Tips for your CIE O’Level English Language

1123 Examination
Dear Students,

I thought about providing some last minute advice for the O’level
English 1123 Examination, and hence, I have written this post. I
hope you will find it a useful reminder/instant revision guide for
your final examination paper.

Writing Paper

Section 1

Read the question carefully to understand the situation, task and

content points.

Always follow the format in the question. If no format is given, then

you should follow the format prescribed by your teacher.

Develop the 03 contents in equal detail, whenever possible.

Write 4 – 5 paragraphs in your

letter/report/speech/article/account.

Write a proper beginning and ending sentence.

The word limit is 200 – 300 words. You should write around 250
words at least.

Use formal language in all directed writing tasks, except Informal

letter.

Always plan your response before you start writing. You can divide
the examination time in the following way:

1. Planning your response: 3/4 minutes.

2. Writing : 22 – 24 minutes.

3. Editing: 3 – 4 minutes.

Section 2
Read all the given topics at least twice, before choosing the topic
you want to respond to.

Choose the topic according to your strengths and preparation, and

whether you have enough ideas to write between 350 – 500 words.

Avoid writing an argumentative essay, unless you have

thoroughly practiced this type of writing.

Plan before you start wiring and always recheck your work before
you hand it in. You can divide the examination time in the following
way:

1. Planning your response: 7/8 minutes.

2. Writing: 45 minutes.

3. Editing: 5 – 6 minutes.

Descriptive and Argumentative essays should have a proper

introduction (1 paragraph), a detailed body (3 – 6 paragraphs) and
a logical conclusion (1 paragraph).
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Stories should have an engaging opening, with an intriguing middle

to sustain readers’ interest and a logical ending to bring a proper
resolution to the plot.

Use similes, metaphors and effective descriptive words to create

verbal pictures in a descriptive essay.

Keep your stories believable and realistic. Use flashback, dialogues

and description of setting to make your narrative composition
engaging for the reader.

Avoid writing stories which end up as a ‘bad dream.’ Avoid copying

the plots from popular movies you have watched. Also refrain from
showing violence, racism or glorifying crime in your stories.

Editing your essay is immensely important before handing it in. You

should know what your common errors in grammar, punctuation
and spelling are. Also keep an eye out for commonly committed
slips in English writing: its/it’s, there/their, ‘i’ instead of ‘I’, use of
articles (a, an and the), subject-verb agreement (He don’t/doesn’t
etc), run-on sentences etc.
Don’t try to use ambitious vocabulary unless you are sure about its
meaning and use. Using a simple word correctly is going to gain
you more marks than using an unfamiliar word incorrectly, while
trying to impress the examiner.

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Reading Paper

Section 1

You have to write 15 content points from the given passage, on two
aspects: advantages/disadvantage, causes/effects, comparison of
past and present etc. The points on both sides should be balanced
(8+7, 9+6 or 10+5).

The points should be brief, precise and concise. You don’t need to
write them in your own words. Review the marking scheme to find
out how the point should be written.

Avoid repeating a point in different words. Examples of a point do

not count as separate points.

Each point should be written on separated line in a numbered or

bulleted list.

Example points given by the examiner in the boxes are not

included in your 15 content points.

Write 2/3 extra points, whenever possible. You will get marks for
the extra points in case some of your points are incorrect.

Write a paragraph summary of 160 words, including the 10 words

given in the question. Use your own words as far as possible and
use conjunctions to make your paragraph cohesive and fluent to
read.

You should know the difference between facts and opinions. Google
it and you will find plenty of resources. Practice solving the past
paper questions on finding fact/opinion.

Section 2

Read the passage once only to get the general idea of the main
topic/theme.
Read every question twice to identify its type and then locate the
answer in the relevant paragraph.

Your answers should be two the point. They can be given in one
word for particular questions and in 1 or maximum 2 sentences for
all other questions.

‘Answer in your own words’ questions are to be very carefully dealt

with. Find two key words in the text which are the exact answer of
the question. Replace the key words with the correct synonyms
and write your answer in a complete sentence.

Inferential questions would be more challenging than others which

would require you to read between the lines and extract implicitly
given information. The answer is not explicitly available. They
usually start ‘What do you think/What can you tell/How do you
know/What evidence is there’ etc.

If the question requires you to give one reason or find one word
from the passage, writing more than one reason/word will get you
zero marks, even if the answer is otherwise correct.

Vocabulary question requires you to provide meanings in context

and using a single word or a phrase of maximum 7 words.

Do not attempt extra words or give extra meaning, as only the first
one will be checked.