Macedonian Continuers 2024 HSC exam pack

Conversation

Students should:

• be prepared to communicate on 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 and justify 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 Macedonian to ask for repetition and/or clarification of the question.

In better responses, students were able to:

• speak clearly with appropriate pronunciation, syntax, register and intonation
• answer questions with minimal hesitation, allowing the conversation to flow at a good pace
• answer questions in some depth with relevant information, for example, to communicate feelings, provide opinions and justify their responses
• address the requirements of the question
• elaborate on their responses without needing extra prompts from the examiner
• respond in full sentences, using compound and complex sentences
• use language structures and features effectively to enhance their responses
• demonstrate excellent knowledge of a wide repertoire of vocabulary
• accurately use tenses as required by the question
• use authentic and idiomatic expressions appropriately.

Areas for students to improve include:

• conjugating verbs correctly, for example, past – одев; present - одам; future – ќе одам
• revising gender and number, for example, тоа време, двете земји, подобра комуникација, instead of using incorrect forms со ‘мојот’ родители
• using correct syntax
• revising pronominal forms for direct and indirect objects, for example, saying ‘му’ помагам на мајка ми instead of using the correct form ‘ѝ’
• saying ‘требам’ да вежбаm повеќе instead of the correct form ‘треба да’
• using conjunctions correctly
• avoiding dialect forms, for example, сакам да ‘патвам’
• using a range of sentence types, not just simple sentences
• avoiding the use of English words and expressions
• using a variety of words, phrases and expressions.

Discussion

In preparation for the Discussion

Students should:

• choose a topic that has good quality reference texts and sources available
• ensure they will be able to refer to at least three texts from their research
• ensure that one of the texts used in their research is a literary source.

During the Discussion examination

Students should:

• support their discussion with evidence from the texts they have sourced
• express and justify opinions and points of view on the topic of in-depth study
• reflect on their research findings to help them express opinions or develop new perceptions about their topic of in-depth study
• manipulate language to respond in a coherent and logical way to the questions asked
• use a variety of relevant vocabulary, grammar, sentence structures and expressions
• avoid using pre-prepared responses that do not address the question asked
• avoid relying on general knowledge about the topic of in-depth study.

In better responses, students were able to:

• ensure that sources chosen were relevant to the topic of in-depth study
• compare the validity and reliability of their sources
• refer to their sources and comment on how each source contributed to their understanding of the in-depth topic
• discuss how their research impacted on their views and helped them gain a better understanding of the in-depth topic
• analyse the texts studied rather than memorise information from the texts
• provide logical and well-structured responses to questions
• summarise the main issues and key elements of their research
• provide insightful conclusions regarding issues raised in their research
• use specific vocabulary and expressions relevant to the topic
• use complex sentences and suitable idiomatic expressions to strengthen and support their opinions
• use a high level of grammatical accuracy, sophisticated vocabulary and expressions
• manipulate the language effectively to support their ideas and justify their point of view, for example, Дискусија околу изворите на информации и употреба на. Аналитичка анализа на изворите на информации и презентирање на ефективна.

Areas for students to improve include:

• using specific vocabulary appropriate to the topic of the in-depth study
• revising compound and complex structures
• responding in a logical and coherent manner
• completing each argument relating to an issue before introducing another point
• avoiding the repetition of the same information throughout the discussion
• avoiding information that is common knowledge
• choosing topics for which there are literary texts.