Ah, I posted in the old thread, but I'll post some more here.
Oh man, the rush of relief when it was over (after my brain finally cleared...). And yes, I have my free time back! Which of course I have to devote to many other things (wedding planning, buying a house, and playing many guilt-free hours of my neglected Wii!).
I also took 三級 but in NYC. The classroom was so uncomfortable! We sat in standard wooden lecture seats with the tiny "desk" that flips up on the right, and we were packed in like sardines. Everyone was fidgeting the entire exam, myself included.
I agree, the Listening was hellish! They spoke rather slowly overall, but I still had trouble on it. I already knew it was my weakest point, but it seemed harder than I expected.
In the Vocab and Grammar sections, I did have to make some guesses, but overall I think I did alright.
I'm not sure if I got enough points to pass, so I'm going to expect a non-passing grade. That way I don't get my hopes up. But as I said in my other post, I did learn a lot regardless of how well I did on the exam. I know that when it comes time for 二級 (not for a few years), I'll definitely be better prepared.
Also, having the previous years' exams and knowing the types of questions was very helpful. Interestingly, most people in my classroom had no idea how the test was formatted. I guess I just assumed that most people studying for this exam would have at least bought last year's exam.
