Language as a language (LL) vs language as a school subject (LSS) here's a great analogy. Coke and RC.( or Oreo and Hydrox but i found that hydrox came before oreo. ooops. so no lol) i can't think of anything else better than this. or for Japanese folks, 餃子の王将and 大阪王将. Coke (LL) comes before RC (LSS). Without Coke, there wouldn't be RC either. The same goes for 王将and大阪王将. 王将is THE original and 大阪王将is its knock-off. The point is Don't confuse them. Language is NOT a school subject or for tests. Language is LANGUAGE. What you are engaged in is most likely language as a school subject. It's not language. It's something similar to LL but actually it's something totally different and made up by us, humans. I'd say that almost every language learner today is caged in this seemingly harmless trap due to its resemblance, familiarity, and ''indoctrination'' by ignorant school administrators and teachers and lots of phony educational institutions. The biggest problem is that all sorts of common issues that language learners have today come from nothing but the misinterpretation and misconception of what language really is. Treat language as it is. It's not language itself that requires you to work your fingers to the bone for a good score on a test. Language has never been harsh on your mistakes until you get paranoid and lose interest in the target language. It's your school, teacher or textbook. all those stressful aspects of ''language learning" such tests, grades, mean comments and strict correction from your teachers and such have nothing to do with your target language itself. So, if you ever that think you suck at learning second language, you actually DON'T. What really sucks is this whole language education system and the teacher's ignorance of what language really is and how it is supposed to be ''taught''. The truth is that language can not be taught.