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was when the speaker read the instructions. I did not listen to it because I knew what was said; the same with what was said in tryouts and drillings” D36. Dylan
also used other time which was supposed to be allocated for listening to work on the reading
part. “I had to use more time for reading. When the listening text was spoken once, I noted every important detail. When it was repeated, I checked the
answers for a while. I used the rest to work on the reading part” D37.
2. Baez’s Textural Description Story
Baez‟s experience on the national examination is reflected on themes which will be narrated in the stories below. The themes include Baez‟s routine when
preparing for the 2015 English National Examination; the feelings, thoughts, and deeds which dominated
Baez’s preparation in school, her course, and at home;
her difficulties in listening
; the
cheating experience
during the 2015 English National Examination; and the feelings which emerged
before and after the 2015 National Examination result announcement
. 1. Baez’s preparation: Baez‟s special preparation for the 2015 English
National Examination started when she was in the XII
th
grade of Senior High School B1. In effective days she studied at school up to 12 p.m then joined
additional course which was conducted by the school up to 3 or 3.30 p.m B2; B4; B5. She then walked from school to her course place course outside school, of
which distance was only 100 meters B14. There, she waited for two hours before the course began B17. She studied there up to 8 p.m. B15. She went
home by public transportation B16. She spent 20 minutes on the road before finally getting home B16. At home she then studied again for more or less 20
minutes, sometimes up to 9.30 p.m B26. “I did not feel that tired. Fortunately PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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there was a break from 3 to 5. During the break I met friends”B17. However, Baez admitted that she worked harder for the National Examination, harder than
other S chool Examination she had ever done before B3. “I took School
Examination easy. I tried a little harder for the National Examination.”
At school she mostly studied samples of the English National Examination questions B6. The exercise for listening was only conducted once every two
weeks B7. Sometimes she also studied tenses B8. At school she was taught by one teacher both in class and in additional course. “She actually taught well. She
was willing to explain material we didn‟t understand. It‟s just, her voice was very soft. It‟s like she was just talking to one person. Those who sat at the back
couldn‟t hear her” B9. Eventually studying in school became all about confusi
on. “That‟s why I was never sleepy. I was dazed.” B10 However, “I kept paying attention to her.” B11 When Baez could not understand what the teacher
explained she asked friends who sat on the front rows B12. She only ever asked her teacher once after
the class was over. “I understood what she explained. I just needed more explanation” B13.
Baez studied English at course outside school since she was in the XII
th
grade B18. Here, there were two teachers teaching her and other students. One teacher
taught for two weeks and another one would replace the previous for two weeks and so on B19. Similar to what she studied in school, in the course she also
studied sample of the English National Examination questions B20. Tenses or reading were also studied but they were only studied in-between the discussions
of national the examination questions B21. She was also taught some tips she could implement when working on the English National Examination questions
81
B22. She studied listening more infrequently in the course than in school B23. Other than in tryout, listening section was almost never conducted B23. Even
though the listening was not studied more intensely in the course, Baez was more active here than in school. “I shared more in the course. I shared things a lot to the
teachers in the course. It was mostly the questions I didn‟t understand in class at school. The teachers in the course explained better” B25.
Baez prepared for the English National Examination at home since she was in the second semester of the XII
th
grade B27. “I downloaded the last five years of national examination questions then I studied them” B28. At home she also
reviewed the material she learnt that day. However, she had never reviewed English. “I reviewed exact science. I never reviewed English” B29.
2. Difficulties in listening
: Whenever studying listening in school, Baez found it difficult to understand native speaker, especially when compared to Indonesian
speaker B30. “Sometimes Indonesian speaker pronounced things differently than natives. If it was a bit difficult to be recognized, it must be natives” B30.
Baez realized that she had difficulties in understanding the pronunciation of native speakers when she was in the XII
th
grade B31. “It sounded strange in my ears. It was then confirmed that the speaker was native. Ah, thus Indonesian speaker and
natives pronounced words differently” B31 She felt inferior when she realized her weakness in listening for the first time B32. She always felt nervous during
the listening section B33. She was afraid she grasped the words wrongly B34. She was also afraid she would have bad result in the end of the section B35.
“We wrote the answers first. Then they were checked. Our paper was given to other frien
ds. They were checked by them. They were submitted and scored” PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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B36. If the score was bad during the preparation, let alone the score she would get in the National Examination B35. Realizing her weakness, Baez listened
more attentively during the listening section B37. During the listening section, both in school and in course, she was taught tips
B38; B39. The first tips she remembered was noting important words when the recording was played B38. The second one was paying attention to the high or
the emphasized words. “The key words were spoken louder. The voice was
emphasized ” B39.
On the D-day of the English National Examination, listening became the hardest part for Baez B40. “My heart beat very fast” B41. She was ready to
implement the tips given to her. B42 She tried to notice the words which were spoken more loudly or emphasized
but she never found them B43. “It was like there were no key words. I didn‟t understand the questions. And, oh, what were
the answers?” B43 Baez started to feel panic but then she decided to put all the tips away and just listened to the recording B44; B45. It did not help her though
B46. “I was doubtful about almost all of my answers. I surrendered. I took whatever I could take” B47.
3. On cheating
: Before the English National Examination was started, Baez knew she would cheat B48. On the D-day, however, she tried to work by herself
first B49. After finishing her work, and after she saw her friend had finished the examination, she asked the answers
of five numbers to her B50. “She sat two rows in front of me. I
couldn‟t say we were close. But she knew. She knew I was not good in English” B51. This friend of Baez first looked at her after she
finished her work B52. She asked if Baez had finished working on her PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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examination B52. Baez replied, mentioning five numbers to her B52. “She then memorized those numbers. She memorized them while walking to submit her
answers in front. She then turned back. She looked at me. She told me the answers” B53.
Not only asking answers to her friends, that day Baez also shared her answers to other friends. “This number” Baez recalled what her friends said B54.
“Because my knowledge was limited, I only gave the answers I were sure of” B55. If Baez was not
sure, she would tell her friends she was not sure B56. “If they were okay with that, I would give them the answers” B57.
The cheating was not found out by the supervisor B58. Baez‟s seat was in line with the teacher‟s table B59. “During the English National Examination the
supervisor was reading newspaper. It was like he let us be. When the class was noisy he would then... „Please be quite...‟ If we were not noisy then he would just
let us be” B60; B61. Before the National Examination was conducted, Baez heard rumor about
leaked the National Examination questions in Google Drive B62. “I tried to find
them. There was five packages. I then downloaded one package” B63. Baez tried to work on those leaked questions B64. She only downloaded one package
because she thought other packages contained the same questions and the questions were only put in different orders B65. “I was scared. Is this really the
tested questions? If it was, then, what if I got perfect score after studying them?” B66. On the D-day, the questions tested turned out to be different with the
questions Baez downloaded. “Luckily, they were different” B67.
