I am old enough for having experienced that sometimes reality is beyond fiction… some stories are just incredible!… Yet, since I have been working with present and future public servants for a very long time, I have been the witness of so many unbelievable stories (some truly sad, others really hilarious) that I often pinched myself to make sure I was not dreaming… although I would put such dreams in the nightmare category.
Lately, such stories have been piling up… besides the usual nonsense technicalities that are consistent with the SLE testing: long delays in getting results, little information, recurrent mistakes in the written expression tests… I would describe those as business as usual!… Therefore this stuff does not surprise me any longer…
Before I tell you a funny story, I will give you some updates… I heard from Lara in Brussels (who, by the way, did not hear about her results… it has been a week now) on the weekend. She said her oral interaction test over the phone did not go very well (and, of course, she’s expecting bad news)… of course, with oversea calls, the audio is not always crystal clear! She said she could not hear the tapes over the phone… consequently it was difficult for her to summarize and answer questions on those. To make a story short, the audio quality was far from being as good as the one she had experienced with me in my virtual classroom… Hopefully she reported this problem to the assessor over the phone because on her tape, it will not be noticeable: the problem was on her end, not on the examiner’s end!
On Monday, Luna went for her oral test… of course, she reported to me as soon as she got back home… the assessor had led her into the fourth part of the test (which is for level C candidates only… unless the examiner thinks they are really strong and wants to go further, in case they might be able to get a level C)… Well… Luna can manage quite well in getting her message across in French… although I believe she lacks some vocabulary and often struggles with syntax. To summarize, Luna does not know enough to be considered as a potential level C and she is fully aware of this fact. Therefore why would her examiner test her for that level?… Let’s assume for a second that the person who evaluated her abilities in the second language was in a very good mood (Monday morning… sunny day… good weekend…) and thought that Luna was very good in French… she would have concluded on the spot that she was not a level C and Luna would have gotten her results the next morning.
Today is Wednesday… that means someone is listening to Luna’s tape… Christie was led in the fourth part of the test as well and she got her results some four days later: actually someone did listen to her tape because somehow they really believed she could be a level C… in her case, it makes sense. But in Luna’s case, it does not… why? because Luna is not a strong level B… The only conclusion I can draw from this is that there was a mistake on Luna’s form: it was probably written that she was tested for a level C instead of a level B… and if I am mistaking here, well… I will start believing that miracles do happen!!!… Fat chance!!!
The downside of this story is that poor Luna was given false hope… and if she gets a level A, it will be very disappointing for her… and I do believe it is rather crual… but I am not expecting less from the PSC… with them, wrong doings appear to be part of the whole process.
You probably remember me mentioning about Alicia’s results in reading comprehension and written expression: she got E (exemption) in both… it did not take more to stir up her bosses’ enthusiasm!… She was scheduled to pass her oral interaction test Mid-June. Because of her results, they asked for an earlier date (initially they gave her this coming Friday, date that she refused)… she will then be tested on her oral skills next week… so good for building confidence! Of course, she is a boule de nerfs right now… who would not be? What these people do not seem to grasp is that, if it is feasible to score very well on the reading comprehension and written expression exams (mostly due to the multiple choices… luck certainly plays a role!), getting similar results in the oral testing is an utopy… O course, Alicia will pass her level and meet the language requirements of her job position… yet, if her testing date had not been changed, she certainly could have obtained a level C (and perhaps an exemption)…
Alicia is the one who had to wait for more than three weeks to get the results of her written expression and reading comprehension tests… a real saga! This whole story is beyond me!
In her Department, candidates are allowed to take the tests internally… meaning that they do not have to go to the central office located on Slater. On the date she had been scheduled for taking her tests, she sat in an office waiting for the person who was supposed to read her the instructions and watch her during the exams. After her while, she went to see her boss to make sure she had not been mistaking on the date. After having checked with HR, they were told that the person in charge of watching the tests was away… of course, Alicia’s boss pushed HR to find someone with reading skills who could administer the tests and sit with her while she was taking them. Finally, Alicia was able to write her tests on the scheduled date… a few days later, not having heard about her results yet, Alicia’s boss contacted HR to hear that the person in charge of sending the answer sheets for marking was still away. Good enough!…
After another few days of waiting and the return of the person in charge, both Alicia and her boss were told that this unusual delay was probably due to a backlog of tests to be marked… fasten your seat belts here because you will not believe this one! The marker had retired from the job!!! Does it take a specialized degree to pass answer sheets through a scantron? Apparently, it does!… A couple of weeks ago, I had written in a post that maybe poor Alicia had not received her results because the person who scanned the answer sheets was on maternity leave… of course, I was JOKING!!! It seems I was not far from the truth!… I think that, when I will retire, I will write a sitcom for CBC or CTV… I have enough stories to have this series run for years!!!
