9 Powerful Tips To Score in Writing

9 Powerful Tips To Score In Writing
Posted on March 30, 2012 by IGCSE Team — 36 Comments ↓
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 (5 + 5 in the Core
papers).
"Content" refers to the relevance and development of ideas; "language" refers to style and
accuracy.
Tip 5: Formal letter

Below are some important points about writing a formal letter in your IGCSE exam:
 You do not need to supply addresses or a date, unless you are specifically asked to.
However, you need to address the person that you are writing to.
 A formal letter is the type you write to someone you have never met before, or to someone
with whom you have no personal relationship.
 If the letter begins with 'Dear Madam' or 'Dear Sir', it should end with 'Yours
faithfully'.
 If the letter begins with somebody's name, for example 'Dear Mr. Robert', it should
end with 'Yours sincerely'.
 A formal letter will usually contain at least two paragraphs, and will use formal language
and no abbreviations.
Tip 6: 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 7: 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 8: Keep to the topic
In Exercise 6 and 7, you may be asked to write your opinion about something in the form of a
newspaper article, or 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 9: 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.
5 Tips To Score In Listening Paper

Posted on April 1, 2012 by IGCSE Team — 8 Comments ↓
Tip 1: Understand your questions

In Questions 1-6 of the Listening papers, you hear a series of short spoken items. The
sentences are not connected. For each item, you answer one question as briefly as
possible, often with just one or two words.
In Questions 7-10, you hear continuous, connected speech, and the questions may
require you to complete a table of information, or complete some notes, or answer
individual questions with short responses.
Tip 2: Read the questions and find keyword(s)

In the exam, you will be given time to read the questions before you hear the
cassette/CD. Make sure you use this time well. Read all the questions and underline the
keyword(s) in each one.
Decide what type of information each question requires; for example, a number, a place,
a street name.
Tip 3: Notice the stress

Some time, you'll hear how some words are changing with the stress on different part of
the words. For example: notice how the word interviewer changes to interviewee.
When spoken, the stress on these two words is different: interviewer, interviewee.
Other examples are employer and employee.
There are a small number of other 'person' nouns in English which end in -ee.
Tip 4: Write clearly and precisely

The last question in the Listening papers usually requires you to answer questions based
on a talk or an interview. The questions may ask you to identify people's feelings and
attitudes, as well as testing you on general comprehension.
Note: make sure that you write clearly and that you include all the necessary information.
Tip 5: Practice, practice, practice

Listening papers contribute 30% (15% for private candidates) on your overall scores for
your English as Second Language certificate. Don't make the assumption that Listening
paper is not important thus not making any attempt to learn the tactics and skills.
In fact, Listening papers could determine either you score A* or not in your IGCSE E2L
paper.
The average preparation needed for Listening skills is one year. Best is two years, from
getting acquaintance to mastering.
The Cambridge English as a Second Language Coursebook 1&2 with Audio CDs (Cambridge
International Examinations) provide very good preparation courses and all the necessary
skills to score in Listening papers.

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9 Powerful Tips To Score In Writing

Posted on March 30, 2012 by IGCSE Team — 36 Comments ↓

Tip 1: Informal letter

Tip 3: Use more adjectives and adverbs

We had food and the music too was good.

We ate really delicious food and the music was fantastic!

Tip 5: Formal letter

Tip 7: Summary writing

Tip 9: Organize your ideas

5 Tips To Score In Listening Paper

Tip 1: Understand your questions

Tip 2: Read the questions and find keyword(s)

Tip 3: Notice the stress

Tip 4: Write clearly and precisely

Tip 5: Practice, practice, practice

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