Year 12 Exam
Task Types and Tips
Meeri Sild
Tallinna Lilleküla Gümnaasium
meerisild@gmail.com
• Writing
• Reading
• Listening
• Language structures
Writing
Writing Paper -Task 1
• Letter of complaint
• Informative letter – providing
information
• Protest letter
• Letter of enquiry
What is assessed in letters
• Paragraphing
• Length
• Grammar
• Vocabulary
• Opening and closing phrases
• Content points
• Spelling
• Tone / register
• Linking words
• Punctuation
Structure
• clear, visible paragraphs
• one idea per paragraph
• a paragraph should start with a topic
sentence
• introduction- reason for writing
• conclusion-hope for further action
• closing sentence (e.g. Looking forward to
hearing from you soon)
• appropriate salutation and sign-off
Salutation and sign-off
Acceptable
Acceptable
Unacceptable
Dear Ms/Mr/Mrs Jones Dear Sir
Dear Madam
Dear Sir/Madam
Dear Sarah Jones
Dear Mr/Mrs Sarah
Jones
Dear Sarah
Hello Sarah
Hi Sarah
Yours sincerely
Sincerely yours
Sincerely
Yours truly
Best regards
Faithfully yours
Faithfully
Love
With love
Truly
Best wishes
All the best
Best
Yours
Yours faithfully
Sincerely yours
Sincerely
Yours truly
Length
Required 120 words
101-132 words- OK
50-100 words - deduct 1 point (Task
completion)
Fewer than 50 words- Task completion 0
Prompts
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Read the rubric carefully
Make use of all prompts
Don't only mention, but also support
Don't copy the rubric
Misunderstanding of prompts
"Additional information of salary is too short"
"I would like to know the salary of additional
information"
"The additional information gives program managerKelly Davies, could you tell me the salary of
additional informer."
Register/vocabulary/grammar
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language appropriate for the task
no contracted words
no slang
a wide range of vocabulary and grammatical structures to
get top points
• spelling and punctuation (a capital letter at the beginning of
a sentence,a full stop to finish sentences, avoid exclamation
marks, I)
• use of linking devices (balance carefully)
Create checklists for students
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appropriate salutation
appropriate sign-off
polite expression at the end
visible paragraphs
one idea per paragraph
all prompts used
prompts supported
pen-name used
linking words used
no contracted words
no slang words
complex grammatical structures used
word-count
polite
Writing paper, Task 2
essay
report
Word count
180-220 words- OK!
140-179 words- deduct 1 point (Task completion)
100-139 words- deduct 2 points (Task completion)
Fewer than 100 words- 0 points (Task completion)
Marking reports
• Addresses all aspects of the prompt (Task completion)
• Introduction contains the aim/ purpose of the report
and the source of the information: e.g. a survey +
Trent College in Wales (target group)
• Discusses both boys and girls
• Discusses at least the most favourite and the least
favourite dish for each group
• Includes at least some data
• Discusses the healthiness of the choices
• Makes recommendations
• Irrelevant information – also an essay-like conclusion
Top ten mistakes in the writing paper
• Not answering the question completely
A great way to make sure you have answered the question
is to get into the habit of using a highlighter pen and
highlighting all the key words in the question you are
answering.
• Forgetting to plan
Train students to use lists or mindmaps for planning the writing
task
http://mywebspiration.com
• Taking too much time to answer one question
Get your students into habit of writing. Keep time!
• Not allowing time to check the answer
Start making a frequent error checklist. This is a list of the
mistakes you make most or every time you write.
• Using too much of the input material
Try not to repeat the exact words and phrases
from the question and remember to develop the points with
your own ideas.
• Not knowing the text types
Write checklists to remember the main points.
• Forgetting to use linking devices/ overuse of linking
devices
Compile a list of different linking words. Practise the use of
linking words with different exercises.
• Basic vocabulary
Create vocabulary lists. Make use of visual dictionaries.
http://www.lexipedia.com/
• Simple language structures
Analyse sample essays/letters/reports to identify a range of
different structures.
Where to find examples
http://www.goodluckielts.com/IELTS-sample-essays.html
http://www.ielts-blog.com/ielts-writing-samples/ielts-essaysamples-of-band-8/
Make writing fun
• Text reconstruction
• http://www.examenglish.com/FCE/FCE_writing.htm
• Creative writing
• http://www.piclits.com/compose_dragdrop.aspx
Reading
Task types
• multiple choice
• matching (multiple matching,
questions and answers, statements)
• True / False / No Information
• gapped text
• ordering paragraphs
• matching dictionary definitions
Introduce to students
strategies to approach different
task types
Multiple choice
• Read the question carefully and reword it so that it is easy to
understand. Consider whether you are being asked to make a
prediction, a judgment, or a summary statement related to the entire
passage.
• Scan the first and last sentence of each paragraph to identify the
paragraph in which the answer is most likely to be found.
• Skim the paragraph for hints related to the question and circle these
hints. Often, at least three hints will be present in the passage.
• Consider whether the language is positive or negative. That is, is
the subject being treated favorably or in a negative light? Often,
certain answer choices can be eliminated because they illustrate a
tone or perspective that directly contradicts the one presented in the
passage.
• Select the best answer using all available specific information as
well as an overall impression of the passage.
Multiple choice reading tests
http://thales.cica.es/rd/Recursos/rd99/ed99-0288-02/testread1.htm
Matching (headlines, questions)
• First read the summary sentences/headlines, together with
the title and introductory sentence. This will give you an idea
of the main points of the text.
• Then read through the text quite quickly before you start to
make your choices. Look for key words and phrases.
