UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
THE MATRICULATION EXAMINATION
ADVANCED LEVEL
SPANISH
MAY 2013
EXAMINERS’ REPORT
MATRICULATION AND SECONDARY EDUCATION CERTIFICATE
EXAMINATIONS BOARD
AM Examiners’ Report – May 2013
AM SPANISH
MAY 2013 SESSION
EXAMINERS’ REPORT
The following statistical Table outlines the results of the last five years for comparative purposes. It
represents the number and percentage of candidates obtaining each grade.
No. and % of candidates obtaining each grade
YEAR
2009
% of
Total
A
5
11.9
B
15
35.7
C
14
33.3
D
4
9.5
E
0
0.0
F
0
0.0
ABSENT TOTAL
4
42
9.5
100.0
2010
% of
Total
11
25.6
14
32.6
10
23.3
1
2.3
3
7.0
2
4.7
2
4.7
43
100.0
2011
% of
Total
4
10.5
10
26.3
7
18.4
7
18.4
3
7.9
2
5.3
5
13.2
38
100.0
2012
% of
Total
3
8.6
8
22.9
4
11.4
10
28.6
2
5.7
3
8.6
5
14.3
35
100.0
2013
% of
Total
5
13.9
9
25.0
10
27.8
4
11.1
4
11.1
3
8.3
1
2.8
36
100.0
General Comments
The number of candidates applying for the exam was more or less the same as last year. Nevertheless,
when compared to the previous years, it reflects a decline in the number of students registering for the
exam.
All scripts were seen by three markers and a marking scheme was used for all papers. The distribution of
marks this year reflects a better quality of performance when compared to last year. 13.9% obtained a
grade A while 8.3% obtained a grade F. The majority of the candidates (27.8%) got a grade C.
Observations on the general performance of the candidates for each exercise are being documented
below.
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AM Examiners’ Report – May 2013
Focused remarks
Paper 1: Essay writing (Redacción)
As last year, this year’s choice of themes presented everyday, familiar situations so as to allow the
candidates to express themselves regarding a realistic situation they can actually find themselves in.
Such topics help the candidates indulge themselves in the topic and therefore make better use of the
language. This year the majority of the students opted for argumentative topics. All candidates
understood the topic correctly. However, only few excelled in this creative writing activity. At this level,
students should be encouraged to use everyday expressions and proverbs used by Spanish people in
their day to day interactions. Unfortunately, some mistakes which were outlined in the previous years
surfaced this year as well. A strong interference from Italian was highly observed, with the use of Italian
vocabulary and sentence structure, particularly with the use of the verb ‘haber’ instead of ‘tener’. Other
common mistakes were related to the use of the Subjunctive tense, the difference in the use of ‘ser’ and
‘estar’ and the misuse of prepositions, particularly the failure to use the ‘a personal’. In some cases,
students also failed to show gender, number and noun agreement, something which should have been
assimilated at O’level. A predominant number of candidates also failed to use the conjunctions ‘pero’ and
‘sino’ correctly.
Paper 2: Reading Comprehension (Comprensión lectora)
The text presented in this section was extracted and adapted from the collection of articles No me
cogeréis vivo. This article is about the lack of employment in Spain, especially with regard to youths - a
topic which is currently very popular as it represents the reality of life in Spain nowadays. The candidates
had to answer a series of closed questions. Overall, candidates performed less well than last year.
As last year, the last question was felt to be the most difficult of the whole exercise; in it, the candidates
had to find synonyms from the text. Another common occurrence was copying answers directly from the
text when in the instructions it was specified that the candidates should try to use their own words. As last
year, this leads to the conclusion that candidates need to work harder on past-papers and to enrich their
lexical knowledge further.
Paper 2: Summary (Resumen)
The text set for this part was obtained from an online source of information and it dealt with school
bullying, a reality which some of the candidates might have encountered. The objectives of this activity
were to test the candidates’ linguistic competencies and their summarizing techniques. The most
common mistakes were exceeding the word limit, copying whole chunks from the text, and not mentioning
all the main points of the texts. In addition to these, some candidates also manifested linguistic and
syntactic problems. Such difficulties confirm that, as last year, the candidates lacked a wide range of
lexical skills and knowledge. Candidates should be encouraged to do better in this exercise as it helps
them to improve their critical thinking skills.
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AM Examiners’ Report – May 2013
Paper 2: Oral - Conversation (Conversación)
In this part of the examination, pronunciation, lexical and grammatical competence as well as fluency
were examined. Six themes were given to the candidates to choose from, to interact with the
examiner/interviewer. Crucial importance was given to choosing titles that could be directly linked to the
life and immediate surroundings of the candidates. Hence, the topics dealt with imagining one’s life
without a mobile phone, expressing one’s opinion about the fact that sometimes you need to take a step
back in order to move forward, recollecting a trip to Spain, expressing which famous person one would
like to meet, imagining a day at a new job, and discussing the most serious problems in the world.
Candidates were free to choose one theme or more. This year, a high amount of interferences from other
languages was noted and, as in other sections of the examination paper, interference from Italian was
predominant. In addition, in some cases, the candidates used Maltese and English words.
Paper 3: Literary texts and cultural themes (Textos literarios y temas culturales)
In this part of the exam, the candidate is expected to answer either the section which focuses on
Literature or the one which deals with Cultural topics, and to write three essays, each from a different
area of study. As in previous years, the vast majority preferred to tackle the Literature topics rather than
the ones related to Culture. The most popular prescribed texts were once again the following: La casa de
Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca, Rimas by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer and La familia de Pascual
Duarte by Camilo José Cela, reflecting an ideal balance between drama, poetry and prose.
Some of the essays were of a poor quality. Such essays included incorrect facts, especially with regard to
the Cultural topics. Another common factor which determined the poor quality of the essays was the fact
that instead of answering directly to the question, the candidates reproduced an essay which they had
memorized for examination purposes and thus failed to answer all the questions. As last year, this
generates doubt about whether the candidates actually understood the texts. Some essays lacked
insights on the texts and instead of presenting an interpretative analysis, they simply limited themselves
to narrating the literary piece under examination. Some candidates failed to write at the length required. In
general, most of the essays presented grammatical errors.
Conclusion
This year, compared to last year, the candidates’ general performance was better. However, the
candidates’ lexical competence is expected to be of a higher level. Candidates should be able to use a
wider range of vocabulary and to be familiar with some everyday idioms and proverbs which Spanish
natives use. Candidates should also avoid interferences of other languages, mainly of Italian. As a final
point, inaccuracies in grammar structures and difficulties in the use of prepositions and in the use and
conjugation of verbs should not appear so often at this level.
Chairperson
2013 Examination Panel
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