How to pass the OGE: four life hacks and components of an admission interview

Very soon, on February 14, ninth-graders and teachers will meet to take admission to the General State Exam (OGE). And this is not just an oral interview. And there are four tasks: reading, presentation with a quote, dialogue, monologue. They pass the “admission” in the presence of a teacher and an observer. And each part of the test is assessed using a point system. Fortunately, each graduate has the right to two retakes.

The vaunted “unbearable ease” of the Unified State Exam in comparison with the Unified State Exam, which is taken after 11th grade, is due to the fact that 9th graders take the exam at their own school and with their teachers. But oral admission before the Unified State Exam is considered simpler than a written essay before the Unified State Exam. Which is debatable, because enough children now have problems with speaking and communication. And writing to them is often easier than talking.

So, the interview for admission to the Unified State Examination begins with the student being given a printout with a text that contains 4 paragraphs. And a few minutes to skim the text with your eyes. As a rule, the text on the exam tells about a historical or cultural hero like Alexander Suvorov, Yuri Gagarin or the writer Prishvin.

Then the examinee must read the text out loud without hesitation. Next, the examiner will listen to the retelling.

The arrangement should not be chaotic or scanty. Ideally, a student should highlight the main points, not miss a quote, and express his attitude to what he read.

And finally, dialogue. It is appreciated that the story is not stiff, that there are no banal phrases in the story, and that arguments demonstrating cause-and-effect relationships are encouraged. But it is better for a teenager not to get into the jungle of “wise thoughts”, limiting himself to the topic in the picture. Based on the results of the interview, points are awarded for each part, with a maximum of 20 points.

As for the OGE itself, during the main period the exams are taken in May. Like the Unified State Exam, there are two main exams, Russian (this year on June 3, duration 3 hours 55 minutes) and mathematics (June 6, duration the same). And two more additional items to choose from.

Foreign languages ​​(English, Spanish, German, French) are taken using a computer without Internet access. Maybe that’s why this is one of the shortest OGEs, it lasts 2 hours and 15 minutes. On the computer, in addition to “languages”, computer science is taken. The longest of the “additional” exams is literature; it also takes 3 hours and 55 minutes, like the main subjects.

Perhaps the most obvious weakening of the Unified State Examination compared to the Unified State Examination is the allowed aids for the exam. As you know, you can’t do anything on the Unified State Exam: only assignment forms, a pen, a bottle of water. In the general exam after 9th grade, anything is possible.

In Russian you can use a spelling dictionary, in literature you can use the same dictionary, and also “full texts of works of fiction.” For physics, chemistry, biology and geography, you can bring not only special rulers, but also non-programmable calculators. And take various additional aids in the classroom: atlases, periodic table, table of solubility of salts, acids and bases in water, electrochemical voltage series of metals.

Of course, over the years of the existence of admission to the OGE, various life hacks and recommendations for preparing for it have accumulated. The main thing that teachers and experts say is: talk through as many variants of tasks as possible. Like in an exam – read the text and repeat. Moreover, there is no need to reinvent the wheel; all the topics are in the bank of demo versions.

Another tip: write down difficult words in the margins of the assignments. All sorts of terms, like “collaboration”, “illuminati”, “staff captain”, “litera” and so on. And the more such words you “catch” and “decipher,” the better.

You can train oral presentation using the principle of four-part composition from literary theory. The beginning (exposition), development of action, fall of action and climax, ending (epilogue). Sometimes this “division of text into sections” reaches children better than dividing into micro-topics and so on. Try to avoid presentation as memorization, when the child tries to repeat the entire text word for word.

Arrange rehearsals. It’s one thing to mutter a text to yourself, it’s quite another to tell it to your interlocutor, and even in the presence of a third person.

If this is not the case, psychologists advise practicing dialogue in front of a mirror. After all, examiners are people too. And, in addition to the content of the conversation, it is also important to exude confidence, be friendly, charming, and smile. To do this, it is useful to see yourself from the outside.

“Even very good students need to prepare for such an interview,” says neuropsychologist Svetlana Smirnova. – Precisely because it involves communication, and even under supervision. An unprepared teenager of 15-16 years old may simply become confused.

If there is too much anxiety before the exam, simple exercises that you can do in the hallway will help you get ready. Shoulder rotations with simultaneous head turns, for example. Or “Fat Hamster”: at the same time we raise our arms up, place our legs wider than our shoulders and puff out our cheeks. But this, like the most effective exercises such as “Clock” or “Gypsy”, is best done where no one can see.

Directly during preparation, I advise you to roll a ribbed pen or pencil with your fingers if you have problems concentrating. For the same purpose, you can lightly bite the tip of your tongue. If the thought does not go, it is better to yawn several times behind your palm – this technique saturates well with oxygen.