Higher Paper_v1

Question 1 Writing (75 Words)

Content

- must be relevant

- Coverage: 4bp (7-10m); 3bp (5-6m); 2bp (3-4m); 1bp (1-2m)

- Clear communication: the more lapses, the lower the mark;

- Accept information that are plausible, even they may not mentioning the specific words

- The amount of information: (writes approximately 75 characters, clearly understandable and relevant to all four bullet points)

a lot (9-10m); quite a lot (7-8m); some (5-6m); little (3-4m); very little (1-2m)

- Opinions: two (7-10); one (3-6); like/dislike; positive or negative adj.; I think; ..

Quality

- variety of vocabulary (use of vocab from different topics/themes; synonyms; measure words; sophisticated words but no conspicuous repetition)

- complexity of structures and sentences (tenses; intensifiers; time markers; connectives; subordinate clauses; infinitive constructions) 得 structure; time clause (的时候；以后); sequence words (先，然后/再，最后); emphasis (是 … 的); disjunctive pronouns (妈妈送我去 … ；爸爸给我过生日) 对structure (对我影响很大)

- reference to time frames (3 time frames to score 5-6)

- accuracy of the language

- style and register

See more examples here: Variety of Language

Question 2 Writing (125 Word)

Content

- relevant and detailed 2bp (13-15m); 1bp (12 or less)

- a lot of information (approximately 125 characters)

- opinion: 10-15m (at least two opinions are expressed and justified); 7-9m (at least two opinions are expressed); 4-6 (at least two opinions are expressed). If not opinion, max core is 3.

Range of language

- variety of vocabulary;

- variety of structures;

- complexity of sentences (use of subordinate clauses; use of relative clauses; use of infinitive constructions; the use of object pronouns within a sentence to lend greater fluency)

- fluency of the writing;

- style and register

Accuracy

- accurate (there may be a few errors in attempts at more complex language and occasion minor error); a minor error is one which has no bearing on communication;

- more accurate than inaccurate

- correctly formed verbs and tense formations

See more examples here: Variety of Language

Sample answer:

我住在一个小镇。虽然从小镇到伦敦坐火车只要半个小时，但是我不常去伦敦，因为火车票很贵。我喜欢我的小镇，因为它不仅有一个很大的购物中心，而且还有一个很大的电影院。我和我的朋友们常常去电影院看电影。

I live in a small town. Although it is only half an hour by train from the town to London, I don't go to London often because train tickets are very expensive. I like my town because it has not only a big shopping center, but also a big cinema. My friends and I often go to the cinema to watch movies.

虽然我喜欢我住的地方，但是将来我希望小镇上有一家日本餐厅，因为我喜欢吃日本菜。

Although I like where I live, in the future I hope there will be a Japanese restaurant in the town because I like Japanese food.

Question 3 Translation

- at least 50 words

- key messages: 6m (13 ticks); 5m (11-12 ticks); 4m (8-10 ticks); 3 (5-7 ticks); 2m (3-4 ticks); 1 (1-2 ticks)

- would a native speaker understand the TL version without reference to the original English

- application of grammatical knowledge of language and structures (same as foundation tier)