Syllabus and Examination Structure
Before you revise anything, know the shape of the paper. Students lose marks every year not because they lack English, but because a task surprised them.
Check the official syllabus for your year
Examination formats, the number of questions and the marks allocated to them are set by the examination authority and are revised from time to time. This page describes the examination as a teacher describes it, so that you understand what is being tested and why.
Always confirm the exact format, question numbers and mark allocation for your own examination year against the current official syllabus and the instructions on the paper itself. Do not rely on any website, including this one, for those particulars.
What the examination is testing
The O/L English paper tests whether you can use English, not whether you can recite facts about it. Broadly, it asks four things of you.
- Can you understand written English? Reading passages, notices, advertisements, tables and short texts, and answering questions on them.
- Do you control the language? Grammar, sentence structure, vocabulary and spelling, tested both in separate tasks and inside your writing.
- Can you write for a purpose and a reader? A notice for a noticeboard, an email to a principal, a letter to a friend, an essay for an examiner. Each has its own form.
- Can you organise what you write? Ideas in a sensible order, joined properly, with a beginning and an end.
How the examination is divided
The examination is set in two papers, normally taken on the same day.
The tasks differ in kind between the papers, and so should the way you work through them. Paper I and Paper II each have a page of their own.
Paper I
The shorter tasks. Reading and understanding, vocabulary, grammar and structured short writing. There are many separate items, each worth a small number of marks, and speed matters. Leaving a whole task blank here is expensive, because those marks were the easiest on the paper.
Paper II
The longer tasks. Extended writing, where you are judged on content, organisation, accuracy and appropriateness together, and longer reading. Fewer items, more marks each, and planning matters.
What to prepare for each area
| Area | What is tested | Where to study it |
|---|---|---|
| Reading comprehension | Finding information, understanding meaning in context, working out what is implied | Reading Comprehension |
| Grammar | Tenses, articles, prepositions, agreement, voice, reported speech, conditionals | Grammar |
| Vocabulary | Word meaning, word formation, correct word choice, spelling | Vocabulary |
| Guided writing | Writing to a given form and purpose with the details supplied | Guided Writing |
| Notices and emails | Short functional writing in the correct layout | Notices and Emails |
| Letters | Formal and informal letters, correct openings and closings | Letters |
| Paragraph and essay | Developing ideas, organising, joining and finishing | Paragraph Writing and Essay Writing |
| Picture description | Describing in an organised order | Picture Description |
| Dialogue and speech | Natural conversation, and a speech with a clear shape | Dialogue and Speech Writing |
Building a revision plan
A plan that a tired student can actually follow is better than a perfect plan that collapses in a week. Three principles are enough.
- Work on tasks, not on "English". "Revise English" is not a plan. "Learn the layout of a formal letter and write one" is.
- Practise writing by hand, timed. You will write the examination by hand under time pressure. Practise the way you will perform.
- Correct what you write. A piece of writing you never check teaches you very little. Use the checklist at the end of each writing lesson.
Next
Paper I
How to work through the shorter tasks without running out of time.
Paper II
How to plan and complete the longer writing.
Examination Techniques
Timing, reading the question and checking your work.