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IGCSE

October 02, 2010

Approaching Exercise 2 of the IGCSE Reading and Writing Paper

What to expect

In Exercise 2 of the IGCSE Reading & Writing paper, you should expect a longer text - usually
an article - often with pictures or visual material, such as maps, charts or diagrams.

How to approach:

1. Skim the text: have a quick look at the text reading only titles and subtitles and paying
attention to visuals. In this way, you will be able to get the gist and have a vague idea of what the
text is about.

2. Scan the text: read through the text quickly highlighting the main idea in each paragraph.

3. Read through the text carefully so that you may be able to get more details relating to the main
ideas.
4. Read the questions carefully and highlight keywords which will help you find the correct
answers.

5. Your answers must be brief and accurate, yet in Exercise 2 some questions may require longer
answers. Use only the space provided for your answers.

6. You don't need to use your own words, you can copy the answer from the text. However, do
not copy chunks of text which you don't quite understand. Make sure what you copy is clear and
answers the question accurately.

7. Don't forget the ABC of the IGCSE Reading Paper:

A for Accuracy

B for Brevity

C for Clarity

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Posted on October 02, 2010 at 11:01 AM in Advanced, ESL, Examinations, IGCSE,


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September 21, 2010

Approaching Exercise 1 of the IGCSE Reading & Writing Paper


What to expect:

Brochures, leaflets, notices, advertisements

How to approach:

1. Skim the text. Think of a skimming stone and try to get the gist of the text.

2. Read the question carefully!

3. Ask yourselves what to expect for an answer : a number? a noun? an adjective?

4. Highlight or underline key words which help you look for the right answer.

5. Scan the text just like x-rays scan a suitcase at airports or your scanner scans an old photo. In
other words, look for details by reading the text quickly.

6. For Exercise 1, you do not need to read through the text as if you were reading a book. Just
skim and scan.

7. Complete sentences are not necessary. Sometiems one or two words are enough. But you must
provide all the relevant information.
8. If the answer is a number...watch out! What kind of number is this? Make sure you provide
the unit measurement: am/pm for time, gr/kg/tons for quantity, mph / km for speed/ currency
symbol for prices (€? $? £?) etc.

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Posted on September 21, 2010 at 10:00 PM in Advanced, ESL, Examinations, IGCSE,


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September 11, 2010

IGCSE Reading Practice - Answer Key

READING

Reference - Approaching IGCSE Reading


1. One afternoon in the last week of term, I saw three children from my son's school in tears
being comforted by teachers. That morning, my 11-year-old had stomach pains and had been
retching into a bowl. Talking to other mothers, I heard about other children with stomach-ache or
difficulty sleeping the night before.

2. What caused so much distress? Sports day - not sports day at a highly-competitive
independent school, but at a large village primary. For the children that can fly like the wind, it
causes no problem. For those who are poorly coordinated, overweight, or just not good at sport,
it is a nightmare. Even for those who enjoy running, but who fall half way down the track in
front of the entire school and their parents, it can prove a disaster.

3. Why do we put our children through this annual torment? Some may say competition is
character building, or it's taking part that's important - not the winning; or that it's a tradition of
school life. I just felt immense pity for those children in tears or in pain.

4. Team games at the end of the "sports" produced some close races, enormous enthusiasm, lots
of shouting and were fun to watch. More importantly, the children who were not so fast or so
nimble at passing the ball were hidden a little from everyone's gaze. Some of them also had the
thrill of being on the winning side.

5. I wish sports day could be abandoned and replaced with some other summer event. Perhaps an
afternoon of team games, with a few races for those who want them, would be less stressful for
the children and a lot more fun to watch.
Now try to answer these questions without looking back at the text if possible. Remember that
complete sentences are not necessary but your answers must be accurate.

1. What symptoms do children who are afraid of sports day show?

Stomach pains, being sick, difficulty in sleeping

2. Where was the sports day held?

At a large village primary school

3. Why do some of the children who like running still find sports day traumatic?

Because they fall half way down the track in front of the whole school and their parents.

4. What does the writer feel for young children who are upset by sports day?

Immense pity

5. How did the children feel about the team games played after the race?

Very enthusiastic

6. What alternative to sports day does the writer suggest?

An afternoon of team games and a few races for those who want them.

Finding the main ideas

Match the following main ideas to the relevant paragraphs (1-5) of the article.