“Un État sans les moyens de changer se prive des moyens de se conserver”
Edmund Burke
Reality IS beyond Fiction!…
I am old enough for having experienced that sometimes reality is beyond fiction… some stories are just incredible!… Yet, since I have been working with present and future public servants for a very long time, I have been the witness of so many unbelievable stories (some truly sad, others really hilarious) that I often pinched myself to make sure I was not dreaming… although I would put such dreams in the nightmare category.
Lately, such stories have been piling up… besides the usual nonsense technicalities that are consistent with the SLE testing: long delays in getting results, little information, recurrent mistakes in the written expression tests… I would describe those as business as usual!… Therefore this stuff does not surprise me any longer…
Before I tell you a funny story, I will give you some updates… I heard from Lara in Brussels (who, by the way, did not hear about her results… it has been a week now) on the weekend. She said her oral interaction test over the phone did not go very well (and, of course, she’s expecting bad news)… of course, with oversea calls, the audio is not always crystal clear! She said she could not hear the tapes over the phone… consequently it was difficult for her to summarize and answer questions on those. To make a story short, the audio quality was far from being as good as the one she had experienced with me in my virtual classroom… Hopefully she reported this problem to the assessor over the phone because on her tape, it will not be noticeable: the problem was on her end, not on the examiner’s end!
On Monday, Luna went for her oral test… of course, she reported to me as soon as she got back home… the assessor had led her into the fourth part of the test (which is for level C candidates only… unless the examiner thinks they are really strong and wants to go further, in case they might be able to get a level C)… Well… Luna can manage quite well in getting her message across in French… although I believe she lacks some vocabulary and often struggles with syntax. To summarize, Luna does not know enough to be considered as a potential level C and she is fully aware of this fact. Therefore why would her examiner test her for that level?… Let’s assume for a second that the person who evaluated her abilities in the second language was in a very good mood (Monday morning… sunny day… good weekend…) and thought that Luna was very good in French… she would have concluded on the spot that she was not a level C and Luna would have gotten her results the next morning.
Today is Wednesday… that means someone is listening to Luna’s tape… Christie was led in the fourth part of the test as well and she got her results some four days later: actually someone did listen to her tape because somehow they really believed she could be a level C… in her case, it makes sense. But in Luna’s case, it does not… why? because Luna is not a strong level B… The only conclusion I can draw from this is that there was a mistake on Luna’s form: it was probably written that she was tested for a level C instead of a level B… and if I am mistaking here, well… I will start believing that miracles do happen!!!… Fat chance!!!
The downside of this story is that poor Luna was given false hope… and if she gets a level A, it will be very disappointing for her… and I do believe it is rather crual… but I am not expecting less from the PSC… with them, wrong doings appear to be part of the whole process.
You probably remember me mentioning about Alicia’s results in reading comprehension and written expression: she got E (exemption) in both… it did not take more to stir up her bosses’ enthusiasm!… She was scheduled to pass her oral interaction test Mid-June. Because of her results, they asked for an earlier date (initially they gave her this coming Friday, date that she refused)… she will then be tested on her oral skills next week… so good for building confidence! Of course, she is a boule de nerfs right now… who would not be? What these people do not seem to grasp is that, if it is feasible to score very well on the reading comprehension and written expression exams (mostly due to the multiple choices… luck certainly plays a role!), getting similar results in the oral testing is an utopy… O course, Alicia will pass her level and meet the language requirements of her job position… yet, if her testing date had not been changed, she certainly could have obtained a level C (and perhaps an exemption)…
Alicia is the one who had to wait for more than three weeks to get the results of her written expression and reading comprehension tests… a real saga! This whole story is beyond me!
In her Department, candidates are allowed to take the tests internally… meaning that they do not have to go to the central office located on Slater. On the date she had been scheduled for taking her tests, she sat in an office waiting for the person who was supposed to read her the instructions and watch her during the exams. After her while, she went to see her boss to make sure she had not been mistaking on the date. After having checked with HR, they were told that the person in charge of watching the tests was away… of course, Alicia’s boss pushed HR to find someone with reading skills who could administer the tests and sit with her while she was taking them. Finally, Alicia was able to write her tests on the scheduled date… a few days later, not having heard about her results yet, Alicia’s boss contacted HR to hear that the person in charge of sending the answer sheets for marking was still away. Good enough!…
After another few days of waiting and the return of the person in charge, both Alicia and her boss were told that this unusual delay was probably due to a backlog of tests to be marked… fasten your seat belts here because you will not believe this one! The marker had retired from the job!!! Does it take a specialized degree to pass answer sheets through a scantron? Apparently, it does!… A couple of weeks ago, I had written in a post that maybe poor Alicia had not received her results because the person who scanned the answer sheets was on maternity leave… of course, I was JOKING!!! It seems I was not far from the truth!… I think that, when I will retire, I will write a sitcom for CBC or CTV… I have enough stories to have this series run for years!!!
“Un État sans les moyens de changer se prive des moyens de se conserver”
Edmund Burke