The Grade 6 Course

[dan_au]

I know the government grade 6 equivalency Thai test is around this time of year. Anyone know when it's on, where it's held and how to sign up?

Thanks

[Bobcat]

I am also planning to do the Bor6 exam this year. I believe that the exam is in the middle of December. I am currently trying to obtain more information and I will let you know when I find out.

Cheers,

Bob

[Bryan in Isaan]

I am also interested in the Bor Hok test, not so much for the test itself, but to achieve that level of proficiency. I have been living in Thailand about 4 years and have been almost 100% self taught, so I am trying to find out in which areas I need to study or practice more (there will be many). Is there a textbook, review materials or website which give details about this test?

Bryan

Edited September 27, 2005 by Bryan in Isaan

[Bobcat]

I have tried to find information about the test on the internet, but there is not much available. I will be calling the Ministry of Education to find out more information. One of the things that I have managed to find out so far is that the 3-hour test (conducted, I believe, at the Ministry of Eduction) is divided into 5 components, each worth a certain number of points, for a total of 100. The breakdown is as follows:

Writing a Letter - 20 points

Writing a 33 line (one A4 page) composition on a given topic - 30 points

Dictation - 20 points

Comprehension test (reading a passage and answering multiple choice questions) - 20 points

Reading a passage aloud to an assessment officer - 10 points

I will post more information when I find out.

Cheers,

Bob

[Bobcat]

The exam is being held on Saturday 17 December 2005. All details, including where, when, details of the exam itself, as well as an application form that you can download, are available online at http://bet.obec.go.th/

Good luck!

Bob

[Bryan in Isaan]

Bob:

Thanks for the info and the link.

It will be good reading practice for me just going through that webpage.

Bryan

[BkkPundit]

Bob:

Thanks for the info and the link.

It will be good reading practice for me just going through that webpage.

Bryan

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I did the Por 6 exam 7 years ago and I would advise you to do a course in advance, even if for only 10-20 hours. My Thai was at a reasonable level, but the test is very specific. The Por 6 exam is not a general test of Thai language, but primarily the use of written Thai in certain situations. For example, on the letter part of the exam you need to know the correct format of the letter including the envelope. In reality, you can memorise how to write a specific letter (from memory, you can write the letter on any topic) and just write it out in the exam. Make sure you know the correct format of the letter.

The dictation part was quite difficult and really tests your writing. The only way to practise is for someone to read Thai to you slowly to practise your writting.

The questions on the test don't really change. The essay question will be something along the lines about Thai culture, a Thai family or something like that. It really helps if you have prepared in advance and have a general idea about possible topics and practise writing out essays.

The comprehension part was extremely difficult.

I think you only need 50 out of 100 so if you prepared for the essay and letter writing part in advance and can scrape though on the rest you will be ok.

If you are not in Bangkok and don't have the means to do a course, see if you cou can visit one of the Thai language schools and buy their materials.

The thing that shocked me about the test was I didn't hear anything about the test until February and thought I must have failed. I received a letter in my handwriting addressed to me (you have to provide a self-addressed stamped envelope when making your application) and inside the letter was the words, in Thai, saying 'Pass' and nothing else. It took me a while to work out what is about.

[Bobcat]

From reading the application forms and accompanying material, this years test will be extremely difficult. There is no letter writing section (becuase it was found that peoplewere simply memorizing format letters) and there will be a spoken portion as well. The examiners have come to realize that people simply study to pass the test and this has been deemed by the MOE to be an undesirable state of affairs. Accordingly, this will be a very detailed exam to see if people are able to communicate (reading, writing, listening and speaking) in the Thai language.

The breakdown of this years test is as follows:

Dictation (30 minutes) - 20 marks

Comprehension (60 minutes) - 30 marks

Essay Writing (90 minutes) - 35 marks

Reading and Spoken test (no set time) - 15 marks

It will be a killer for sure. Students are expected to even know about Thai literature and poetry. After I read all of the info on the website, I feel a bit nervous to say the least. But you know what they say - สู้ๆ

Edited October 6, 2005 by Bobcat

[lambous]

Any idea when the application needs to be submitted by? and also the price for doing the exam?

[sabaijai]

From reading the application forms and accompanying material, this years test will be extremely difficult.  There is no letter writing section (becuase it was found that peoplewere simply memorizing format letters) and there will be a spoken portion as well.  The examiners have come to realize that people simply study to pass the test and this has been deemed by the MOE to be an undesirable state of affairs.  Accordingly, this will be a very detailed exam to see if people are able to communicate (reading, writing, listening and speaking) in the Thai language. 

The breakdown of this years test is as follows:

Dictation (30 minutes) - 20 marks

Comprehension (60 minutes) - 30 marks

Essay Writing (90 minutes) - 35 marks

Reading and Spoken test (no set time) - 15 marks

It will be a killer for sure.  Students are expected to even know about Thai literature and poetry.  After I read all of the info on the website, I feel a bit nervous to say the least.  But you know what they say - สู้ๆ

So are you going to go for it, Bobcat? And what exactly is a "Reading and Spoken test (no set time)"? I can't grasp how that would work, or how they could say 'no set time'!

