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SEKOLAH MENENGAH TEKNIK SEJINGKAT

MIDYEAR EXAMINATIONS 2008

1119/1
MAY 2008
1 hours
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ENGLISH LANGUAGE FORM FOUR
PAPER 1

:
1

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Section A : Directed Writing

[35 marks]
You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this section.
Question 1
Your class is dissatisfied with the conditions of your school. As the monitor of
your class, you decide to write to the Principal of your school, complaining
about the followings:
Classrooms with faulty lights and fans
The stale and expensive food at the school canteen
The noisy library
The irresponsible prefects
The strong, irritating smell from the toilets near your classroom
In your letter, you would like to offer the following suggestions:
Get an electrician to check classrooms
Checks on the canteen by teachers
Teachers should accompany their students at the library
Give prefects warning
Employ cleaners to clean the toilets, charge a fee
Write a formal letter of complaint to the principal of your school. When writing
the letter, remember to include the following:
Use the formal letter format
Use all the points given
Add details of your own
Write in paragraphs

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1) Allocation of Marks :
FORMAT
: 5 marks
CONTENT : 10 marks
LANGUAGE : 20 marks
---------TOTAL
35 marks
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2) Format & Content Marks :
Point
No.

POINTS

Mark(s)

FORMAT
F1

Senders address

F2
F3
F4
F5

Receivers address
Date
Salutation and Closure
At least 3 paragraphs

1
1
1
1
CONTENT

Complaints
C1

Classrooms with faulty lights and fans

C2

The stale and expensive food at the school canteen

C3

The noisy library

C4

The irresponsible prefects

C5

The strong, irritating smell from the toilets near your classroom

C6

Get an electrician to check classrooms

C7

Checks on the canteen by teachers

C8

Teachers should accompany their students at the library

C9

Give prefects warning

C10

Employ cleaners to clean the toilets, charge a fee

Suggestions

Grand Total

15

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DIRECTED WRITING LANGUAGE
Mark Range

A
19 20

Description of Criteria

Language, accurate with occasional first draft slips

Sentence structures, varied
Sentence length and type employed to achieve intended effect
Vocabulary, sophisticated and used with precision
Punctuation, accurate and helpful
Spelling accurate throughout
Paragraphs, unified and appropriately linked
Tone always appropriate

Language, almost always accurate with more minor or first draft

errors
Errors from more ambitious structures which are imperfectly
understood
Sentences, some variation of length and type
Complex structures, confidently used
Punctuation, almost always accurate
Vocabulary, wide enough, conveying intended shades of meaning
with some precision
Spelling, nearly always accurate
Paragraphs have some unity and appropriate linkage
Tone generally appropriate

B
16 18

C
13 15

D
10 12

Language, largely accurate to communicate meaning clearly

Simple structures, used without error; mistakes in only more
sophisticated structures
Vocabulary, adequate to convey meaning but not developed to
precision
Sentences, some variety of length and structure
Tendency to repeat some sentence types creating monotony
Punctuation, generally accurate; errors in more complex use.
Paragraphs, some unity but absent or inappropriate linkage
Tone occasional lapses but attempt to remain friendly and
appropriate
Language, sufficiently accurate
Simple structures, patches of clarity
Mistakes with more complex sentences
Vocabulary, adequate but lacks precision
Simple words, spelt correctly with errors from unfamiliar words
Punctuation, generally correct but not enhancing or clarifying
meaning
Sentence separation errors
Paragraphs have some unity
Tone not always appropriate

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E
79

U (i)
46

U (ii)
23

U (iii)
01

Meaning never in doubt

Single Word Error (SWE), sufficiently frequent, serious enough to
hamper precision and speed of reading
Vocabulary limited too simple or imperfectly understood
Simple words spelt accurately but mistakes with more difficult ones
Paragraphs lack unity, with links incorrectly used
Sentence separation errors
Punctuation errors
Tone, inappropriate
Meaning, usually fairly clear
Correction of SWE may produce fairly accurate English
High incidence of errors impede speed of reading
Accurate sentences, a few
Vocabulary, does not extend beyond a simple range inadequate to
express intended shades of meaning
Punctuation, sometimes used correctly but with sentence separation
errors
Paragraphs, not used, or when used, show lack of planning
Frequent spelling errors
Detailed requirements of task, understanding not shown
Tone, inappropriate
Sense, decipherable
Multiple Word Error (MWE),
Requires re-reading and re-organising before meaning becomes
clear
Whole sections make little sense
Accurate sentence, unlikely to be one or two
Content, comprehensible
Tone hidden by density of errors
Scripts, almost entirely impossible to recognize as anything English
Whole sections do not make sense or rubrics copied
0 mark awarded if writing makes no sense at all from beginning to
end

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Section B : Continuous Writing

[50 marks]
You are advised to spend about one hour on this section.

