Students in Form 6 are one step closer to DSE. Have you already planned how to prepare for the exam? Those who haven't can read this article first to ensure that they gain something. The editor has prepared a complete guide + tips for the DSE Form 6 exam paper to help you make progress in a short time before taking the DSE exam.
【DSE English】Full guide + experience for Form 6 exam papers
According to the 2024 English Liberal Arts Assessment Syllabus of the HKEAA, the following information can be compiled:
"Public Examination":
Divided into four parts - Paper 1 Reading, Paper 2 Writing, Paper 3 Listening and Paper 4 Speaking.
| part | name | examination time | content | Score proportion |
| Paper 1 | Reading | 1 hour 30 minutes | Part A+ Part B1 / B2 (11.5 % each) | 20 % |
| Paper 2 | Writing | 2 hours | Part A (11.2 %) + Part B (16.8 %) | 25 % |
| Paper 3 | Listening & Integrated | 2 hours | Part A + Part B1 / B2 (17 % each) | 30 % |
| Paper 4 | Speaking | Preparation time: 10 minutes + group discussion time: 8 minutes + personal speech: 1 minute | Part A + Part B (Total 10%) | 10 % |
"English SBA School-Based Assessment":
Reading/movie report/group discussion/individual report——Part A / Part B (accounting for 15 of the whole subject %)
Preparation before Form 6 exam papers
Develop a sense of self-evaluation
Candidates can record their scores every time they do the past year, and then conduct statistical analysis, so that they can find out where they made mistakes each time and make corrections. If you are a student who keeps making mistakes in one section and cannot be corrected, the editor here recommends that you find the English teacher in charge of your school or theSupplementary EnglishOne to oneIt is better to ask a teacher to teach you. The sooner you make corrections, the sooner you can enter the next step of preparation.
Train your own production and reception skills
In addition to doing past year, high school students can also read newspapers, listen to the news, etc. If there are candidates who like to play games, why not set the game language to English to have fun and learn at the same time. In order to learn English, some students force themselves to watch the news or read articles that they are not interested in, which leads to a lot of stress. In fact, this is not good. The human brain is most active only when it is relaxed and happy. You might as well look for something that can give you Media that brings entertainment are better.
Another practical and effective way is to take a small book and record the new words, phrases, grammar, and proverbs you see every day. When you don’t want to study seriously but don’t want to have fun, take it out and take a look. It’s not forced. You have to remember it yourself, just to make your brain feel familiar with the word, so that when you need to use that "new word", you will open the book yourself, thus completing the process of learning and remembering. This is output and reception.
What should I do if I am afraid that I will misremember the meaning of a new word? Don't be afraid, then just remember this complete English sentence, but try not to make the sentence too long, so as not to be unable to remember it at the critical moment. Students who are interested in English poetry will have a better understanding.
DSE English Paper 1 Reading
Many candidates open it and read the text directly as soon as they get it, but in fact the title and description are very important. They can tell you the author's position or premise and help you better understand the text. Sometimes, you may not accurately understand the meaning of the text because you did not read the title and description, and you may make mistakes in your subsequent answers.
we suggest:
- See title description
- Read the first two paragraphs
- Scan the text with your eyes
- Start answering questions
It will waste a lot of time if you read the entire text and then answer the questions, so reading and answering at the same time is the best option. Next, careful candidates will find that there are actually many answers that can be copied directly, so just look at what the context says based on the keywords and copy them only if they make sense. Don’t be too hasty.
If you want to read quickly, especially when the question asks about the main idea/purpose, first read the first paragraph and the end of each paragraph of the article, where the paragraph summary and central idea are contained. This will allow candidates to catch the key points faster and save time.
DSE English Paper 2 Writing
In recent years, the question types are not as direct as before, and they rarely ask you to write "Letter to the Editor" directly. The topics are increasingly relevant to real life and Hong Kong culture (eg. Scholar Project, Letter to the Company). Therefore, when candidates encounter an unfamiliar question type, they must clearly identify the object of the article, what context awareness is, what the subtitles should be, and what the proposal or subtitles required by the question are. Remember to look up the scene terms and phrases so that they can be used when you encounter them in the exam.
Article structure
Many people like to use Firstly, Secondly, Moreover, but it doesn’t actually add much points. Candidates can try the following:
- Firstly —— First of all…/ First…/ To begin…/ One reason is…
- Secondly —— Another reason/ example/ point…/ In addition…/ Furthermore… Moreover…/ The second reason is…/ The next problem is….
- Thirdly —— Finally…/ Most importantly…/ Last…/ The final reason is…/ My last example is…/ The most significant problem is…..
allocate time
Part A is lower than Part B and does not require writing a lot of words, so it is recommended that candidates finish Part A as soon as possible to give Part B sufficient time to develop their abilities.
DSE English Paper 3 Listening & Integrated skills
The teacher will play the recording twice. The first time you will record the answer when you hear it, and the second time you will confirm or change your answer. Don't think about what was said in the recording while listening to it, otherwise you will be distracted and not hear the rest of the recording. It would be better to wait until the playback is over before you think about it. And watch for pauses (eg. Well…I see…Good…), which are usually followed by important points.
Some students circle tasks all at once because the time allocation is not clear, which will make you more anxious. Therefore, it is recommended that you complete the points in the datafile of the task one by one before looking for the next one. Since the datafile does not need to be handed back, you can list what you want to do, and you can remove different page pairs later, but the most important thing is that you like it and can see it clearly, and the method does not matter.
The common styles of Paper 3 are article / email / webpage (similar to article) / proposal / report. Candidates should remember every basic format requirement so that they will not waste time thinking during the exam.
Be aware of audience size and formality
The information in the datafile is often acronyms / contractions / colloquial language (daily language) and cannot be written directly in the article. Remember to translate it accurately.
There are many different formalities depending on the question type:
- Speech or school magazine —— semi-formal+warm
- Business - formal+serious
- Kids - formal+children
FAQ
Is the marking scheme of DSE English Paper 1 really important?
Every time you get a question wrong, you have to think about why you chose that answer and why the real answer is like this. When you look back at the marking scheme, you will become more aware. Combined with the small book notation method taught above, the chance of repeated mistakes can be reduced more quickly.
DSE English Paper 2 Writing score is too low, what should I do?
You may not be able to see the mistakes you have made by yourself, so you need to discuss it with friends or teachers and let them give you their opinions. Or you can exchange your manuscripts with friends and see what advantages the other person has that you can use for your own use. But if your school teachers and friends can’t give you good feedback, we still recommend looking for recommendations.English private tutor, or can provideOne-to-one English tutoringeducational platform.
I don’t understand how to study DSE English Paper 3.
Paper 3 is similar to Paper 1, but the content requirements are only a few sentences in the marking scheme, so it is recommended that you go to the HKEAA website to see examples and reviews.
In fact, there are many practice test papers of unknown origin. Candidates should be careful to identify them. Those are test papers designed by unknown people after copying the keywords of the HKEAA. The scoring and examples are different from those required by the HKEAA. Not every test paper can do it.
In fact, in the end, candidates are still required to have excellent English expression skills and a good foundation, so that no matter what kind of problems they encounter, they can be easily solved. Therefore, candidates with poor foundation should make more preparations and study efficiently. The amount of study is not necessarily large, but the focus must be on the quality of study at the end. The only advice the editor can give is to start preparing for the exam early, prepare learning resources, spend a certain amount of time practicing English every week, or apply for the recommended examOne-on-one English tutoring for primary schoolsWhen it comes to teaching, don’t wait until the last few weeks to learn, otherwise it won’t be possible even if the gods come.
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