I just finished my OPI about half an hour ago so I thought I’d type out my thoughts while still fresh. Let me know if you have any questions about it, @otterhead!
It both went better than expected and worse than expected. The conversation portions felt natural and unforced, especially considering how many iTalki conversation lessons I’ve taken. It felt a lot like that but with a bit more pressure to remember the actual words I wanted to use instead of circumlocuting (though I obviously did a fair bit of that, too).
When I was practicing with my iTalki tutors for the OPI, though, the role play was definitely the roughest part and that remained true of the test. It was the final portion and it was just so hard for me to think of the right words to explain the situation. I was prompted to act as if “You’re living in Japan and you have contracted a moving company to move your things to your new apartment and set up your furniture for you. However, when you arrive at the apartment you realize that they have left your furniture boxed and you need to speak to the manager to make sure that your contract is honored and you get the assembly service you paid for.” I really struggled… as I would if I were actually living in Japan (though at least I’d use dictionaries to look up the words I don’t know before confronting this situation…). I fumbled a lot and kind of just said the same few things over and over again…
But… I’m still hoping I achieved at least the intermediate-high status. I certainly think I was able to speak in full sentences the entire time, even if they weren’t great sentences.
The results should be available within 20 days from now and I’ll check back in then, but let me know if you have any questions in the meantime… I can’t think what else to say but I could definitely be more detailed if you have a question.
I paid for it because I need to know how to do better for this grad program, according to a couple advisors I talked to it’s really useful for upping your score.