Chapter 21: Making the Grade: Handling Exam Classes 311
✓ Completing sentences✓ Identifying the views or claims of the writer
✓ Locating information✓ Matching: These questions usually involve matching a heading to a
paragraph or a character in a text to activities/attitudes associated with
them.
✓ Summarising: Students need to be able to get the gist of and rephrase
information in just a few words.Speaking in exams
In most speaking exams the examiner is looking for intelligible pronunciation,
a range of grammar, and vocabulary appropriate for the level and task.Some students try to memorise a speech or at least set answers. However
this doesn’t work because they end up sounding robotic and sometimes fail
to answer the actual question.Communication between the candidate(s) and the examiner should be as
relaxed and natural as possible. Some tips your students can follow to achieve
this are:✓ Take your time. It’s no problem to pause for breath before answering. In
fact you’re more likely to mix up your grammar if you rush.
✓ Practise speaking on the day of the exam. If you can have a practise
session with your teacher on before the exam, this helps, but you can at
least use English before entering the exam room to get ‘tuned in’.
✓ Relax yourself by smiling and using the names of the people with
you. Sometimes two or three candidates take an exam at once. Use their
names if they are easy to remember and listen out for the examiner’s
name too.
✓ Learn what to say if you don’t understand or you need to hear something
again. There are very polite and realistic expressions such as, ‘I‘m
terribly sorry but I didn’t catch that’ or ‘Could you possibly rephrase
that for me?’(this isn’t always possible but when the request is made in
good English you are unlikely to be marked down for asking).
✓ Realise that the examiner can’t give anything away. The examiner
can’t let students know how well they have done or put words into their
mouths. So, if students know what to expect, they won’t be put off by
the lack of commendation from the examiner.
✓ Know how to waffle a bit. Make sure that you know how to buy thinking
time with expressions like, ‘That’s a good question. Let’s see...’