General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level

3248 Second Language Urdu June 2012

Principal Examiner Report for Teachers
2012
SECOND LANGUAGE URDU


Paper 3248/01
Composition and Translation

Key messages

In order to do well in this examination, candidates should:

read the whole paper carefully and answer the points given
make sure that they stay within the prescribed word limits
translate English-based words where appropriate in Question 3.

General comments

As in previous sessions, the overall performance of the candidates was good. Most candidates coped with
the differing requirements of the different questions, the predominant limitations being that of:
(a) the candidates linguistic ability, and
(b) their ability to understand and respond appropriately to the questions.

The paper consisted of three questions. The total for the paper is 55 marks.

Comments on specific questions

Question 1

Question 1 required candidates to write a short essay of about 150 words on the topic of Kutub Bini,
Reading Books.

Marks were awarded on a scale of 6 for Content and 9 for Language, giving a total mark of 15 marks for the
question.

Three main bullet points were given in the stimulus, namely:

Kitabon ke taalimi fawaid
The educational benefits of books
Kitabein parhne ki tafrihi ahmiyat
The importance of books for leisure
Kitabon mein dilchaspi na lene ki wajoohaat
Reasons for lack of interest in books

Most candidates scored well on the first bullet point. The most commonly mentioned points were: acquiring
knowledge, finding out about different subjects, they help teachers teach their subjects, etc.

For the second bullet point, there was a tendency to give more educational benefits than those to do with
leisure, which was not required by the question. Valid points made included: to relax, to take your mind off
exams, read a funny book and laugh, pass the time, etc.

The third bullet point was reasonably well attempted. Most points mentioned the computer and how easy it
was to get information that way. Other valid points included: books are boring, language can be very hard,
need to be more colourful and attractive to young people.

Some candidates could not be awarded the highest marks for content because what they had written for the
third point came after they had exceeded the 200 word limit and so could not be taken into consideration.
It is very important to follow the rubrics for each question if high marks are to be achieved. That being said, it
seems that this year there were fewer candidates than usual who wrote too much.

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General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level
3248 Second Language Urdu June 2012
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers
2012
Nine marks were available to reward the candidates linguistic performance. Most candidates scored
between 7 and 9 marks on this task. Very few candidates were unable to score more than 5.

Question 2

This question provided candidates with a choice of either:

(a) Apne school ki assembly ke liye school uniform ke haq mein ya mukhalifat mein dalail dekar eik
takreer likhye
Write a speech for your school assembly either for against wearing school uniform.
Or
(b) Aap ke chacha jan ne aap ki salgirah par aap ko eik khoobsoorat aur keemti shai tuhfe mei di hai.
Khat likh kar un ka shukriya ada keejiye
Your uncle has given you a costly and beautiful present for you birthday. Write him a thank you
letter.

The letter writing task was attempted by the majority of the candidates, about three quarters, and was mostly
answered well. Some candidates did not mention what the gift was, which meant they could not score the
highest mark for content. In the Urdu question the word shai thing was used. It may be that candidates
assumed that the word shai was some special kind of gift and wrote phrases such as main khubsurat she ke
liye aap ko shukriya ada karna chahta hun, I want to thank you so much for the beautiful thing.

Candidates usually complete the letter writing task well, and this sessions performance, was, by and large
very satisfactorily attempted. Most candidates scored well, scoring at least 4 out of 5 for content and 11-14
out of 15 for language. The majority did not waste too many words in flowery introductions and salutations
which increased their potential to score marks.

Many of the candidates who selected the speech task scored very highly. They successfully used the
appropriate formal expressions used to start and finish a speech and vigorously presented the case for
womens rights. Most candidates scored 4 or 5 marks out of 5 for content and between 9-13 out of 15 for
language.

For each task, candidates were instructed to write about two hundred words, with an exhortation to keep to
the recommended length. As in previous sessions, candidates need to be reminded to stick to the word limit.
Parts of responses that go beyond the word limit cannot be rewarded.

Question 3

This question required candidates to translate a given passage into Urdu. The topic of the passage was the
worlds largest traffic jam.

Candidates are not penalised for grammatical or spelling errors as long as they do not interfere with
communicating the meaning. The vast majority of candidates scored well on this part.

As in previous sessions, there were issues with certain English words in the passage. Some did not need to
be translated because there are no everyday Urdu equivalents, while there are others that should have been
translated as they have common equivalents in Urdu. Many candidates neglected to translate these words.

Words such as main road, capital, queue, modern and mines have straightforward Urdu equivalents,
namely: bari sarak, dar ul hukumat, qitar, jadid and kan. This is an Urdu examination and while it acceptable
in spoken Urdu to use many of these common English words, it is expected that candidates should use the
Urdu words in written work.

