Japanese Beginners exam papers
Japanese Beginners 2024 HSC exam pack
2024 Japanese Beginners HSC exam papers
Japanese Beginners HSC Exam paper - transcript - audio 2024
Marking guidelines
Marking guidelines are developed with the examination paper and are used by markers to guide their marking of a student's response. The table shows each question and the criteria with each mark or mark range.
Sample answers may also be developed and included in the guidelines to make sure questions assess a student's knowledge and skills, and guide the Supervisor of Marking on the expected nature and scope of a student's response. They are not intended to be exemplary or even complete answers or responses.
Marking feedback
Select from the link(s) below to view feedback about how students performed in this year’s examination.
Use the feedback to guide preparation for future examinations. Feedback includes an overview of the qualities of better responses. Feedback may not be provided for every question.
Feedback on practical examination
Oral examination
Conversation
Students should:
- be prepared to communicate about a variety of topics relating to their personal world
- elaborate and provide relevant details to address the questions in a way that engages with the examiner
- use a range of vocabulary, expressions and language structures to respond appropriately to the questions
- provide information, express ideas and comment on their personal world
- be prepared to respond to questions from a different perspective
- be prepared to respond to questions that relate to past, present and future aspects of their personal world
- avoid repetition of the same vocabulary, phrases and expressions
- manipulate the language to fulfil the requirements of the question
- be prepared to be interrupted by the examiner
- use Japanese to ask for repetition and/or clarification of the question.
In better responses, students were able to:
- use a wide range of language structures accurately and authentically
- provide clear responses to questions with minimal hesitation
- provide relevant answers to questions rather than giving a rehearsed answer
- respond appropriately with correct pronunciation and intonation
- use correct tenses in line with the intent of the question
- nominalise verbs consistently, in particular, when talking about hobbies
- elaborate and justify ideas and opinions using authentic and personalised examples relating to past, present and future aspects of their personal world
- demonstrate a good understanding of various grammatical points
- use compound sentences.
Areas for students to improve include:
- listening to the question carefully, then ensuring responses are relevant and answer the question
- delivering responses confidently and ensuring sentences are complete and are articulated clearly
- conjugating verbs, adjectives and nouns in the correct register
- revising how to form the te form of the verb
- ensuring adjectives are linked with kute / de, not to
- revising how to form the negative form of tai, that is, ~takunai desu
- revising how to express intentions by using tsumori desu
- including a range of grammar patterns in responses
- ensuring affirmative and negative parts of speech are conjugated correctly
- ensuring foreign words are pronounced authentically
- ensuring the correct form of the verb/adjective is used before particular grammar patterns. For example, plain form affirmative before mae ni; past plain form before ato de
- understanding question words, such as dare, itsu, doushite, dochira, doko, dou yatte, dono gurai and donna
- being consistent with tense and using particles correctly.
Feedback on written examination
Section I
Listening
Students should:
- read each question carefully
- make notes in the Candidate’s Notes column on the right-hand side of the page
- transcribe their response onto the lines, using the space provided for each question
- use the lines provided as a guide to the length of the response required
- ensure that their responses are clear and address all parts of the question
- use their own words and respond in English
- avoid translating text as part of their response.
In better responses, students were able to:
- provide relevant and important details
- identify the time words in a text to build context, such as every week, next Saturday (Q3, Q5, Q6)
- identify correct tense in a text to understand whether it occurs in the past, present or future (Q4, Q5, Q6)
- identify that the project could be done anywhere (Q8)
- understand that there was no homework or assessments, but rather, they had to complete them at school before joining (Q8)
- support their response with details, for example, the students who liked tennis could learn with professional tennis players (Q8)
- identify that Sakura had difficulty singing in front of people not that she was bad at singing (Q9)
- link the idea of uploading her music in response to her having difficulty singing in front of people (Q9)
- evaluate how Takeshi’s skills and experiences made him suitable for the role of a taxi driver (Q10).
Areas for students to improve include:
- considering the context to select the correct Japanese word when there are two possible meaning. For example, many students translated yasashii as nice, but the meaning here was easy (Q1). This also applied to kakkoii meaning cool, not good-looking (Q1), and hayai meaning early, not fast (Q7)
- understanding that the girl would stay at a hotel not just go to the hotel (Q5), and that she would go swimming not just go to the pool (Q5)
- providing specific details from the text and not just generalising or summarising. For example, ‘If you buy online today, you get 20% off’, compared to ‘if you buy a computer, you get a discount’ (Q3)
- demonstrating knowledge of common words about Japanese culture, for example, otera (temple) and shodoo, calligraphy
- understanding numbers for the cost of the program (Q8)
- understanding sentences with relative clauses (Q9)
- answering the question by inferring meaning from the information listened to in the text rather than providing a translation (Q10)
- listening to the text and understanding all the information provided
- increasing the range of vocabulary understood and produced.
