Answering Exam Tasks

Answering Exam Tasks

Currently the exam for this course has two tasks. Task 1 is referred to as the short task and task 2 is referred to as the long task. Tasks 1a and task 1b are both compulsory and require short answers. All answers you write contribute to the grade, so each part of the exam should be given the same amount of care and consideration. The Norwegian Directorate of Education, which is responsible for exams, offers documents to help you understand the grading system. Perhaps the most important document is the vurderingsveiledning and its description of goal attainment (måloppnåelse). Your teacher can share this information to help you understand what the examiners are looking for when they set your grade. The form below describes the grade levels for the three parts of the curriculum that the examiner will use when setting the grade. When you write a test or mock exam in school, look at this form and judge your answers according to the levels. Kjennetegn på måloppnåelse for sentralt gitt skriftlig eksamen i SPR3008 2017 Hovedområder/ Kategorier Språk og språklæring Kommunikasjon Kultur, samfunn og litteratur KARAKTER 2 - inneholder enkle og overflatiske svar på oppgavene, og deler av eksamenssvaret kan være noe på siden av oppgaveinstruksjonen - viser at eventuelle kilder er brukt på - uselvstendig måte, og/eller mangler kildehenvisninger - viser lite faglig innsikt eller oversikt - viser liten kjennskap til språklige virkemidler KARAKTER 3-4 - inneholder relevante svar på oppgavene i samsvar med oppgaveinstruksjonen og viser en viss grad av selvstendighet - viser at eventuelle kilder er brukt på en redelig måte med henvisning - viser rimelig god faglig innsikt og oversikt - viser noe kjennskap til språklige virkemidler når det er relevant KARAKTER 5-6 - inneholder presise, fyldige og relevante svar på oppgavene i samsvar med oppgaveinstruksjonen, og viser en stor grad av selvstendighet - viser at eventuelle kilder er brukt på en redelig måte med hensiktsmessig kildehenvisning - viser meget god faglig innsikt og oversikt - inneholder analyse av språklige virkemidler når det er relevant

Hovedområder/ Kategorier KARAKTER 2 Tekststruktur - består av tekster som har svak og tilfeldig struktur, enkle setninger også preget av gjentakelse og oppramsing - viser i liten grad bruk av tekstbinding - viser begrenset forståelse av informasjon basert på tallmateriale og statistikk Språk - viser et begrenset ordforråd av generell og fagspesifikk art - er preget av språklige, formelle svakheter, men er i stor grad forståelig KARAKTER 3-4 - består av tekster med forholdsvis logisk struktur og indre sammenheng og noe variasjon i setningsbygning - har de mest vanlige former for tekstbinding - viser forståelse av informasjon i tallmateriale og statistikk, og formidler formålet med slik informasjon på en forståelig måte - viser et tilstrekkelig ordforråd av generell og fagspesifikk art - formidler formålet med teksten stort sett godt, selv om en del språkfeil kan forekomme KARAKTER 5-6 - består av tekster med klar og logisk struktur, god flyt, god indre sammenheng og variert setningsbygning - har variert og hensiktsmessig tekstbinding - viser god forståelse av informasjon i tallmateriale og statistikk, og formidler formålet med slik informasjon på en reflektert og logisk måte - viser et variert og nyansert ordforråd av generell og fagspesifikk art - har ingen kommunikasjonsforstyrrende språkfeil Karakteren 1 uttrykker at besvarelsen viser lavere måloppnåelse enn det som står ovenfor. (Eksamensveiledning SPR3008 Internasional engelsk 2017) As you can see, there are three rows of boxes. Row 1, box 1 lists the three parts of the curriculum: 1) Language and language learning; 2) Communication and 3) Culture society and literature. The other two rows refer to how you write your answers: text structure and language. Thus you are graded according to the content of your answers and also the language quality of your answers. The examiners will grade the paper holistically, that is, they will be assessing the quality of all three of your answers. What you do on tasks 1a and 1b is very important for your grade, even though they are shorter answers than task 2. It is important that you realise this fact: all parts of the exam are important. If you write a strong task 2, but fail to answer tasks 1a and b well, you can expect that your grade will fall.

