5 Exam Tips for Reading

There are 5 passages (or ‘exercises’ as stated in the exam paper) on the Reading and Writing paper. Here, we
would like to provide 5 exam tips to score well in Reading.

Write short answers

You don’t have to write full sentences in the reading part. By writing 2 or 3 words, sometimes even 1, is
sufficient to answer the questions. But you have to show the examinar that you understand the passage well,
and you are able to provide the right answer straight to the point.

For example, if the question asks: “How often is the carnival held?”, you can answer “once a year” or
“annually”.

There is no need to answer, “The carnival is held once a year” or “The carnival is held annually”.

In this way, you save time for questions that need longer time, and writing.

Remember the units

When you are providing short answers for questions that ask: how much, how many, quantity, price, etc.,
remember to include the units.

It is a common mistakes by students not providing units and loosing marks.

For example, if the question asks: “What is the percentage of drop-out in year 2002?”, you can answer “20 %”
or “20 percent” or “twenty percent”.

If you are writing numbers, be careful to spell them right. All measurement units MUST be included, such as:
dollar ($), pound (£), Euro (€), kilometer (km), hours, liter (ℓ), and so on. You can use either the full spelling or
just the symbol.

Finding key words

When looking at the questions, you can look for the key words in the questions that will lead you to finding
answers in the passage.

For example, if the question asks: “Why do some “samba” schools play in their own districts?”. In this case,
the key words are: “samba schools”, and “play in own districts”.

You can underline these key words quickly, and head back to the passage to skim on where are these key words
located.

Skimming and scanning

After gotten the key words from the questions, you are now able to first skim the text again to find the
‘location’ of the answers. Skimming means just go quickly thru the text to look for the key words. It is best if
you could briefly underline, or just make an open-and-close bracket, the key words at the ‘location’ that you
have found.

Some time, the same key word is used in several part of the passage. In this case, you will have to scan each
‘location’ to get the right answer. Scanning means do a ‘deeper’ reading to understand the meaning of each
‘location’. In fact, the answers could be in all the ‘locations’ you have found. This is especially common for
questions that asked for several facts or points.
Watch for rephrased

Notice that words from the article are often rephrased in the questions. For example, the article states, “… one
in four young people has neither a computer nor a mobile phone…”. Whilst the question asks, “What
percentage of young people have no computer or mobile phone?”.

The answer would be 25%. As ‘one in four’ means ¼, and that is 25%.

Common Mistakes Students Made In Reading Paper

Here are some highlights from IGCSE examiners for common mistakes that students made in IGCSE English as
Second Language (E2L) Reading paper. We are giving you some suggestion notes at the end, so you don’t
repeat the same mistakes.

Mistake 1: Too long / unnecessary answers

As we have already discussed in our exam tips to score in reading, you should keep your answers short and
precise. The examiners want to see that you have understood the questions, and able to give exact precise
answers.

Suggestion: Don’t give more information or details than you need to. Short answers save you time for others.

Mistake 2: Out of questions

It is so common that students are not answering what it is asked for. For example the question might asks,
“How did he get there?”. The common mistake here is by answering, “He got there because he wanted to…”.

The question here is asking “how”, which requires students to find out the “method”. By aswering “because”,
students are showing the “reason”, which is completely out of the question.

Suggestion: Make sure you get what is asked from the beginning. Whether it is a “how” question, or it is a
“why” question, or “where” or “what” etc.. It might be helpful to make a circle on these wh-questions from the
beginning, to help reminding you when you put your answer down.

Mistake 3: Confusing answers

Some time students might just copy the whole phrase from the passage as the answer. It is ok to do so (if what
you copy is the right one), but you might just give a confusing answers to the examiners.

For example, the question asks, “Describe the market”. Students know the answer is in this phrase, so by
copying the whole phrase as answer, it becomes “There is a small town in Province, and on every Sunday there
is a popular and busy market alongside the river.”. By copying the whole phrase, you’re talking about the
small town instead of the market.

Suggestion: Use your own words to communicate the answers. It is best to check, though, that your answers
can be understood by someone else clearly. Example of a good answer would be, “The market happens on
every Sunday alongside the river. It is popular and busy.”

