Paper 2 Question 5
Focus: Writing Your Views Marks: 40 Time: 45 mins
Click on a topic below:
The marks are divided into two main skills: Content & Organisation and Technical Accuracy.
Content & Organisation (24 marks) includes:
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Overall communication
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Tone and register
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Vocabulary and language techniques
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Structure
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Ideas
Technical Accuracy (16 marks) includes:
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Accuracy of spelling
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Variety of punctuation
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Accuracy of grammar
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Variety of sentences
The examiner will read your answer THREE times.
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First they'll decide how successful your overall communication is and decide on a level (L1-L4).
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Then they'll read again (looking at tone, language, structure and ideas) and decide on a final mark for Content & Organisation.
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Then they'll read it a final time and award a mark for Technical Accuracy. The two marks are added together.
If you write in the wrong format (e.g. an article instead of a letter) you may lose a mark or two for tone and register but otherwise it will be marked in the same way.
How to succeed
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Make a brief plan.
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Pick out the purpose, audience and format from the question.
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Have clear, linked ideas.
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Use a variety of language, punctuation and sentence types.
Common mistakes
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Not planning.
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Writing for the wrong purpose/audience or in the wrong format.
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Having muddled, unclear ideas.
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Using simple, boring language and punctuation.
Further Practice
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Go to the Paper 2 practice papers and try some Q5s.
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Read some marked answers to see what a Level 3 answer is like.
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Check out the SPaG website to improve your Technical Accuracy marks.