then try to write a plan in points. If it doesn’t work you choose the easiest topic and try to remember a similar essay you wrote in the past.

4. During an oral exam you get three topics. There is one topic you have no idea about.
a. You start from this topic, say. ‘I don’t know anything about it.’ and burst into tears.
b. First you talk about the topic you know well. Then you take the topics you don’t know and start talking about something close to this topic, to ‘go round’ the topic. You finish with the topic you know best.
c. First, you talk about the two topics you know and then pretend you have a heart attack.

5. You have a flu but you decide to write the exam. You take some medicine in the morning hoping you will not feel so bad. Unfortunately, during the exam you are feeling worse and worse. You have fever and all your muscles ache. You can’t concentrate. You feel you are going to vomit.
a. You make a scene, showing how bad you are feeling, you shout that you are going to vomit, when everybody is panicked, you steal your friend’s paper and quickly sign it.
b. You tell the teacher what is going on and return home.
c. You vomit into a plastic bag and continue writing the exam.

Improve your vocabulary!

knowledge – wiedza
mentally – psychicznie
break down – załamywać się
oversleep – zaspać
topic – temat
fraud – oszustwo

Now count your points:

0–10
You are a fraud! Perhaps you will pass, but they might catch you and the consequences might be terrible! Also, is it really so nice to be dishonest.
11–20
It doesn’t feel you care. You don’t worry too much. If you don’t pass it, probably you’ll buy it.
21–29
You are a very reasonable person and you are perfectly prepared to the exam.
30–40
You are prepared to the exam, but be careful not to panic too much. You must pull yourself together when this happens.
41–50
I’m sorry, bad news! You are probably suffering from a nervous breakdown. You shouldn’t take any exams now! Consult your psychiatrist!