Topics 2–6 What do you most admire about visitors to your country and what do you least admire? Give examples and reasons to support your view.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2015). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. Detailed Marking instructions for Section 2: Creative Writing
2. 30 marks are allocated. The 'best fit' principle is applied, as in the following table. N.B. Primary emphasis is on quality of Language; comments on Content used to adjust mark within Band.
3. SECTION 2 MARK
4. Band 1 (30–27 marks)
5. • Highly accurate, apart from very occasional slips.
6. • Sentence structure varied for particular effects.
7. • Verb forms largely correct and appropriate tenses consistently used.
8. • Vocabulary wide and precise.
9. • Punctuation accurate and helpful.
10. • Spelling accurate apart from very occasional slips.
11. • Paragraphs have unity, are linked, and show evidence of planning.
12. Consistently relevant. Interest aroused and sustained.
13. Tone and register entirely appropriate.
14. Discursive essays are well developed, logical, even complex, in argument.
15. Descriptive essays have well-developed images helping to create complex atmospheres.
16. Narratives are complex, sophisticated, possibly tense, and may contain devices such as flashbacks.
17. Band 2 (26–23 marks)
18. • Accurate: occasional errors are either slips or caused by ambition.
19. • Sentence structures show some variation to create some natural fluency.
20. • Occasional slips in verb forms or tense formation but sequence consistent and clear throughout.
21. • Vocabulary wide and precise enough to convey intended shades of meaning.
22. • Punctuation accurate and generally helpful.
23. • Spelling nearly always accurate.
24. • Paragraphs have unity, are usually linked, and show some evidence of planning.
25. Relevant. Interest aroused and mostly sustained.
26. Tone and register appropriate.
27. Discursive essays have clearly-defined, cohesive, logical stages in their argument.
28. Descriptive essays have interesting images and range of detail, helping to create effective atmospheres.
29. Narratives have effective detail creating character or setting, and may contain some sense of climax.
30. Band 3 (22–19 marks)
31. • Mostly accurate; errors from ambition do not mar clarity of communication.
32. • Some variety of sentence structures, but tendency to repeat sentence types may produce monotonous effect.
33. • Errors may occur in irregular verb forms, but control of tense sequence sufficient to sustain clear progression of events or ideas.
34. • Simple vocabulary mainly correct; errors may occur with more ambitious words.
35. • Punctuation generally accurate and sentence separation correctly marked, but errors may occur e.g. with direct speech.
36. • Spelling of simple vocabulary accurate; some errors in more ambitious words.
37. • Paragraphs may show some unity, although links may be absent or inappropriate.
38. Relevant. Some interest aroused, although there may be some lack of originality and/or planning.
39. Tone usually appropriate, although there may be slips of register.
40. Discursive essays make a series of relevant points, with some being developed; linking of ideas may be insecure.
41. Descriptive essays have satisfactory images, ideas and details which help to create atmosphere.
42. Narratives are straightforward with proper sequencing of sentences.
43. Band 4 (18–15 marks)
44. • Sufficiently accurate to communicate meaning, with patches of clear, accurate language.
45. • Some variety of sentence length and structure, not always for particular purpose.
46. • Errors in verb forms and tense consistency may cause uncertainty in sequence of events or disturb ease of communication.
47. • Vocabulary usually adequate to convey intended meaning; idiom may be uncertain.
48. • Punctuation used but not always helpful; occasional sentence separation errors.
49. • Spelling of simple vocabulary accurate; errors in more difficult words.
50. • Paragraphs used but may lack unity or coherence.
51. Attempt to address topic but there may be digressions or failures of logic. May lack liveliness and interest.
52. Tone may be uneven.
53. Discursive essays have mainly relevant points but may be only partially developed, with some repetition.
54. Descriptive essays have some detail but may rely too much on narrative.
55. Narratives are largely a series of events with only occasional details of character and setting.
56. Band 5 (14–11)
57. • Overall meaning never in doubt, but errors sufficiently frequent and serious to hamper precision and distract reader from content.
58. • Some simple sentence structures accurate but unlikely to sustain accuracy for long.
59. • Errors in verb forms and tenses will sometimes confuse sequence of events.
60. • Vocabulary limited, either too simple or imperfectly understood; some idiomatic errors likely.
61. • Simple punctuation usually accurate, but there may be frequent sentence separation errors.
62. • Spelling of simple vocabulary accurate, frequent errors in more difficult words.
63. • Paragraphs used haphazardly.
64. Some relevance. Some interest.
65. Tone may be inconsistent.
66. Discursive essays make a few points but development is simple and not always logical; some obvious repetition of ideas.
67. Descriptive essays are relevant but lack scope or variety.
68. Narratives are simple, everyday or immature.
69. Band 6 (10–7)
70. • Many serious errors of various kinds of 'single-word' type (i.e. they could be corrected without re-writing the sentence); communication established, although weight of error may cause some 'blurring'.
71. • Sentences probably simple and repetitive in structure.
72. • Frequent errors in verb forms and haphazard changes of tense confuse meaning.
73. • Vocabulary conveys meaning but likely to be simple and imprecise; significant idiomatic errors.
74. • Spelling may be inconsistent.
75. • Punctuation and paragraphing may be haphazard or non-existent.
76. A little relevance. A little interest.
77. Some recognition of appropriate tone.
78. In Discursive essays only a few points are discernable and the argument progresses only here and there.
79. In Descriptive essays the overall picture is unclear.
80. In Narratives are very simple and may narrate events indiscriminately.
81. Band 7 (6–3)
82. • Sense usually decipherable but some error will be 'multiple' (i.e. requiring the reader to re-read and re-organise); meaning may be partly hidden by density of linguistic error.
83. • Unlikely to be more than a few accurate sentences, however simple, in the whole essay.
84. Little relevance or interest.
85. Tone may be inappropriate.
86. In Discursive essays only a very few points are discernable and the argument barely progresses.
87. In Descriptive essays the overall picture is very unclear.
88. Narratives are extremely simple and may narrate events indiscriminately.
89. Band 8 (2-0)
90. • Scripts almost entirely or entirely impossible to recognise as pieces of English writing; whole sections make no sense at all.
91. • Where occasional patches of relative clarity are evident, 2 or 1 mark(s) should be given.
92. • The mark of 0 is reserved for scripts that make no sense at all from beginning to end.
93. Discursive essays are rarely relevant and may well be disordered, as are Descriptive essays and Narratives.