I came second in my class

[Winwin2011]

Today is parents' Day. I am happy because my exam results are good. Last year I came second in my class. Now I come first. My sister is unhappy because she failed her exam. She comes last in class this year.

1.I wonder if it is natural to say 'I came second in my class'?
2. Is it correct to use simple present tense if we are talking about the examination results this year?
3. Is it correct say examination result instead of examination results?

Thanks.

[emsr2d2]

Today is parents' Day. I am happy because my exam results are good. Last year I came second in my class. Now I come first. My sister is unhappy because she failed her exam. She comes last in class this year.

1.I wonder if it is natural to say 'I came second in my class'? Yes, it's natural.
2. Is it correct to use simple present tense if we are talking about the examination results this year? Not really. It would sound better if you said "This year, I came first".
3. Is it correct say examination result instead of examination results? It depends on the sentence. Please post a sentence using both and we can see how you want to use it. You have not used either phrase in your piece.

Thanks.

See above.

[Winwin2011]

See above.

Thanks a lot,emsr2d2.
1. When we are talking about the exam results, is 'placed second' commonly used by native speakers?
2. If a student took only one suject in his exam, does it mean that we should use the examination result (singular)?

Thanks again.

[emsr2d2]

Thanks a lot,emsr2d2.

1. When we are talking about the exam results, is 'placed second' commonly used by native speakers?
2. If a student took only one suject in his exam, does it mean that we should use the examination result (singular)?

Thanks again.

I wouldn't use "placed second" when talking about exam results. Were you talking about an exam result in your original question? I assumed you meant you came second in your class overall (taking coursework and exam results into consideration). When I was at school, at the end of each school year, each class teacher announced which pupil had come "top" (first), second and third in the class over the course of the year.

I would say that if you only took one exam, then yes, you will only get one exam result.

[Winwin2011]

I wouldn't use "placed second" when talking about exam results. Were you talking about an exam result in your original question? I assumed you meant you came second in your class overall (taking coursework and exam results into consideration). When I was at school, at the end of each school year, each class teachers announced which pupil had come "top" (first), second and third in the class over the course of the year.

I would say that if you only took one exam, then yes, you will only get one exam result.

Hi emsr2d2. It's great to have your prompt reply again!

1.If a student (Emily) got a '1st position' in her exam results, what would you say in spoken and written English other than 'came first' ?

2. Do you mean if we took 4 papers (e.g chemistry,geograohy, history and maths) in the final exam, then we say the examination results?

Thanks again.

[emsr2d2]

Hi emsr2d2. It's great to have your prompt reply again!

1.If a student (Emily) got a '1st position' in her exam results, what would you say in spoken and written English other than 'came first'? There's nothing wrong with "came first". I simply said that I thought "placed first/second" sounded odd. We say that a horse "places first/second/third" in a race!

2. Do you mean if we took 4 papers (e.g chemistry,geograohy, history and maths) in the final exam, then we say the examination results? Yes.

Thanks again.

Perhaps things work differently there but in the UK, most people don't know what their actual exam score was. They are simply given a grade. From 30 people who sat an exam, perhaps 10 achieve an A grade, 10 get a B and 10 get a C. So there is no "winner". The 10 people who get an A grade won't then be told that they scored 100% or 99% etc, they just get the grade.

[Winwin2011]

Perhaps things work differently there but in the UK, most people don't know what their actual exam score was. They are simply given a grade. From 30 people who sat an exam, perhaps 10 achieve an A grade, 10 get a B and 10 get a C. So there is no "winner". The 10 people who get an A grade won't then be told that they scored 100% or 99% etc, they just get the grade.

Hi emsr2d2. Many thanks again!

Do you think it would be fine to both say and write as follows:-

Emily has always acheived excellent results in Primary three and came second in her examinations for the 2011/12.

[Barb_D]

Here, it would be normal enough to say "I got the second-highest score in the class on that test" or "I got the highest grade in the class."

You will hear "grade" and "score" used interchangeably in that context, but "mark" is a little less common.

The results aren't usually posted - it's by talking to each other that the student figure this out.

[Winwin2011]

Here, it would be normal enough to say "I got the second-highest score in the class on that test" or "I got the highest grade in the class."

You will hear "grade" and "score" used interchangeably in that context, but "mark" is a little less common.

The results aren't usually posted - it's by talking to each other that the student figure this out.

Thanks Barb_D.

In Hong Kong, some Academic Reports would both show 1) Position in class: 1 2) Position in form: 1/100

[billmcd]

Today is parents' Day. I am happy because my exam results are good. Last year I came second in my class. Now I come first. My sister is unhappy because she failed her exam. She comes last in class this year.

1.I wonder if it is natural to say 'I came second in my class'? In AmE you would typically hear "I came in second..." or "I was/am second..."
2. Is it correct to use simple present tense if we are talking about the examination results this year? See ems's response, but consider the AmE version.
3. Is it correct say examination result instead of examination results? ems's response.

Thanks.

b.