A short description of what to do in IGCSE First Language English (500). The papers discussed here are paper 2 & paper 3.

1. IGCSE
FIRST LANGUAGE ENGLISH
A QUICK GUIDE

2. PAPER 2 : COMPREHENSION QUESTION (20 MARKS)
• This question has 20 marks.
• A maximum of 15 marks are allotted for your reading skills. Reading skills include
skimming and scanning.
• A maximum of 5 marks are allotted for the quality of your writing. This is where
your Consistency, Coherence and Construction are checked.
• Read the question before you start reading the passage. Underline relevant lines
to the question.

3. READING : 15 MARKS
• You should ideally, take 40 minutes to answer this question. You mustn’t exceed
45.
• You need to read more carefully and with a purpose.
• The purpose in this case will be provided by the three bullets in the question.
Read the question and make a note of the bullets before you start reading.
• The question requires you to identify details about each bullet.
• When you start reading find out relevant points concerning each bullet in the text
and underline them. The time you can take to read and underline should not go
beyond 15 minutes. Select ideas from the text and develop them supporting with
details.
• You should now write the answer using 5 paragraphs (intro, 3 bullets, conclu) and
you should not use more than 20 minutes.

4. WRITING : 5 MARKS
• Your Consistency will play a big role in any type of writing.
• You need to have a tone that doesn’t change anywhere in your writing.
• You need to sequence your points carefully.
• You must remember that you are writing for someone to read and the writing has
to be audience oriented.
• You must read your answer after you are done because then only the
grammatical errors will be visible.

5. READING OBJECTIVES
• R1 demonstrate understanding of explicit meanings
• R2 demonstrate understanding of implicit meanings and
attitudes
• R3 analyse, evaluate and develop facts, ideas and opinions

6. WRITING OBJECTIVES
• W1 articulate experience and express what is thought, felt
and imagined
• W2 sequence facts, ideas and opinions
• W3 use a range of appropriate vocabulary
• W4 use register appropriate to audience and context

7. PAPER 2 : WRITER’S EFFECT (10 MARKS)
• This question requires you to analyse a set of words and phrases that the writer
chooses to create a desired effect.
• You should ideally, take 25 minutes to answer this question. You mustn’t exceed
30 minutes.
• Remember, other than the mentioned paragraphs don’t consider any other part
of the text.
• Select the words and phrases that you intend to analyse and then write the
answer in two paragraphs (each for the mentioned paragraphs in the text)

8. WRITER’S EFFECT CONTD.
• Select at least five words or phrases from each paragraph.
• For each word or phrase that you have selected write its significance in creating
an image.
• You should demonstrate an awareness of the writer’s intention across the entire
passage and how your selections reflect his/her stance / attitude / tone
• At the end of each paragraph write a sentence that sums up your analysis.

9. PAPER 2 : SUMMARY (20 MARKS)
• This question carries 15 marks for the notes and 5 marks for the summary.
• In this question you will be asked to summarise a text.
• You should ideally take 40 minutes to answer the questions.
• Read the question carefully. The question generally asks you to identify points
pertaining to two aspects in the text. Read the question before you start reading
the passage. Underline relevant lines to the question.
• You need to write the points in short but preferably not less than 4-5 words.

10. SUMMARY CONTD.
• For each correctly identified point/note you get a mark.
• You should try to list out at least 17 points/notes or more. Try to rephrase the
underlined portion in the passage, this will help you to write the summary faster.
• The summary must have all the points/notes.
• You must write the summary in your own language and to do this just rephrase each
point/note and combine them into complex sentences.
• You should not lift any sentence directly from the text.
• Avoid describing something, citing examples and quoting someone. Don’t add an
introduction or a conclusion to your summary.

11. PAPER 3 : DIRECTED WRITING (25 MARKS)
• This question bears 15 marks for the quality of your writing and 10 marks for the
content of your answer.
• You should ideally take 40-45 minutes and not more than 50 minutes to answer
this question.
• There are two bullets present in the question. One of them asks you to identify
and evaluate the views expressed in the text. The other one generally asks you to
take a side or speak neutrally on the topic.

12. DIRECTED WRITING CONTD.
• For this question, you will need to put yourself into role, and address your
audience directly.
• In most of the directed writing questions you find persuasive or argumentative
writing.
• You have to focus on the information that is provided in the passage. When you
start writing your main job is to infer and comment on the information that you
have gathered.
• The opening needs to clearly introduce the situation and purpose of the task, and
will be rewarded if it puts the reader in the picture.

13. PAPER 3: COMPOSITION (25 MARKS)
• This question evaluates the content & structure (13 marks) and style & accuracy
(12 marks) of your writing. The first is about the essentials of each type of writing
and the latter deals with your knowledge of the language including your
vocabulary.
• Choose very wisely whether you want to write a descriptive composition or a
narrative one.
• Comparative phrases and words are elementary in a descriptive writing task
whereas expressive and impressive words of action are imperative in a narrative
one. Choose

14. DESCRIPTIVE WRITING
• The reader needs description to paint the picture of a location or scene in their
head, but too much bogs down the story, slows the pace and detracts from the
forward movement of the plot.
• Use the five senses as much as possible, think about what your character can
hear, see, smell. Think about touch and taste. Don’t use too many senses in each
scene, but use them to paint a real, tangible picture.
• Use colour well.
• Practise writing description – e.g. describe characters whose pictures you have
found in magazines, or describe a room you’ve visited.

15. DESCRIPTIVE WRITING
• Use description to develop mood – a stormy day, a bright white apartment.
• Metaphors can be very powerful in description, evoking a mood or theme that
runs through your story. Don’t forget, if you’ve heard it before it’s a cliché – to be
avoided at all costs – you are a writer, be creative, come up with your own
metaphors and similes.
• Add quirky details that can be remembered or prove to be striking. Think about
small details that you can add to a character or a location.
• Don’t overdo description – remember the join-the-dots rule – let the reader fill in
some detail for themselves.

16. NARRATIVE WRITING
Before you start writing the narrative task
• Don’t try to locate your story too according to the story cue. The cues are generally quite open
ended.
• Be sure of the purpose and audience of the story.
• PLOT – What happens in the story is its plot. To develop an effective plot, think about these
main points – Conflict, A series of events (ideally a chain of events), High Point (most tense
and interesting moments), Outcome (tying up the loose ends or leaving it hanging – but
the cliffhanger should not be devoid of a sense of completion).
• Think of the characters and the setting that you will need for your story.
• Choose a suitable point of view – first or third person narrative

17. NARRATIVE WRITING
Check-list for the narrative task
• An engaging start – could be dialogue or a vivid description of a place or a situation
(possibly preferably introduce the protagonist or the antagonist or the conflict)
• Characterise at least one character to a considerable extent – his/her looks, habits,
mannerisms, attitude. Characterising through dialogues is very effective and takes less
space.
• Describe at least one place/situation vividly. Use sensory images.
• Heighten the tensest situation in the plot.
• Try to end the story with a proper sense of ending. It doesn’t matter if you can’t
resolve the plot.