Mistake 4: Listing a number of possible answers

When students don’t know the answer to a question, they tend to list as many as possible answers they could
find in the passage. Listing a number of possible answers is not a good idea. It will just waste your time.
Suggestion: If you don’t know the answer to a question, you can attempt a guess by choosing what you think is
a relevant section from the passage. But you should write down only one point (or more if the question asks for
more).

Mistake 5: Estimate own conclusion

Be careful not to offer an inference or try to come up with your own conclusion than what is stated in the text.
When it is asked for comparison, just stated what is given in the text, not based on your own knowledge of the
fact neither estimate what an answer might be, or should be.

Suggestion: Just look for the information (by scanning and skimming) that is in the text. Remember, all the
answers needed are in the text.

Mistake 6: Insufficient number of answers

Make sure you have read carefully how many points (or answers) you need to provide for a question. When the
question asks for 3 advantages, that means you need to provide 3, not 2 or just 1. If there are 3 lines provided in
the question, put each advantage on each line. Beware not to use “and” on each line, cause you might have
included the other point in one line. Thus causing you not able to find more point.

Suggestion: Be clear on how many answers (or points) are required. The questions will state this clearly, so
make sure you have provided the number of points asked for.

Mistake 7: Create answer from the question

Some students think that if they turn the words around in the question, they might find the answer. This is never
the case – the answers are always found in the passage that you will have read.

Suggestion: Don’t look for the answer in the question! The answer is always in the text – look there instead.

Mistake 8: Ignoring map, chart or diagram

Don’t think that a map, or a chart, or a diagram is just there as decoration. It is likely that the answer to one of
the questions will be found there.

Suggestion: Make sure you read through all the resources you are given carefully. Including a map, or a chart,
or a diagram.

9 Powerful Tips To Score In Writing

Tip 1: Informal letter

You may be asked to write an informal letter to a friend or family member. Often, the question will require you
to describe or explain something, or it may ask you to say what you think about a suggestion or a plan. The
exam question will give you some ideas, and will tell you what you should include in your letter.

Remember: It is important to show that you can write in an informal style.

Example of opening:
 Hi Sally,
Dear Mum,

Example of ending:

Love,
Your lovely daughter,

Tip 2: Follow the required number of words

Make sure that you follow all the instructions very carefully, and write the required number of words. If you are
taking the Extended syllabus, aim for about 185 words. If you are taking the Core syllabus, your target
should be about 135 words.

Tip 3: Use more adjectives and adverbs

When you write, use your imagination as much as possible, but remember that your answer must always be
relevant to the question.

One way to improve your writing is by using more adjectives and adverbs.

Example: We had food and the music too was good.

The above sentence could be made better by applying some adjectives like the below sentence.

We ate really delicious food and the music was fantastic!

Tip 4: Know your marks allocation

Up to nine marks are awarded for content, and up to nine marks for language

“Content” refers to the relevance and development of ideas; “language” refers to style and accuracy.

Tip 5: Style of writing

You may be asked to write an article or narrative, or to give a simple description, or to write something
persuasive. It is important that you read the question very carefully, and that you express yourself effectively.
You should also show that you can vary the style of your writing, depending on the topic.

Tip 6: Summary writing

In Exercise 5 of the IGCSE English as Second Language (E2L) paper, you’ll be required to write a summary
for a text. Below are some important points to help you to score maximum marks for this section:

 Your answer should be written as a single paragraph if the question requires it.
 The summary question will direct you to a specific topic in the text, so it is very important that you
underline the key points and make brief notes before you write your answer.

Tip 7: Keep to the topic

In Exercise 6 and 7, you may be asked to write your opinion about something in the form of a report, review or
newspaper article perhaps for your school newsletter or magazine.

Usually, you will be given help in the form of a list of ideas or other people’s opinions, but you do not have to
use them in your answer. You are free to use your own ideas but make sure you keep to the topic.

You must show the examiner that you can use the English language for a specific purpose and that you can
organise your ideas in a logical way.
Tip 8: Organize your ideas

Although you don’t have much time for planning, you should underline the key word(s) in the question to
make sure you do exactly what is asked.Write very brief notes, putting your ideas into a logical order.
Check for repetition. When you have finished your writing, check your spelling, grammar and punctuation.