For the sake of Thai education in general, I'm glad to hear they've made the test a more valid measure of Thai language ability.

It will be interesting to see how the Thai language schools re-structure their P6 courses.

[Bobcat]

Yes, sabaijai, I'm taking the plunge. The reading/speaking part of the exam happens after the 3-hour long written portion of the test (including the essay, dictation and comprehension). By that time, my hand will probably be bleeding! Then I think there is a small rest of around 5 minutes or so. Students sit down and wait to be called to a desk. There are about 30 single desks in a huge exam room, each with an ajarn. The ajarn gives you something to read aloud (including some Thai poetry- yikes!) and then after you're done reading, the ajarn will engage you in conversation to test your spoken Thai. My teacher says his contacts at the Ministry of Education have informed him that I shouldn't expect easy conversation. One example given was what would you do if you were in charge of organizing a campaign to increase awareness of Thai cuisine in foreign countries. You have to speak immediately and off the top of your head.

Lambous - the application fee is 500 Baht and applications are open between 3 October and 20 October 2005. The exam is on 17 December.

Must go, I've got a bit of study to do!!

Cheers,

Bob

[sabaijai]

While I don't think I'd have a problem reading Thai poetry aloud (I studied classic Thai poetry at university and am familiar enough with traditional metre to fake it), if it were traditional court poetry and they tested on comprehension, that would be a challenge. The vocabulary is archaic and word order is quirky, by modern Thai standards. Maybe it will be modern poetry?

Good luck, Bob. Pls give us a blow by blow after it's over.

[Bryan in Isaan]

From reading the application forms and accompanying material, this years test will be extremely difficult.  There is no letter writing section (becuase it was found that peoplewere simply memorizing format letters) and there will be a spoken portion as well.  The examiners have come to realize that people simply study to pass the test and this has been deemed by the MOE to be an undesirable state of affairs.  Accordingly, this will be a very detailed exam to see if people are able to communicate (reading, writing, listening and speaking) in the Thai language. 

The breakdown of this years test is as follows:

Dictation (30 minutes) - 20 marks

Comprehension (60 minutes) - 30 marks

Essay Writing (90 minutes) - 35 marks

Reading and Spoken test (no set time) - 15 marks

It will be a killer for sure.  Students are expected to even know about Thai literature and poetry.  After I read all of the info on the website, I feel a bit nervous to say the least.  But you know what they say - สู้ๆ

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for the info about the literature and poetry. I have been slogging through some elementary school paasaa Thai textbooks and each one has large sections devoted to poetry and proverbs. I had been disregarding the poetry and looking for "normal" Thai material, but I guess it is more important than I realized. I am glad that it is a difficult test, so the credential will be more meaningful. However, it will probably be years before I can pass it.

Bryan

[Bryan in Isaan]

The thing that shocked me about the test was I didn't hear anything about the test until February and thought I must have failed. I received a letter in my handwriting addressed to me (you have to provide a self-addressed stamped envelope when making your application) and inside the letter was the words, in Thai, saying 'Pass' and nothing else. It took me a while to work out what is about.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

TIT That's a bit different than the MCSE computer technician cert tests back in the States where I could find out the results immediately.

You're right about the Thai language course. Although I will be doing self study up here in the far corner of the Isaan where there are no real schools, I need to find one somewhere eventually in order to do well on the the live speaking and listening portion of the test.

Thank you,

Bryan

[Bobcat]

Wish me luck! The Bor. 6 exam is tomorrow morning at 8:30am. I am a nervous wreck!! I'll let you all know how it goes after the exam.

Cheers,

Bob

[meadish_sweetball]

Bobcat,

Thanks a lot for sharing your experiences here - I am sure a lot of people are very interested in knowing what taking the test is like. I guess in the future I may make a conscious effort to take it as well - but depending on how high they actually set the standards, I am fairly sure I would not pass without further study, on account of the poetry part as well as my spelling as soon as it comes to irregular words. I will have to practice a lot more dictation (whenever I will find the time for that... )

Break a leg tomorrow, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Cheers

Meadish

[Kathe]

Wish me luck!  The Bor. 6 exam is tomorrow morning at 8:30am.  I am a nervous wreck!!  I'll let you all know how it goes after the exam.

Cheers,

Bob

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

โชคดี ขอให้สอบผ่านชั้นประถมปีที่หกนะคะ....Good luck !

[Bryan in Isaan]

GOOD LUCK!!! You're a brave man. We'll be waiting to hear from you.

Bryan

[sabaijai]

I wager you'll do fine, Bobcat.

[Boon Mee]

Best of luck Bobcat...for myself, บางคนไม่ค่อยได้เรียนหรอก

[Bobcat]

Well, it was very interesting and overall not quite as difficult as I had expected. There were parts of it, however, that were very difficult. I will give you a blow by blow this afternoon when I have a few minutes between meetings.

