GCE Advanced Level - StudyGuide.PK

Question 6Fewer than half the candidates answered this question. Many candidates produced effective answers.Nevertheless, some marks were lost because they showed insufficient understanding to compare the poemsto their full extent.Question 7Around a quarter of candidates attempted this question. Candidates found it particularly difficult. Most of theanswers described the poem, rather than using the source material to highlight the message.Question 8This was the least popular question, answered by only a small number of candidates. Although in somecases an attempt was made to give a descriptive account of ‘Moonlight’, in most cases the hidden meaningwas not made explicit enough to achieve a satisfactory score.Question 9Once again, this question was very popular. The majority of candidates handled this question competently.Generally, answers were informative, relevant and well organised.ConclusionThe overall performance on this paper was good, reflecting a high standard. Focusing on vocabulary andorthography will continue to improve candidate performance, especially in Part I. In Part II, more emphasisshould be placed on the message behind the poems and how to use extracts to illustrate the pointscandidates wish to make. Therefore, it is advisable to make candidates aware of the various interpretationsand implications of the prescribed verses.Paper 9160/03Drama, Short Stories and NovelsGeneral commentsThe standard of the work produced on this paper has been steadily improving over the past few years. It is apleasure to report that this trend has continued this year.In addition, the following areas continue to improve:• Spelling (especially spellings of authors, poets, characters in the novel, story or drama);• Grammar (especially agreement rules and the use of plural verbal forms for ‘respect’ in the context ofauthors, poets and epic characters, as necessary);• Presentation, including handwriting.Candidates at some Centres continue to demonstrate consistently high standards, which indicates the veryhigh level of support given to them by their Teachers. At Centres where candidates have performedconsistently poorly, this has arisen mainly because of their inadequate examination skills or inappropriateresponses to questions.Very few candidates demonstrated a lack of understanding or literary sensitivity; nor were there many scriptscontaining significant factual errors. It is pleasing to note that most candidates are being advised by theirTeachers to address directly all the specific components of a question.However, there are still a number of candidates whose answers tend to be very general, overlooking thefocus of the questions attempted. For instance, if a question requires an analysis of a character’scontribution to the development of a novel’s theme, it is both inappropriate and insufficient to present adetailed profile of that character. Answers need to be focused on the questions themselves. When asked togive their opinion, candidates need to respond so their views, and the reasoning behind them, are madesufficiently clear.47