7/30/2019 FAQ Fce Writing
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Q. How many answers must the candidate produce?A. Two. One
compulsory task (Part 1) and another from a choice of tasks (Part
2).
Q. In what ways is Part 1 different from Part 2?A. In Part 1
there is one compulsory task. The candidate is not offered a choice
of
task or task type. The task is based on input material of up to
160 words, e.g.
advertisements, extracts from letters, emails, schedules etc. In
Part 2 candidatesanswer one task from a choice of five. The options
offer a range of task types with
instructions.Q. How many marks is each question worth?
A. Each question in the Writing paper carries 20 marks.
Candidates must answer
two questions and thus the Writing paper is worth 40 marks,
which is 20% of the
total FCE examination.Q. Where do candidates write their
answers?
A. In the question booklet. This booklet also contains
sufficient space for
candidates to write their rough work.Q. What kinds of tasks will
my students have to write?
A. Part 1 is a letter or an email and is compulsory for
everyone. In Part 2, theywill be able to choose from a range of
writing tasks including an article, a report,
a review, a short story, an informal letter or a letter of
application. Not all thedifferent writing tasks will appear in
every exam. If your students have prepared
the set texts, then they will also be able to choose from the
two tasks in questions
5a and 5b.Q. What happens if a candidate answers two or more
questions in Part 2?
A. Candidates will only be given marks for one question. All
questions will be
marked but only the highest mark will be taken.Q. What happens
if a candidate produces a well-written text but does not answer
thequestion?
A.In order to answer the question effectively candidates must
address all thepoints in the task. It is essential that candidates
read each question very carefully.
Q. What happens if a candidate doesnt answer Part 1?
A. If Part 1 is not attempted a candidate scores 0 for this
question. Part 1 and Part
2 carry equal marks.Q. Can candidates write about a set
book?
A. Yes. Question 5 has two options. Candidates can write an
article, an essay, a
report, or a reviewbased on one of the 2 set books.Q. Some of my
students write too many words. What will happen to them in the
exam?
A. If a candidate writes too many words, the examiner draws a
line at the
approximate place where the correct length is reached and
directs close
assessment to what comes before this.
If, on the other hand, a candidate writes fewer than 50 words,
they will receive no
marks for this answer. If they write between 50 and 80 words,
they will probablynot have fulfilled the task requirements and will
be penalised.
Q. One of my students has such terrible handwriting that I have
difficulty reading their
writing. How will the examiners react to this?
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7/30/2019 FAQ Fce Writing
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A. Examiners will make every effort to read poor handwriting.
However, if their
handwriting is totally illegible, they will receive no marks at
all.Q. Some of my students use American spelling. Will they be
penalised?
A.No. Both British and American usage and spelling are equally
acceptable.
Q. I have a student who speaks very well but Im worried about
his writing. If my student
does poorly in this paper, does that mean hell automatically
fail the whole exam?A. The five FCE papers total 200 marks, after
weighting. Each paper is weighted
to 40 marks (i.e. 20% of the total). The overall grade is based
on the total score
gained by the candidate in all five papers. Candidates do not
pass or fail in aparticular paper, but rather in the examination as
a whole. It is, therefore, possible
not to achieve an adequate performance in some of the papers,
but pass the FCE
examination.
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