Section II
Reading
Students should:
- read the whole text(s)
- address all parts of each question
- use the lines, table, chart provided for their response
- respond fully to the question by including details as required
- support their responses with evidence from the text where required
- use their own words rather than giving a literal translation
- use the dictionary appropriately to find the correct meaning of the word(s) in context.
In better responses, students were able to:
- recognise the noun mise as ‘shop’ and the verb utte imasu as ‘sells’, to show understanding that Keiko was writing about a Japanese food store, not a restaurant (Q11)
- recognise that the suggestion was for the two girls to go together to the store (Q11)
- summarise the two main advantages in the text, without listing the activities (Q12)
- summarise concisely without giving details (Q12)
- explain what Michael’s challenges were, the difficult situation in his Japanese class and not having a Japanese friend to practise speaking with for the exam next week (Q13)
- explain why Emma’s advice was not helpful, as dropping Japanese was not an option for Michael due to his future plans (Q13b)
- explain how Akira’s advice was both practical and fit better with Michael’s wish to continue Japanese (Q13b)
- identify both the points, big and spacious apartment, and that he could wear shoes inside (Q14b)
- address the problems and then provide effective solutions that Tom actioned to show his initiative (Q14c)
- include all relevant details, for example, climbing Mt Fuji and eating Japanese food (Q15b)
- identify Ben’s bad experiences and then provide suggestions for improvements (Q15c)
- address the old shoes issue as a separate issue to the bad weather causing his injury (Q15c).
Areas for students to improve include:
- understanding that the suggestion was for both girls to go to the store together (Q11)
- recognising the kanji for the days of the week (Q11)
- providing a summary of the advantages of the event, not a translation of the text (Q12)
- explaining why Emma’s advice was of no use to Michael, rather than just repeating what her advice was (Q13)
- understanding a wide variety of vocabulary and grammatical structures, for example, haite moii desu yo (Q14b), kite miru (Q14c), noboru (Q15b), furukatta (Q15c)
- giving specific initiatives Tom actioned, not the problems or his intent (Q14c)
- giving logical and realistic suggestions to improve Ben’s experience (Q15c).
Section III
Writing in Japanese
Students should:
- write to the word length required
- address the audience, purpose and context required by the question
- apply the conventions of the type of text indicated in the question
- use the appropriate register throughout the response
- use a range of tenses and sentence structures and a variety of vocabulary
- avoid repeating the same expressions throughout the response
- use the dictionary correctly to access vocabulary and expressions that are meaningful in the context of their response
- avoid listing
- plan their response prior to writing and edit their work.
In better responses, students were able to:
- structure their writing with conjunctions, such as, sor ekara, soshite, sono ato de, dakara, demo
- include the weekend plan to study in the library (Q16)
- demonstrate their knowledge of registers and use the correct register consistently throughout the text, for example, plain form (Q16) and polite form (Q17)
- use the past tense consistently (Q17)
- elaborate their core ideas, for example, directions to go to library with a close friend on the weekend (Q16), describe an event they participated in Japan as an exchange student (Q17), give the reasons for why they don’t want to move overseas (Q18), give the reasons for their plans for next year (Q19)
- use a range of tenses for the future, present and past (Q18, Q19)
- express various feelings about reasons they want to do/not do something (Q18, Q19)
- correctly write a range of the prescribed kanji
- use a wide range of advanced grammatical structures and vocabulary accurately
- demonstrate creativity and originality.
Areas for students to improve include:
- writing their response appropriate to the questions more concisely and succinctly
- avoiding copying sentences from the questions and/or the reading section
- checking they have used the correct spelling, for example, toshokan (Q16)
- using a wider range of grammar structures and not being repetitive
- using particles correctly
- using future tense to describe an event they participated in Japan (Q17)
- using conjugations of adjectives and verbs accurately, for example, hikkosu conjugated poorly, negative verbs not joined correctly (Q18)
- checking they have used the correct word from the dictionary, for example, ugoku used incorrectly for moving house (Q18)
- using prescribed kanji correctly in their writing, for example daigaku / nichi / watashi written incorrectly (Q18, Q19).
HSC exam resources
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Japanese Beginners Syllabus
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