2. Questions about Writing Assignments (FAQs)

  1. Is there a word count for each assignment?

No, because it is impossible to be specific about how much you should write. The key is always to answer the question as directly as possible. Introductions to each assignment give you some indication of what content you should cover, but a shorter, clear answer will always score much higher marks than a longer, less focussed response.

  1. What are the levels you mention in your feedback?

These describe the factors an examiner needs to see to award a mark, and you can use them to understand the difference between the grade boundaries, and how top band grades differ from lower band grades. They can be found in General Resources, for the appropriate paper.

You can see much more detailed information from examiners about what they expect to see in answers to each of the exam questions in the examiner’s reports from CAIE. These will be included in the Exam Prepation Module at the end of the course from 2021 onwards. We strongly recommend you look at these, as they will give you invaluable information about what examiners consider to strong responses. Both the general advice given and the question-specific comments are very helpful.

  1. Is it a good idea to consult the mark scheme for the questions in the assignment while I am writing them?

Sometimes it is obvious that students have found the mark scheme on the internet and have relied on it when writing their answers. This is clearly a bad idea for several reasons. First, because it would prevent you from working out an appropriate answer for yourself, and thus deny you an important opportunity to practise doing this. It also is rarely very successful in producing a good answer, as the mark scheme is a collection of indications to help examiners grade responses, rather than a complete or consistent answer. Furthermore, it tends to distract students from thinking about the appropriate structures for each type of answer. Finally, it is usually very obvious to tutors when this has happened and these assignments are frustrating to mark because working this way does not allow you to develop appropriate skills in preparation for the real exams.

  1. Can you send me examples of full-mark responses to each assignment?

Full-mark responses are very rare, but we will include a range of high-scoring examples of students’ work, and some specifically constructed essays, in the form of specimen answers for the majority of your assignments on Canvas as more students join this course. You should use these to help you improve your own essay writing, reflecting on what works well and how these relate to the mark schemes.

These will be available to you for each assignment once you have completed your own assignment and it has been returned to you with comments by your tutor.

  1. Why don’t all of the assignments have specimen answers?

Where modules have recently changed and are new to the syllabus/course, we need to wait for students to produce a range of strong answers on this content in order to add them to the Specimen Answers. As soon as examples are ready, we will upload more specimen answers to the course and announce these via Canvas.

  1. If I get a low grade for an assignment, can I resubmit it?

You can certainly re-write any essays where you scored low marks, and incorporating the feedback you received from your tutor can be a very useful revision exercise. We regret however that we cannot mark any assignment more than once.

  1. Why should I write my assignments by hand?

We recommend you do this so as to give you as much practice as possible of writing by hand, because unless you have special permission to use a word processor, this will be expected in the exams.

Many students use computers so much now that they are much slower when writing by hand than when typing and they are used to being able to copy and paste, or change things around if they don’t like them. This also means that a lot of students don’t think about their spelling or grammar, because of the autocorrect functions available on their laptops. These skills are very important in the real exams, where you are being marked on the clarity and coherence of your expression.

You need to get used to writing (and planning) by hand, so you are comfortable and efficient when doing so in your exams. So it is very important to get as much practice of this in as possible as early as possible. It is also useful for your tutor to see your handwriting in case there are any issues with this, about which you need to be aware before the exams. We recommend that you also make notes and practise writing essays by hand too, as every little helps.       

  1. Do I need to submit a plan with each of my assignments?

There is no obligation to do this, but it is always a good idea. Planning is a vital element in producing a logical and coherent answer. It is a habit you need to get into early on and something you must do in the exams. Planning allows you to organise your thoughts, decide what you are going to write before you write it and to work out the structure of your essay and any argument you are putting forward. 

A planned and considered response will always be much more efficient than one that evolves as you write. It means you are less likely to miss anything out, to be repetitive or to contradict yourself. It also prevents you from falling into the trap of waffling and/or going off-task.

Examiners can tell when you haven’t thought about your argument before you started writing and they are always reassured to see a clear plan included for each essay in the exam paper. 

  1. Do I need to complete my assignments in exam conditions?

No, not to start with. You may have access to your textbooks and notes whilst completing them and you may take as long as you like. 

However, when you feel confident you have mastered the structures of the various types of answers, and your feedback confirms this, it may be a good idea to write the final assignments as timed papers, in order to practise working under exam conditions.

This means that you should not use your textbooks or notes, that you should not look at the questions before you complete the assignment, and that you should complete your work in one sitting, and to time.

If you decide to try this, let your tutor know, in a note at the start of the assignment, so they can take this into account when they mark it.

  1. How do I know what grade my percentage mark represents?

This is an issue about which it is impossible to be completely precise, as grade boundaries vary with each exam and sitting. You can however gain an indication, for each paper, here:

EXPLORE - 2019 Grade Thresholds (CAIE) Links to an external site.

Do bear in mind that the 9489 History syllabus is new for 2021 onwards. You can look at grade thresholds for the older syllabus, 9389, using the link above.

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