Success before the Maturity Exam
On 14 April 2023, I was in Szolnok for the announcement of the results for a competition called ÁSZÉV based on technical knowledge.
This competition consists of 3 rounds: firstly, there is a qualifying round followed by a written and then a third, oral one. In the first round, everyone writes their assignment on a computer and the score they earn is used to qualify for the other rounds. The score for this year ranged from 10 to 80, depending on the profession. The first round is written in your own school, the second in the designated schools in the county’s capitals, and the third round is held in Szolnok, where we have to demonstrate our knowledge orally.
Last year, in November, my school entered all senior students for the competition. Of course, I was motivated to do as well as possible, as there are prizes for outstanding results, ranging from 25 to 100 points for further studies, depending on the ranking, and valuable prizes for the best students. With this in mind, I sat down at my computer at 8am on 31 January 2023 to write the first round. This year, I had to complete a 70-question test. The next day, the results came in, and I finished this round with 87 out of 100 points, which propelled me up to 2nd place.
The second round was on March 1 in Szekszárd at noon. During this time, unfortunately I was ill, nevertheless I tried my very best. In this round, I had to complete a set of questions which included Traffic Knowledge, Signalling Knowledge, Railway Geography and Transport Basics. Fortunately, there was no questions regarding technical knowledge (the MÁV E.2 Brake Instruction). The result of this was published on 22 March, where it turned out that I finished in 3rd place with 74 points.
The third round was held in Szolnok from April 3 to 5. The three days were necessary because there were 10-10 students from 48 vocational groups competing against each other, which would have been a lot to fit into one day, even though there were competitions in all the technical centres in the city. I went to the oral competition on 3 April, where I met the other finalists. After choosing my topic (where I had to describe the history of Hungarian railway transport between 1830 and 1900, the railway line and branches of the Budapest-Székesfehérvár-Siófok-Nagykanizsa-Murakeresztúr frontier line No 30, the grouping of the points and the numbering of the points, as well as who to allow to move in the case of reversing and what to say in the case of reversing), I collected my thoughts in the time allotted for the drafting and then I spoke for 12 minutes. The committee just listened, no questions were asked, they just wrote down the points for themselves and thanked me at the end.
During the spring break, the school was informed that three of its students (including myself) had been invited to the results ceremony, which took place on 14 April at the school where the oral round was held. At dawn that day, the runners-ups and our teacher boarded a train and travelled across the country. The ceremony started at 10 am, first with a musical performance, then with a toast from the organizers and went on with a speech from the mayor of Szolnok. Then came the award ceremony. My professional group, whose long name I don’t want to write down, was at the end, which had caused a bit of excitement. My fellow finalists and I took our seats, the name of our profession was mentioned and then the results were announced. When the 3rd place was announced, my name was called. I had to go up on stage where they handed me a commemorative plaque and a gift bag containing a headset, a booklet about the sights of Szolnok, a pen, and a meal voucher worth 30.000 HUF.
Overall, I’m happy with 3rd place, but I know it could have been better, but I can’t complain about the results. Thank you very much to everyone who supported me in some way. This was a great way to prepare for the upcoming maturity exam.
Nándor Dausek Kaposvár 2.