A. How team games produced a positive atmosphere on sports day. (Par. 4)

B. The reasons why sports days are still a part of school life. (Par. 3)

C. An alternative to the traditional sports day. (Par. 5)

D. The explanation for the children's illnesses and fears. (Par. 2)

E. The physical symptoms that fear of sports day produces. (Par 1)

SOURCE : Success International by Marian Barry - Georgian Press

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Posted on September 11, 2010 at 10:47 AM in Advanced, Answer Key, ESL, IGCSE,
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September 04, 2010

IGCSE Reading - Practice

READING

Reference - Approaching IGCSE Reading

1. One afternoon in the last week of term, I saw three children from my son's school in tears
being comforted by teachers. That morning, my 11-year-old had stomach pains and had been
retching into a bowl. Talking to other mothers, I heard about other children with stomach-ache or
difficulty sleeping the night before.

2. What caused so much distress? Sports day - not sports day at a highly-competitive
independent school, but at a large village primary. For the children that can fly like the wind, it
causes no problem. For those who are poorly coordinated, overweight, or just not good at sport,
it is a nightmare. Even for those who enjoy running, but who fall half way down the track in
front of the entire school and their parents, it can prove a disaster.

3. Why do we put our children through this annual torment? Some may say competition is
character building, or it's taking part that's important - not the winning; or that it's a tradition of
school life. I just felt immense pity for those children in tears or in pain.

4. Team games at the end of the "sports" produced some close races, enormous enthusiasm, lots
of shouting and were fun to watch. More importantly, the children who were not so fast or so
nimble at passing the ball were hidden a little from everyone's gaze. Some of them also had the
thrill of being on the winning side.

5. I wish sports day could be abandoned and replaced with some other summer event. Perhaps an
afternoon of team games, with a few races for those who want them, would be less stressful for
the children and a lot more fun to watch.
Now try to answer these questions without looking back at the text if possible. Remember that
complete sentences are not necessary but your answers must be accurate.

1. What symptoms do children who are afraid of sports day show?

2. Where was the sports day held?

3. Why do some of the children who like running still find sports day traumatic?

4. What does the writer feel for young children who are upset by sports day?

5. How did the children feel about the team games played after the race?

6. What alternative to sports day does the writer suggest?

Finding the main ideas

Match the following main ideas to the relevant paragraphs (1-5) of the article.

A. How team games produced a positive atmosphere on sports day.

B. The reasons why sports days are still a part of school life.

C. An alternative to the traditional sports day.


D. The explanation for the children's illnesses and fears.

E. The physical symptoms that fear of sports day produces.

SOURCE : Success International by Marian Barry - Georgian Press

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Posted on September 04, 2010 at 09:17 AM in Advanced, IGCSE, Practice, Reading


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June 26, 2010

Approaching IGCSE Reading Comprehension


A. What Examiners Expect You To Do

IGCSE examiners expect you to read a variety of texts in order to get the maximum of
information and with the minimum of misunderstanding. They also expect you to show your
understanding of the texts by:

(a) answering accurately and sufficiently questions on the content of the text. You may use the
wording of the text but your answers must be accurate and to the point.

(b) summarising in your own words, as far as this is possible, questions bearing on certain
aspects of the content by respecting the word limit which is usually 100 words and by providing
all relevant points.

B. How To Read

(a) Skim the text

Read only the title and look at pictures or graphs if there are any. This will give you a general
idea of what the text is about.

(b) Scan the text


Read through the text quickly by concentrating on the first and last sentences of each paragraph.
This will give you a pretty good idea of the main points.

(c) Read the text

Carefully read the text trying to concentrate on details relating to the main points or main ideas
of each paragraph.

C. Dealing With Unknown Words

Most IGCSE candidates of English as a second language tend to worry too much about unknown
words. First of all, do not panic even if there are 15-20 words you don't know. Look at the
context of these words - that is how they are used in the text. Read the sentence the unknown
word is in, the sentences before and after. Reading unknown words in context will greatly help
you to guess their meaning.

Unless your English is fluent, you probably do not know what dipstick or stoat mean. As long as
these words stand alone. there is no way of guessing their meaning. But see what happens when
they are put into a context:

(a) The car was making a funny noise, so I got out, opened the bonnet and took out the dipstick
to check the oil level.

(b) I heard a noise like a rabbit being killed by a stoat.

So it is now easy to guess that a dipstick is the metal rod that is used to measure the oil level in a
car engine and a stoat is a kind of animal that attacks and kills other animals.

