1. WHY DIDN’T I PASS? FS ENGLISH READING L1-2

2. REASON 1: INSUFFICIENT NUMBER OF RESPONSES SUBMITTED “One very significant contributory factor to low marks is a failure by candidates to submit sufficient responses to questions. As a general rule, the number of marks available for a question is indicative of the number of responses required. It has been very common to see only one response offered for a four mark question, for instance.” The C&G Chief Examiner

3. REASON 1: INSUFFICIENT NUMBER OF RESPONSES SUBMITTED A question may look similar to the question below: Identify biased phrases from Document 2 5 marks Upon reading this, you should immediately assume that there will be at least five biased phrases within the document, and that five responses are required.

4. REASON 2: NOT READING THE QUESTION CAREFULLY Are you looking but not ‘seeing’? DO NOT SKIM READ THE QUESTION! READ THE QUESTION CLOSELY! Read the question several times, carefully, asking yourself ‘what type of question is this? Is it about fact / opinion / language / layout etc… Ask yourself ‘what does the examiner want to see?’

5. REASON 3: USING THE WRONG SOURCE DOCUMENT The question will always specify the source / sources of information that the candidate must use in order to provide the response. If only one source is used, you cannot obtain full marks for the particular question.

6. REASON 4: NOT COMMENTING ON HOW MEANING IS CONVEYED Any question will specify whether it is language or layout that is being addressed. Some questions will ask for examples of a technique being used whereas others will ask for an explanation of why the technique is effective, or how the technique enhances communication. My tip: Point it out, quote it AND explain it. The word ‘always’ is written in bold, this is to make the word stand out.

7. REASON 4: NOT COMMENTING ON HOW MEANING IS CONVEYED It is essential that candidates read the question carefully and determine for themselves whether their responses need to cover language or layout. REMEMBER THE DIFFERENCE: Layout – Presentation features (use of font, bold, logo, image, columns, use of space etc) Language – Language techniques (alliteration, emotive language, rhetorical question, metaphor etc)

8. REASON 5: FAILURE TO DETECT POINT OF VIEW, IMPLICIT MEANING AND / OR BIAS At level 2, it is common to ask a candidate to identify particular phrases within a document that are biased. It is essential that candidates can distinguish between a factual statement and one that is biased. A question asking candidates to identify bias may not explicitly mention bias, but may ask candidates to distinguish between opinion and fact, or to simply identify examples of opinion, for example. A common type of question asks candidates to identify phrases which have a similar or exact meaning to a phrase given in the question. Significant numbers of candidates provide answers that are not taken from the source documents.

9. REASON 6: FAILURE TO COMPARE AND CONTRAST There is a difference between comparing and contrasting two things and merely listing text from a document. Examiners are looking for discourse markers such as on the one hand..., in contrast..., both documents..., whereas..., or similarly..., for instance.

10. REASON 8: YOU ARE RUSHING! If the exam is scheduled to last 60 minutes, the exam is meant to take 60 minutes! The exam has been tried and tested, and the outcome? – IT SHOULD TAKE THIS LONG TO PASS! There are no extra marks for finishing early… so why race? You’ll only be resitting it again if you fail!

11. REASON 9: YOU AREN’T CHECKING YOUR ANSWERS If you finish early you should spend the rest of the time checking through your answers. Be sure you have matched the number of answers to the number of marks! – Or better, write MORE! (If the questions is worth 4 marks, try to find 5 answers!)

12. REASON 10: YOU ARE PANICKING / YOU DON’T BELIEVE YOU CAN PASS No one wants to see you fail! Your teacher has entered you for this exam because he / she believes you are capable of passing, but they can’t do it for you… IT IS DOWN TO YOU! Try not to panic! Worst case scenario, you attend some more lessons and re-sit the exam!

13. YOU CAN DO IT! FS ENGLISH READING L1-2

14. WHY DIDN’T I PASS? FS ENGLISH WRITING L1-2

15. REASON 1: (LEVEL 1) YOU ARE NOT USING THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE QUESTION TO WRITE YOUR ANSWER You will be provided with a list of bullet points of detail that require expansion in the responses. Use these bullet points to guide you! They can be your plan! -Start with an introduction, bullet point one in paragraph one, bullet point two in paragraph two etc… Check you have covered EVERY bullet point before you hit that finish button!

16. REASON 1: (LEVEL 2) YOU ARE NOT USING THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE QUESTION TO WRITE YOUR ANSWER Level 2 question papers no longer provide a list of bullet points of detail that require expansion in the responses. You will have to read a source document or a scenario and determine what the appropriate details are to include. All the necessary information is included in either the source material or the scenario, but is no longer explicitly listed.

17. REASON 2: YOU ARE NOT WRITING ENOUGH Those who write fewer than one hundred and thirty words in a response are penalised accordingly (Level 2). Candidates who write more than three hundred words in a response are given extra tolerance in some marking categories, such as spelling, punctuation and grammar.

18. REASON 3: YOU ARE NOT WRITING FOR THE SPECIFIC PURPOSE Think carefully about the following, it isn’t always obvious! Identify what the question is asking you to write! Is it an article? Is it a letter? Is it an email? What is the PURPOSE? Persuade / entertain / inform / is it to complain, advise, request something. How formal / informal do you need to be?

19. REASON 4: YOU ARE NOT BEING PERSUASIVE If you are asked to persuade, you should use a variety of persuasive techniques in your responses, such as: reasoned argument emotive writing rhetorical questions Repetition –etc

20. REASON 5: FORMAT AND STRUCTURE Marks can be lost through not knowing how to lay out and structure a formal letter, not starting an article with a headline or title, or not starting a speech with a customary greeting of the audience. Any lack of paragraphing is also penalised under structure.

21. REASON 6: SPELLING IS INACCURATE As all lower levels of Functional Skills English are within level 2, if you misspell words associated with lower levels of Functional Skills English you will be penalised, in addition to words that are more demanding. It is evident that proof-reading and the use of dictionaries would be hugely beneficial to all.

22. REASON 7: PUNCTUATION IS INACCURATE Punctuation errors remain one of the most common reasons for people losing marks. The requirements at level 2 are for the correct use of commas, apostrophes (for both omission and possession) and inverted commas. As the lower levels of Functional Skills English are within level 2, you are also required to use full stops, question marks, upper and lower case letters and initial capital letters to start sentences.

23. REASON 8: GRAMMAR Poor grammar can affect the clarity writing, resulting in further marks being deducted. Think about common homophones such as there / their / they’re and two / too / to! These are penalised under grammar. Re-read each sentence to check that it ‘makes sense’ before writing the next. Don’t miss out any words!

24. REASON 9: BE FAMILIAR WITH THE EXAM FORMAT You must be familiar with the types of questions you are likely to encounter. Look through past papers and query any words you do not know. Practise makes perfect, there are LOTS of past papers to work through on the City & Guilds website, at www.tinyurl.com/CGpastpapers www.tinyurl.com/CGpastpapers

25. REASON 10 : YOU ARE PANICKING / YOU DON’T BELIEVE YOU CAN PASS No one wants to see you fail! Your teacher has entered you for this exam because he / she believes you are capable of passing, but they can’t do it for you, IT IS DOWN TO YOU! Try not to panic! Worst case scenario, you attend some more lessons and re-sit the exam!

26. NOW GO ‘SMASH IT!’ FS ENGLISH WRITING L1-2