Exam Review

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Student services

C = Counsellor

K = Kate 

L = Luki

C:    Hi there, Kate. Come on in. How are you today?

K:    Fine thanks.

C:    Hi, Luki. How’s things?

L:    OK.

C:    Well, as I explained on the phone, I’m a Counsellor here at the Student Services section of the university and I’m interviewing overseas students to help me draw up a guide for new students so I’d be grateful if you could tell me a little about your time since you’ve been here in Cambridge.

K:    Right.

L:    Good idea.

C:    Now, Kate let’s start with you. OK, um ... this is your second semester isn’t It? Could you tell us something about your first impressions of the town when you arrived?

K:    Yeah well first of all I was struck by how quiet it is here in the evening 

Repeat

C:    Yes, I suppose Cambridge is a quiet place. Where did you live when you first arrived?

K:    Well, I went straight into student accommodation; it was a kind of student hostel.

C:    Ah right,    so you didn’t have to worry about doing your own cooking or anything like that?

K:    No, but sometimes I wished I had! The food at the hostel was awful. 

C:    Oh dear. But how were the other students?

K:    To be honest I haven’t managed to make many friends even though the place is full. People seem to keep to themselves; they’re not really very friendly. 

C:    Oh I’m sorry to hear that. Well, what about the actual course? You’re studying ... uh?

K:    I’m doing a Masters by coursework in Environmental Studies.

C:    Ah, right, and how are you finding that?

K:    Yeah, well, it’s been pretty good really. I’ve enjoyed the course, but I feel there hasn’t been enough contact with the lecturers. They all seem to be incredibly busy. The only chance I’ve really had to talk to them was on the field trip.

C:    Well that’s no good. Could anything be done to improve the course in your opinion?

K:    Well ... I think it would be helpful to have meetings with lecturers on the course. Say once a fortnight — something like that.

C:    Regular meetings. Yes that could certainly help. Now Kate, we’ll come back to you in a minute, but I’d just like to ask Luki some questions.

C:    Luki, Where are you from?

L:    I am from Indonesia.

C:    And how did you find Cambridge when you first arrived?

L:    Well, I like it here. I think the city is very beautiful.

C:    What about your accommodation? Was that OK?

L:    Yes, OK. At first I stayed with a family for three months. They were very kind to me but they had three young children and I found it difficult to study

C:    Right, I see.

L:    So after three months I moved out and now I live with two other students in a student house. It’s much cheaper and we like it there. 

C:    Good, and what about your studies? What are you studying?

L:    I’m doing a Bachelor of Computing. 

C:    Computing. I see. Um, apart from the language difficulties, if you can separate them, how have you found the course?

L:    OK, but .

C:    Yes, go on.

L:    Well, the main difficulty for me is getting time on the computers in the computer room. It’s always busy and this makes it very hard to do my practical work.

C:    Yes, I’m sure it would. Can you reserve time in the computer room?

L:    No, you can’t ... but it would certainly help if we could reserve computer time.  

C:    Yes. I’ll look into that and see if something can’t be done to improve things over there. Now let’s go back to Kate...