CXC English A Examination preparation

GuideGood Luck and hope that this will help in

your studies and Master the English A Exam.

Structure and Format of Your Examination

It is important that you know the Structure of your Examination and adequately prepare yourselves.

The Structure of your Exam refers to the layout of the exam paper

For CXC (CSEC) English Language the format takes two parts the long paper 2hrs and 40 mins and the Multiple Choice 1hr 30 mins.

Components of paper 2

Section A: Summary Writing Section B: Reading Comprehension Section C: Short Story Section D: Persuasive/argumentative

writing

Paper 2: Long paper

This part of the examination covers a wide range of topics and is the most important part of your paper. This weighs your expression through writing. Your goal is to be Flawless in your writing so as to avoid grammatical errors.

Paper two is made up of 8 questions in four sections.

Paper 2: Section A: Summary Writing

This section is made up of one compulsory question. In this section, you have to write a summary of a given passage or report. (There is no choice here, you have to answer the only question in this section.)

 You will be given a passage or report and asked to write a summary of it.

The paper 2 directions state that in this section you must write in "continuous prose", that is, you must write using paragraphs. You MUST NOT write using note form. Also, after the allotted number of words, anything you write will not be assessed.

Paper 2: Section B; Reading Comprehension

Section B: Reading comprehension   This section consists of two compulsory short

answer reading comprehension questions. (Again there is no choice here, you have to answer both of the questions in this section).

Each question is made up of a reading passage and 7-8 questions on the passage. You must answer all the questions on each reading passage.

Section C: Story Writing

Section C: Short story writing/Descriptive writing

  This section is made up of three questions. They

include two short story essays - one with a picture and one without - and a descriptive essay.(You must choose one question to answer).

The paper 2 exam states that your answer in this section should be approximately 400-450 words in length and you must write in standard english, although you may use dialect in conversations.

Section D: Persuasive Writing

Section D: Persuasive writing   This section is made up of two persuasive essay

questions. Your answer is usually required to be in the form of either an informal letter to a friend, a formal letter to an official, a speech, presentation or an essay. (You must choose onequestion to answer).

The paper 2 exam states that your answer in this section should be approximately 250-300 words in length and youmust write in standard english. 

Multiple Choice

This paper covers a wide range of topics in the syllabus which is important to express one’s self fluently and flawlessly.

CXC CSEC English A exam: paper 1 topics

CXC English A exam paper 1 contains sixty (60) compulsory multiple choice questions organized into two (2) sections.(Compulsory means that you have no choice, you have to do ALL the questions on this Paper.)

PAPER 1

Section 1  Section one (1) is made up of twenty (20)

separate multiple choice questions. In this section, you will be tested on the following skills:

Section 1   skills Comprehension Grammar Punctuation Paragraphing

Section 2

Section 2 Section two (2) is made up of forty (40) multiple choice

reading comprehension questions based on your understanding of  five (5) passages. The passages will consist  of,

1) One poem 2) One narrative extract 3) One expository extract 4) one persuasive abstract ( e.g. an advertisement,

speech or letter to the editor) 5) one visual abstract (e.g. a table, diagram, map,

chart, cartoon or advertisement) In this section, you will be tested on the following skills:

Section 2 skills

Section 2  Skills Comprehension inference Analysis Evaluation Each question on this paper is worth one

(1) mark. You should attempt to answerALL 60 multiple choice questions on this paper. (If you don't know an answerthen  guess!)

The End

You cannot do well on an English A examination without a guide as to where you are going. Good luck and aim for grade 1 with distinction.