Take care,

Bob

[Bobcat]

Well, I took the exam on Saturday morning. It was scheduled to start at 8:30am (I got up at 5am to go over my vocabulary!) so I arrived at around 8:00am or so. There were several different exam rooms, each with around 60 students. In my room, there were 3 farangs (one Canadian, one Aussie (me) and one Italian). The rest of the students were Japanese, Korean and Chinese.

The exam consisted of four sections, as follows:

Dictation - 20 points, 30 minutes. A tape was played and we had to write what was said on the tape. I was at the front of the room and the speakers were at the back, so I was straining a bit to hear the tape. This part of the exam was not too difficult, although there were a few words in the passage that I had never heard before. I had to guess. I also know that I spelled one or two words incorrectly that I should not have - just dumb mistakes. Overall, this was not bad. The only thing was that the voice on the tape was quite quick, so you had to write very fast.

Essay - 35 points, 90 minutes. There was a choice a 3 topics - "Thai festivals", "Thailand today" or "Sports that I like". I chose "Thailand today". I wrote about all sorts of topics relating to Thailand and the topic was wide enough to allow for this. This part was not too bad at all. I used only vocabulary that I know so as to reduce the number of spelling errors. I ended up writing about 4 A4 pages and my hand was really sore after finishing this part of the test.

Comprehension - 30 points, 60 minutes. This was the toughest part of the exam. Motsly you were presented with a short passage and then were presented with a question and 4 possible answers. Most, if not all, of the questions had more than one possible answer. The vocab was really challenging to say the least. Topics ranged from invertibrate sea creatues, the process of producing honey, natural resources, tsunami, geology, environmental protection etc. There were also a couple of questions where you were given a passage with missing words and had to fill in the right words (you were given 5 words) in the right place. This was also tough as some words could have fit into several places.

Reading Out Loud and Conversation - 15 points, about 15 - 30 minutes. This was done after a lunch break. All students had to wait outside the room to be called one by one. You went to a table where there was a teacher sitting and sat down opposite the teacher. My teacher asked me where I was from and how long I have lived in Thailand. She then asked me to choose a piece of paper out of a small container. The piece of paper had a number on it which corresponded to the number of a particular story. There were 3 or 4 different stories to choose from. I then had to read the passage aloud for her. Mine was about Songkran and it's significance to the Thai people, both today and in the past. The vocabulary was quite okay, but it was peppered with a few tongue twisters. After I finished reading the passage, the teacher then asked me whether I understood it and what I thought about Songkran. We had a lovely chat about that and a few other things and that was it.

Overall, I think I passed. I'll get the result at the end of January or early February. I am glad it is over. Studying for it was not easy and it nearly drove me insane.

I'll let you know when I get the result. If anyone has any questions, please let me know as I'm happy to share my experiences of the test with the members of the forum.

Take care,

Bob

[Bobcat]

PS - Not one poem on the test! Thank goodness for that!!!

[sabaijai]

PS - Not one poem on the test!  Thank goodness for that!!!

Thank goodness indeed. Sounds like you aced it, congrats.

[Tingnongnoi]

I also got the Songkran piece at the end. Unfortnately I was the last one to go in and had to wait 3 hours before my turn so ended up rushing it. I found the comprehension the easiest bit myself but thats probably because my spelling is awful. You can find out the results on January the 30th online.

[Bobcat]

Hi Tingnonqnoi, nice to hear you enjoyed the comprehension! Do you have any more details about getting the results online? What is the website? Are the results available for everyone to see or do you need to have a password or something? Who told you they will be available online?

What a bummer you had to wait for 3 hours for the last part of the exam. I was really lucky as I was the third person called up. I was out of there in time for the 1:30 session of "King King" over the road at Major Ekkamai!!

What did you think of the exam overall?

Good Luck!!

Take care,

Bob

[Bobcat]

Actually, I have already found out that the results will be available at http://bet.obec.go.th/ - only the names, not the score. To know your score you need to go into the MOE and ask them when you collect your certificate.

[Tingnongnoi]

Thats the link I have it was put up outside the test room along with a number to call also 022824839 it said available on the 30th of Jan

Overall I enjoyed the exam, I know I messed up with spelling a few times but am fairly confident I managed to pass. I expected it to be a little tougher and was very relieved when it was over and my poetry skills weren't called into question.

Edited December 20, 2005 by Tingnongnoi

[Bobcat]

Well, the reults of the Grade 6 exam are out. I passed!! Yay!

I'm not sure how many people sat the exam, but the list of those who passed includes 170 names in all.

Cheers,

Bob

[meadish_sweetball]

Well, the reults of the Grade 6 exam are out. I passed!! Yay!

I'm not sure how many people sat the exam, but the list of those who passed includes 170 names in all.

Cheers,

Bob

Congrats Bobcat. Well done!