English Paper 1123

(Avoid)

According to the most recent marking schemes (2017-2019) of English Paper 1123, these are
the mistakes/blunder that Examiner wouldn't want you to commit. This is a list of things you
should "avoid" in your English paper.

Overall
1. avoid writing very long responses as these are rarely well-structured and often contain
a large number of errors
2. Avoid joining individual words together, such as ‘alot’, ‘atleast’ or ‘eventhough’.

Paper 1
DIRECTED

1. avoid writing an introductory paragraph which is a lift of the scenario in the question.

COMPOSITION

1. avoid memorising sections of responses, particularly those involving ‘florid’ vocabulary

and clichés/proverbs. These are unlikely to address the precise question asked, and as
such may not be successful.
2. avoid including (sexual) violence within responses. This is inappropriate for the task(s).
3. avoid slang unless used in direct speech and where appropriate for the task
4. avoid inappropriate subjects. A few responses verged on inappropriate material with
the protagonist being subjected to violence or sexual assault due to promises being
broken.
5. A small minority of candidates are still including graphic violence and illegal acts within
responses which should be avoided as inappropriate for the task(s).
6. avoid memorised openings to narratives; ‘It was a bright sunny morning and all the
birds were singing’.
7. avoid the insertion of pre-learned idioms unless genuinely apt. Many candidates
misused the idioms/vocabulary as well, e.g. ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’
and ‘You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink’.
8. Many candidates avoided the violence which has been a feature of narratives in
previous papers, although a minority included illegal elements such as sexual assaults,
robberies and drug abuse. Whilst recognising that these themes may be handled
competently, they often did not add depth to narratives and candidates are advised to
avoid a reliance on ‘shock value’
9. There were few examples of the inclusion of text messaging language, abbreviations
and expressions such as ‘gonna’ and ‘wanna’, which can sometimes suggest the wrong
register and are best avoided

Paper 2
SUMMARY

1. avoid lengthy or unnecessary introductions and conclusions.

2. (necessary to) avoid anything which was merely an example or extension of a main
point
3. should be avoided in favour of stating only the point which they exemplify
4. avoiding the over-use of supporting details and examples, and also avoiding non-
specific topic sentences, such as ‘In this way, we can see that…’
5. The use of brackets is, therefore, best avoided.
6. Candidates are advised to practise recognising the difference between opinion and
fact in the first, nonfiction passage; this would help candidates to avoid giving excess
information which turns an opinion into a statement.

COMPREHENSION

1. avoid the use of ellipsis (…) to shorten a response.

2. examples are unnecessary when summarising and should be avoided in avoid
presenting effect as if it were meaning.