Question 2
Write a composition of not less than 350 words on one of the following topics:
[a]

Describe the traditional festival which you and your family celebrate every year.

[b]

Describe a wedding that you have attended.

[c]

Write about a national hero whom you admire very much.

[d]

Write a story beginning with It was raining that afternoon

[e]

Write a story ending with At last , I am happy and free.

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MARK SCHEME FOR CONTINUOUS WRITING

(SECTION B)
1) The assessment of the candidates response will be based on
impression.
2) The examiner shall read and re-read the response carefully and at
the same time underline for gross or minor errors or put in
omission marks (^) where such errors occur.
3) The examiner should also mark for good vocabulary or
expressions by putting a merit tick at the end of such merits.
4) The examiner shall fit the candidates response against the most
appropriate band having most of the criteria as found in the
band. The examiner may have to refer to upper or lower
bands to the band already chosen to BEST FIT the students
response to the most appropriate band. The marks from the
band decided on for the script also depend on the number of
criteria that are found in the script.
5) Justify the band and marks given, if necessary, by commenting on
the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates response, using the
criteria found in the band.

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CONTINUOUS WRITING
MARK
RANGE

A
44 50

B
38 43

DESCRIPTION OF CRITERIA

Language, entirely accurate, with occasional first draft slips

Sentence structures, varied
Vocabulary, wide and precise
Punctuation, accurate and helpful; spelling, accurate
Spelling, entirely accurate
Paragraphs, well-planned, unified and linked
Topic, consistently relevant
Interest, aroused and sustained throughout writing

Language, accurate, with occasional minor errors or first draft

slips
Sentences of some varied lengths and types, some complex
sentences
Vocabulary, wide enough to show shades of intended meaning with
some precision
Punctuation, almost always accurate
Spelling, nearly always accurate
Paragraphs with some evidence of planning, unified and
appropriately linked
Writing, relevant, mostly arousing and sustaining interest

C
32 37

D
26 31

Language, largely accurate

Simple structures, error-free; errors with more ambitious structures
Vocabulary, wide enough to convey meaning but lack precision
Punctuation in simple sentences, accurate, with errors in more
complex use
Simple words, spelt correctly but misspelt when used with more
sophisticated words
Paragraphs, used with some unity or at times not unified or
inappropriately linked
Writing, relevant but lack originality and planning
Some interest, aroused but not sustained
Language, sufficiently accurate, communicates clearly
Simple structures and vocabulary, with patches of clear, accurate
language
Some variety of sentence type and length but purpose, not clearly
seen
Vocabulary, usually adequate to show intended meaning but not
developed to precision
Punctuation, generally correct but does not clarify meaning
Spelling of simple words, correct but more errors occur

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E
20 - 25

Writing, some relevance but lacking in liveliness and interest value

Meaning, never in doubt

Errors, sufficiently frequent and serious to hamper reading
Simple structures, some accurate but unlikely to sustain accuracy
long
Vocabulary, limited, too simple or more ambitious, imperfectly
understood
Simple words, spelt correctly but with frequent mistakes in
spelling and punctuation
Paragraphs, lack unity or haphazardly arranged
Some relevance, but partially treated
High incidence of linguistic errors, distract from merits of content
in composition

U (i)
14 19

U (ii)
8 13

U (iii)
07

Meaning, fairly clear

High incidence of errors impede reading
Vocabulary, many serious errors of various kinds, mainly singleword type, but could be corrected without rewriting
Sentences, very few accurate ones
Sentences, simple but often repetitive
Errors, frequently causing blurring
Punctuation, used correctly, also with sentence separation errors
Paragraphs, lack unity or no paragraphs at all

Some sense, with multiple word errors

Requires re-reading before being understood
Only a few accurate simple sentences
Content, comprehensible
Incidence of linguistic error, high
Meaning, blur
Far short of required length

Almost entirely impossible to read

Whole sections make little or no sense at all
Occasional patches of clarity (marks awarded)
Vocabulary - simple words used
Frequent errors cause blurring
0 to scripts with no sense from beginning till the end