Do not expect to be able to guess all the new words in a text. There will be some that you can
only get a vague idea of and others will be impossible to guess. Examiners won't expect you to
understand every single word in a text. But they will expect you to understand the text as a whole
as well as possible since they are testing your ability to understand written English. The most
important thing is to understand the main ideas / points and most of the details. Believe me, a
few difficult words won't make much difference.

D. Dos And Don'ts

Dos

1. Skim, scan and read the text.

2. Read the questions carefully and highlight question words and keywords which will guide you
to look for the relevant information.

3. As a courtesy to your Examiner, write neatly and clearly. You are not allowed to use chemical
erasers, so make sure you delete neatly.
4. Complete sentences are not necessary in the answers to some questions but your answers
must be accurate.

5. If times are required, specify am / pm - e.g. 4:25 pm

6. If an amount of money is required, specify the currency - e.g. £ 50

Don'ts

1. Do not be an imaginative reader by interpreting the text in the light of your own viewpoints,
so that you find it difficult to separate what the writer says from what you feel. You will have the
chance to express your own viewpoints in the writing test!

2. Do not read the questions before skimming, scanning and finally reading the text carefully.
Remember that time spent reading effectively is saved later because you can answer the
questions more quickly and accurately.

3. Do not copy chunks of text hoping that the answer to the question will be included! You can
use the exact words of the texts in so far as these provide an accurate answer which is to the
point and not round the point.

4. Do not provide long answers unless a specific number of words is required. Use only the space
provided and do not use the margin where it says "for examiner's use!"

5. Very often, the answer to a question is to be found in pictures, maps, graphs or small fonts. Do
not ignore them!

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Posted on June 26, 2010 at 12:37 PM in Advanced, ESL, Examinations, IGCSE, Reading
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May 16, 2010


The IGCSE Listening Test - May 2010

The IGCSE listening test is on May 21st, so let's review some main points about the exam:

1. Pre-listening is important! Before you listen take advantage of the time allowed to read the
introduction to each question. This will give you a clue on the topic of the recording. Highlight
keywords as shown in the example below including question words so that you know what to
listen for. Remember, part of the skill of listening is to predict what might be said next.

Example:

Listen to the following interview about a recent motoring expedition and answer the questions
below:

"Man and Machine for Nature" is the motto of the challenge. What is the aim of the
challenge?

Ideally, you should provide the exact spoken words and the correct spelling. Remember that you
can use the blank area on the paper to make notes while you are listening. You are allowed to use
your own words provided you communicate the point / idea clearly. Yet, the listening exam is a
test mainly of your ability to write down what you have heard. In case you fail to get the point,
take a guess and provide an answer. But this should be your last resort!
In the example above : Protect nature by organising a motoring expedition is much better than
leaving it blank as you may eventually get your mark.

2. You can make spelling mistakes and still get your mark if the misspelt word is close to
the correct word.

Examples:

chanse instead of chance / realy instead of really / carefull instead of careful / theater(correct
in American English) instead of theatre

But even though you provide the correct answer, you won't get your mark if the misspelt word:

- is very different from the correct word

bioutifoul instead of beautiful / rialli instead of really / tsianse instead of chance

- forms another recognised English word

plane instead of plain / site instead of sight / heals instead of heels / who's instead of whose

3. Bear in mind that where two points / answers are required for one single mark you will get
your mark only if you provide both points correctly.

4. Pay attention to plurals! Thousands is not the same as thousand!

5. Answers concerning the cost of an item should provide the original currency spoken not just
the numerical amount. And remember that £ (pounds) is not the same as $ (dollars)!

Example:

-How much did Nuria pay for the CD?

- five (wrong)

- 5 (wrong)

- five paounts (wrong)

- $5 (wrong)

- £5 (correct)

- five pounds (correct)


6. Answers concerning the time should also specify whether it's in the morning / afternoon /
evening.

Example:

- What time does the train leave the station?

- at 6:00 / at six (wrong)

- at 6:00 pm (correct)

- at six in the afternoon (correct)

- at 18:00 hours (correct)

7. Review and Practice. Many candidates wrongly believe that there is nothing to review for the
IGCSE listening test. You should thoroughly review vocabulary and spelling paying close
attention to the spelling of homophones. Here are a few examples:

heard and herd

hare and hair

peace and piece

who's and whose

site and sight

brake and break

brash and brush

track and truck

mite and might

new and knew

And don't forget that practice makes perfect. In the remaining few days before the listening
exam, take the good habit to listen to an English radio station for twenty minutes every day.
Listen to interviews, talks, the news and make some notes while you are listening. In this way,
you will train your ear to become more familiar with spoken English.