Text structure The second row refers to text structure. You will be writing three texts, one for 1a, 1b and task 2. All three texts should have a clear and logical structure. In task 1a, you should probably have at least three relevant and different examples of language features, where perhaps the most logical approach would be to have a brief introductory paragraph and then three short paragraphs in which you present the examples and their effect. We will look at this in more detail below. It is important to use your time well on the exam. As one of the three overarching criteria is text structure, you should take the time to plan how you want to structure your answers. This refers to all three answers, but especially the answer to task 2. A well-structured and organised text that shows the effect of being planned, and thus has coherence and flow, will score you points. Language Row 3 refers to language, which is of course important. Do you show that you have a wide and varied vocabulary? Is your text free of basic mistakes that make it difficult to understand what you are saying? Is there a coherent progression in your text? Do you write varied sentences that show a logical progression of your ideas? It is also important to leave time at the end of the exam to proofread your answers so you can weed out any mistakes. For example, have you got concord right? Does your verb in a sentence agree with the subject? For example, which of these two phrases is correct: The idea of books, pens and paper are The idea of books, pens and paper is The second phrase is right because the subject of the phrase is idea, which is singular. Poor concord will detract from the overall impression of your language and you should leave yourself time to check this, plus spelling, word choice and other aspects of language. The exam questions are designed according to the subject curriculum. The questions should give you the opportunity to show that you can satisfy the goals in the curriculum. We will take a closer look at goal attainment below.

What is a good exam answer? Tasks 1a and 1b Task 1a focuses on language features, while task 1b often builds on some aspect of task 1a. For example, on one recent exam, task 1a had two texts about climate change where the students had to compare how language features were used in them to convey their message. Task 1b then asked the students to comment on a cartoon that had climate change as its theme. In this case, a student could perhaps find an interesting detail in task 1a that could be used in the answer to 1b. Often, task 1a asks the exam candidate to point out language features and to show their effects. Language features means aspects of style, grammar and structure. The problem many exam candidates have is that they find examples that are more about content than language features. To attain the top grade on task 1a, the answer must be relevant, complete and precise. This means that you cannot just summarise the text or talk about its content; you must find relevant things to say about the language and style, and the effect of the writer s choices. The text analysis courses in Access to International English can help you to prepare for answering such questions. The question might also ask you for genre features of a text or texts. Then you have to find special language features about the text that place it in a genre. Again you will have problems if your focus is too much on content rather than language features. Another problem when working on questions about language features is that students do not use enough grammar terminology in their answers. For example, don t say the text uses elaborate words, or the text uses descriptive words, say instead something like the message of the text is enhanced by a heavy uses of adjectives. Use terms like adverb, adjective, verb, noun, personal pronoun. Perhaps the text uses literary devices like metaphors, similes and personification. Don t just call these comparisons, use the terminology in your answer (see Text Analysis Courses in the textbook for more on use of terminology). For this type of task you can assess your progress using the table below.

Skill Response What can I do to improve? Have I done what the question asked me to do? Have I paid particular attention to language features? Have I used terminology? What examples of language features have I found? After reviewing the question in class, what features did I miss? Did I write effectively about the language features? Task 2 In task 2 students are usually asked to choose one question from four options. The first tip is simply to take your time and choose carefully which question you want to answer. When you think you have found the right question, stop and think: Are you sure you have enough to say for a good text? Do you

understand what the question asks you to do? Do you understand all parts of the question? Is it asking you to do more than one thing? Too many students start with a task that seems right at first glance but half way into their answer they run out of things to say and either go general (that is, try to write about general things not directly related to the question), or just write what they want with no real focus on the question. If you do the latter, your grade will drop because you have not directly answered the question. Comparisons Another important thing to remember is that the exam tasks often ask comparison questions. For example, you may be asked to compare two books, or a book or a film, or perhaps you are asked to compare what you have learned about characters from different works. If the question has a comparison aspect, it is important to make the comparison a primary factor in your text. Don t simply talk about the one work and then talk about the second work and then tack on one I think that paragraph at the end and call it your comparison. Rather compare different points, for example about the characters, throughout your text. It might be a good idea to go through your text point by point: Point 1 Work A, Point 1 Work B, Point 2 Work A, Point 2 Work B etc. But you could also block your texts Work A first and Work B second, but introduce the comparative aspect in the Work A section, for example: But as we shall see below, this is quite a different reaction than in Work B The choice is of course yours, but the point is that the comparison aspect must be present throughout your text, not just in a final summary paragraph. You may also may be asked to compare one or more global challenges, as global challenges is part of the goals under Culture, society and literature. If there is a comparison aspect to the question, make sure it is the dominant approach in your text and make sure that you give equal time to the challenges you are comparing. The exam questions are often supported by text, pictures, graphs, statistics etc. placed either in the appendix or in a box with the question. If the question asks you to respond to the text, pictures, graphs, etc. that are given, or to use them as a point of departure, or starting point for a text, it is important to make use of the material in a coherent and well-developed way. It is not enough to only give this material passing reference. Your grade will certainly suffer if you ignore the material completely if the question has instructed you to use it or refer to it.

For task 2 you can assess your progress using the table below: How can I improve? Have I answered all parts of the question? Have I used the material supplied with the question if the question instructs me to do so in any way? Is my text coherent? Have I used linking words and varied my language so the text has a good flow? Do I have a consistent approach (thread) through my text? Have I checked spelling, grammar and style?