• Be careful! Looking for words in the text which are the same
as the words in the question does not guarantee you will find
the correct answer.
Gap-fill
• Read the title and try to predict the content of the text.
• Skim the text, look for key words and phrases.
• Try to predict the general content of each gap before making
a choice.
• Search for connections between the language in the text
and missing sentences.
• Look for the connections between pronouns and other
words.
• Look out for the words which show the order (or sequence)
in which events happen (time, linking words)
• Make sure you look at the sentences both before and after
the space in the text.
• Check that the whole sentence fits in with the meaning of
the text before and after the space.
• Read the text again to check if it makes sense.
True /false/ no information
• If any part of the statement is not true, then the answer is False.
• Every part of the statement must be True for the answer to be True.
• Choose True for statements with details and qualifiers like “often”
and “usually.”
• Choose False for statements that are shorter with absolutes like
“always” and “never.”
• When guessing, choose True because there are usually more True
answers than False.
• NB! Don't rely on your prior knowledge, base your answers only on
the text.
Matching dictionary definitions
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look through the marked words in the text
determine the parts of speech of the words
use context to guess the meaning of words
start matching taking into account the context and parts of
speech
• remember, there are always extra words you don't need
Use in the classroom different text types- newspaper articles,
fiction, advertisements, forms
How do I know that the reading text I offer is of appropriate
level?
Oxford 3000 text checker
http://www.oup.com/elt/catalogue/teachersites/oald7/oxford_30
00/oxford_3000_profiler?cc=global
lower-intermediate- 100%
upper-intermediate- 90-95%
advanced -75-90%
Listening
Listening paper. Task types
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Matching
Multiple choice
Sentence completion (gap-filling, note taking)
Form-filling
True / False / No information
Text types
• Various news items
• Announcements (e.g. railway station, airport etc.)
• Radio programmes
• Lectures (e.g. British traditions)
• Interviews / conversations (e.g. study possibilities,
visiting one’s doctor)
• Overview (e.g. annual report of a theatre society)
• Instructions
Reading the rubric carefully
• Predicting
• Overall meaning
• Specific information
• Important signals
• Paraphrases
• Opinions / attitudes of speakers
• Making notes if necessary
• Guessing the meaning of words
NB! Sentences in the exam task and in the recording may use
very similar structures, but their meaning might be completely
different. Focus on the meaning of the text, not individual
words.
Practise
• practise texts with different accents and different speed
• good source for listening practise are different videos
http://www.teflclips.com/
http://bigthink.com/
http://www.ehow.com/
http://www.videojug.com/
http://dotsub.com/
• practise tests
http://esl.about.com/od/listeningquizzes/English_Listening_Co
mprehension_Quizzes_for_ESL_EFL.htm
http://www.esl-lab.com/
http://www.eslgold.com/listening.html
Pay attention to spelling
19 ears old
acses, axest
inthernet, enthernet
whepens, vepons, feppens, veapons, webons
recorting, regording
fysical, phisical
plods, blots, pluts, blugs, plugs
moodness, mudiness, mudenes
Language structures
Task types
• Multiple choice gap-fill
• Gap-fill (also banked)
• Error correction
• Word formation
• Paraphrasing in given format (finish
the sentence)
• Sentence transformation
Word formation
• For each question, decide which part of speech you have to
form for each gap- a noun, an adjective, an adverb or a
verb?
• Next, decide what the meaning of the gap is likely to be and
think how the given word can be changed to be the required
part of speech.
• Pay attention to spelling
Word-formation task
http://www.kwary.net/english/Exercises%20on%20Word%20Formation.ppt
discreetly
handy
discreetings
discreetingly
discreeted
discreets
discreeting
discreetable
discreetfully
handless
handsome
handicap
handful
handed
handled
handle
Common mistakes/spelling
• accommodation
• advertisement
• which
• because
• beginning
• especially
• received
• interested
• preferred
• choose / chose / chosen
• Sincerely
• Collage - college
• writting – writing
Lists of common mistakes
http://www.learnenglish.de/spelling/CommonSpellingMistakes.h
tm#q
http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/misspelled.html
Word-formation exercises
http://www.flo-joe.co.uk/
http://www.tolearnenglish.com/exercises/exercise-english1/exercise-english-151.php
http://www.esl-galaxy.com/prefixsuffix.html
http://www.world-english.org/wordformation.htm
http://www.edukacja.edux.pl/p-1093-advanced-word-formationexercises.php
Expand your vocabulary
• Use different learning techniques
Generally, we remember 20% of what we read; 30 % of what we hear;
40% of what we see; 50% of what we write or say and 60% of what we
do. Try to use all of your senses.
• Write sentences about yourself using new words
• Using new words in a personalised way is an excellent way to
memorise them. Writing words down and using them in context will
help you learn the meanings.
• Draw pictures of the words
• Thinking of a way to illustrate new words will help you to remember
them later on. Also, pictures are easier to remember than words.
• Say the words out loud as you learn them
Record yourself saying the words out loud and then listen to
the recording.
http://www.ispeech.org/
• Look for connections between new words
You can do this by organising words into groups. For example,
by topic, in pairs (with similar or opposite meanings), by word
types (verb, noun, adjective etc).
• Look and listen for the new words you are learning
o Look out and listen for the new words when you are
speaking to people, watching TV, or reading books and
magazines in English.
General resources
http://firstcertificate.wordpress.com/category/practice-tests/
http://www.ilkogretimkalbi.com/dokuman/ingilizce/onestopenglis
h-genel/FCE-CAE_Open_Close_Game.pdf
http://www.examenglish.com/
http://www.itests.com/web/main/Home.html
Thank you for the attention!