GCE Advanced Level - StudyGuide.PK

Presentations often showed a lack of spontaneity: candidates are allowed a cue card with up to fiveheadings, but they frequently sounded as if they were reading from a script, or had learnt their entire speechby heart. Candidates may need to be persuaded that it is better not to struggle to compress everything theyknow about a subject into a three-minute speech, but rather to have a clear idea of the structure of theirtopic, and sufficient material to develop it in the Topic Conversation. Examiners’ questions in the TopicConversation often produced word for word what had been said in the Presentation.Topic ConversationThis section is intended to develop the areas touched on in the Presentation, so questions from theExaminer should be of the “how?” “why?” type, rather than questions which can be answered by oui or non.Examiners and candidates alike should be prepared to discuss the chosen theme, and candidates should beprepared both to express and defend their own viewpoint. They should also be aware of the requirement toask questions of the Teacher/Examiner, or marks cannot be awarded for seeking information and opinions.Examiners should prompt for questions near the end of the topic conversation section if none have beenasked.It is helpful to Moderators if the Teacher/Examiner ends the topic conversation section with some sort ofstatement to the effect that conversation is going to move away from the presentation area to deal with moregeneral subjects.General ConversationThis section should deal with totally different areas from that chosen by the candidate for his/herpresentation. It is intended to allow candidates to show the breadth of their interests and varied vocabularyand structures, so should deal with more demanding subject areas than after school activities or holidaydestinations. Both of the latter areas would be appropriate as a jumping off point for more seriousdiscussions, such as students who need jobs in order to fund their education, or comparisons betweenlifestyles in different countries, but candidates need to be given the opportunity to engage in moredemanding conversations. The aim of the Teacher/Examiner should not be to ask a series of questions,each on a different topic, allowing a candidate to recite a prepared answer for each, but to develop any topicas far as the interests/abilities of the candidate allow.Once again, candidates may need prompting near the end of this section to ask questions, so that they havethe chance to score marks for this element of the examination.Overall, Centres had worked hard with candidates to prepare them for the examination, and the majority ofcandidates showed that they were able to sustain a conversation at an appropriate level.Paper 9098/02ListeningGeneral commentsPerformance varied considerably, with scores ranging from the very highest (almost full marks) to the verylowest (almost no marks). Every candidate appeared to have done their utmost - very few scripts were leftincomplete. Candidates were more careful than usual to ensure that their answers connected logically withthe questions, although there were some answers which consisted of random words jotted down but whichmade little sense together.Comments on specific questionsSection 1Partie AQuestion 1Candidates appeared to find this question quite hard, mainly because synonyms were used instead of astraightforward listing of the types of climatic conditions. Answers tended to identify the region correctly, butthere was considerable difficulty with regard to producing further details from the weather forecast.8