By and large, most candidates managed to convey the gist of the passage as a whole. Some candidates
experienced difficulties with more complex sentences. For example, New roads are needed to bring coal
from the mines to the big factories in the area where many candidates linked in the area to the coal mines,
not the factories.

Another point was in the last sentence of the passage. It took two or three more days is not do se ziada dyn
lage which is more than two days. The correct translation is awr do tin dyn lage.

Some candidates missed parts of the translation out. It is always better to take an educated guess than to
write nothing at all.
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General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level
3248 Second Language Urdu June 2012
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers
2012
SECOND LANGUAGE URDU


Paper 3248/02
Language Usage, Summary and Comprehension


Key messages

In Part 1 the candidates need to be familiar with the common idioms used in everyday language. Sentence
transformation requires the candidates to change the sentence into a different tense or to use antonyms.
The fill in the blanks exercise tests the candidates ability to choose the most appropriate word from a
number of given words, so the passage makes sense.

Part 2 is summary. Five stimuli are given and for each only two points should be mentioned.

Part 3 tests the candidates ability to understand and answer the questions appropriately in the light of the
passage. Marks allocated for each question are shown on the Question paper. From this the number of
responses required can be seen. For example, 4 marks mean four responses are required, 3 marks mean 3
responses and so on. Candidates should provide the number of responses required in order to score the
highest marks. The last question is an open ended question and the candidates opinion is required in the
light of the passage. Ideas that are abstract and not related to the passage can not be rewarded.


General comments

It was a balanced paper catering for the needs of candidates of all abilities. The overall performance of the
candidates was satisfactory. There were only a few candidates whose work was below average. Due to
limited linguistic ability some candidates were unable to understand the question or give an appropriate
response. In some cases full marks could not be awarded as fewer responses than required were given.
Candidates should be made aware that the number of marks given at the end of the question indicates the
number of responses required. A detailed account of each question is given below.


Comments on specific questions

Part 1: Language usage

Questions 1-5 required candidates to compose 5 sentences using the five idioms given. Only very common
and frequently used idioms are chosen for this purpose. The first idiom was used correctly by almost all
candidates. The second idiom, ayrian ruggerna, was wrongly taken by some candidates in a physical sense
whereas it means to suffer great hardship through misfortune or lack of effort in the past. The third idiom,
payt ka halka hona, meaning not to be able to keep a secret was wrongly taken by some candidates in the
sense of being hungry or having indigestion. The fourth and the fifth idioms were used correctly by most
candidates.

Sentence transformation

This part required candidates to change the sentences into the past tense. A large number of candidates
scored full marks. Others lost marks for changing only a part of the sentence into the past tense and leaving
the rest as it was, for example, baarish bahut tez hay sailab anay ka undesha tha.

Cloze passage

In this exercise, candidates were required to fill in the blanks using words from those given in the box. The
majority of candidates scored full marks.
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General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level
3248 Second Language Urdu June 2012
Principal Examiner Report for Teachers
2012
Part 2: Summary

The task required candidates to summarize the passage within the given word limit. Normally two pieces of
information are required for each stimulus hence a total of 10 marks for the 5 stimuli given. The majority of
candidates gave the information required within the word limit. Only a few candidates were not able to score
higher marks as they had not been specific, had missed points or had written the points after the word limit.

Part 3: Comprehension

Passage A

Full marks were scored by almost all candidates for Questions 17 to 20.

Question 21

The full answer required was looking after the herd for eight years. Candidates who did not give the full
answer were not able to score full marks.

Question 22

Almost all candidates scored full marks.

Question 23

This question required 2 responses for 2 marks. First what feelings are mentioned and, second, the reason
the Massai feel this way. The answer to the first part was, they felt bitter that the government gave
preference to the animals and tourists and the second part was, the land that was given to the National park
for the tourists and the animals had actually belonged to them and was taken away by the government
without considering their needs for it. Not very many candidates scored full marks for this question.

Passage B

Question 24

Candidates generally scored full marks for this question.

Question 25

Very few candidates scored full marks on this question. It seems that many candidates were unable to
distinguish between the two parts of the question. The first part asked two reasons why people chose to live
in the coastal areas and the second part asked if there were any disadvantages of living there. Out of a total
of three marks two were allocated to the two reasons asked and one to any disadvantages of living in coastal
areas.

For the reasons any two of the following would have been accepted:
70-80 % of the land is composed of mountains/ forests.
Unsuitable for cultivation
Severe climatic conditions

For the second part, i.e. disadvantages, any one of the following was acceptable:
The population is overflowing
Destruction due to earthquakes or natural disasters is quite common in coastal areas.

Question 26 27 and 28 were done well by a great majority of candidates.

Question 29

This was an open ended question and asked what in the candidates opinion could be the benefits for young
people living in Japan. The last paragraph of the text was quite suggestive and candidates could have
written any of the following reasons:
Lots of jobs available
Good wages
Being rewarded for having children
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