Good Luck to you all!


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Posted on May 16, 2010 at 11:17 AM in Advanced, ESL, IGCSE, Listening | Permalink |
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March 14, 2010

The IGCSE Speaking Test

The IGCSE countdown has started. In Larnaca, the speaking test will be taking place from
March 17 to March 31. I know that most of you dread it. You shouldn't worry, however, as
examiners are really nice and friendly and will do their best to make you feel comfortable. So
relax and enjoy the conversation with a native speaker of English.
The IGCSE Speaking Test consists of three phases and takes about 10 minutes.

1. Warm-Up

The examiner will welcome you to the test and will ask you to briefly talk about yourself, your
family, your school, your intersts. Remember that this part of the exam is not being marked. It's
an informal chat just to get you settled down and make you feel comfortable. This should be your
aim in the warm-Up- to calm yourself down and get ready. It might be a good idea to mention
your particular interests such as hobbies, things you like doing, current issues that are on your
mind, things you feel strong about. One of the examiner's topic cards might be a good choice for
you. But remember, it's not you but the examiner who chooses the topic card.

2. The Topic Card

The examiner will then give you the topic card and will go through all the points of the topic. If
there is anything you don't understand, don't hesitate to ask the examiner but don't overdo it !!
You will be allowed to look at the topic card for about 2-3 minutes and think about what you
want to say but you won't be allowed to make any written notes. Remember that you don't have
to stick to the five or six points listed on the card. You can include some points of your own.
This will help to make the conversation more interesting and might lead to a higher mark for
you. But you should remain broadly within the main topic.

3. The conversation with the examiner

The test is certainly not about delivering a speech! Examiners are trained to avoid and stop
speeches taking place. You should, therefore, try to involve the examiner in a genuine
conversation. You should think of the three assessment criteria in this way:

(a) Structure - am I using spoken language, sentences and phrases accurately?

(b) Vocabulary - am I using a wide range of words?

(c) Fluency - can I take part in a two-way conversation by extending the prompts / ideas that the
examiner has brought up?

The key to success is to be relaxed. Forget all about the test and just try to have a good chat on
an interesting topic. Then it's likely that you have performed well.

Adapted from : Examiner Tips for IGCSE English as a Second Language (0510) - Papers 5
and 6 by Dean Roberts - examiner for IGCSE E2L and principal moderator for oral tests
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Here is a list of the most common questions my students usually ask me about the test:

1. What if my mind goes blank and I can't say a word?

Don't be negative! Negativity will only lead to failure. But should this happen, be sure that the
examiner will help out. It is important to speak!

2. What if I know nothing about the topic?


You don't need to have any prior knowledge of any of the topics. The test is not about how much
you know about a topic but about how well you can engage in a two-way conversation without
digressing from the topic.

3. How can I prepare for the test?

- Use the topics from past exam papers to practise speaking with a friend or your teacher.

- Revise your vocabulary and spoken forms of English.

- Take the good habit to listen to a British Radio Station daily. Listen to talks, interviews, the
news. The more you understand spoken English the better you will speak it.

- DO NOT prepare any topics and learn them by heart!!

4. If I forget a word, can I say it in my language?

No, you can't! This is an exam testing your ability to express yourself in English. Besides, don't
forget that the examiner may not speak or understand your native language. However, if you
forget a word, don't panic. Use other words you are familiar with to explain.

Example

You want to say: I believe that wild animals should live in their natural habitat.

Say: I believe that wild animals should live in the jungle or in forests - I mean their natural home.

5. Am I likely to get a lower mark if I make mistakes?

Worrying too much about making mistakes will hinder conversation. However, you will be
penalised if you make too many mistakes or use limited vocabulary.

6. Am I supposed to have a good accent?

No, not at all! But you are expected to have a good pronunciation and a good intonation.

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February 17, 2010

IGCSE Listening Test - November 09 - Mark Scheme

Reference

Download IGCSE-listening-november09-markscheme0001
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Posted on February 17, 2010 at 08:30 AM in Advanced, Downloads, Examinations, IGCSE


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February 07, 2010

IGCSE Listening Test - November 2009


You can find the recording at the sidebar of my page under Podcast. Here is the test.

Download Igcse-listening-november090001

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Posted on February 07, 2010 at 12:31 PM in Advanced, Downloads, ESL, IGCSE,


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December 14, 2009

IGCSE Past Exam Papers - Listening May / June 2006


You can download the recording for IGCSE_ Listening May / June 2006 from the sidebar of my
page un

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