A-level Polish Examiner report Unit 01 - Reading and Writing

A-level Polish Examiner report Unit 01 - Reading and Writing

A-level
POLISH
Unit 1 Reading and Writing
Report on the Examination
2685
June 2013
Version: 1.0: 0613
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REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – AS-LEVEL POLISH – PLSH1 – JUNE 2013
General comments
Entries for PLSH1 have risen slightly with 1353 students entering last year and 1452 this year.
As for last year, there was a wide range in the ability of the students. There were a number of wellprepared students with excellent Polish, who knew what was expected of them and who produced
good quality papers. Most of them had either attended Polish Saturday schools, or had had some
form of tuition, or had studied the text thoroughly. Some of them had an excellent command of
Polish and some did not, but both groups knew the requirements of the examination and were well
prepared.
There were many more students than last year who arrived in England some years ago and,
having missed their schooling in Poland, had also neglected their Polish since being in England.
Some of them thought that what knowledge they had brought with them would be sufficient to get
them through the examination. That was not so. Many of them did not study for the examination or
even familiarise themselves with the specification. They produced very weak papers, especially in
the essay section. There were many untidy, badly written scripts which made scrutiny difficult.
It is of paramount importance that schools/colleges make sure that the students they have entered
read the specification and know what the examination requirements are. The students should be
reminded about reading the instructions carefully and studying past papers for practice. In this way,
they will know what is expected of them and will fully understand the questions’ demands.
Section 1 – Comprehension
Generally, students did very well in their answers to Section 1 of the paper. Marks were lost by
those unfamiliar with the technique required to answer comprehension questions, or by those who
were too casual in their approach. Carelessness cost students many marks for wrong answers
because there were as many as four questions on the comprehension section which were each
worth four marks. As ever, students are reminded to take more care in giving their answers and to
remember to supply as many pieces of information as the marks allocated to the questions
demand.
Question 1(a)(i) Dlaczego demografowie i psycholodzy się martwią?
It appears that students did not understand the phrase przyrost naturalny ujemny. More
specifically, they did not understand the meaning of the two words either side of naturalny, and
neither did they really know what dzietność meant in the next line of the text. There is further
evidence of this in the true and false questions. Here, too many very able students found the first
question challenging, in which the words ujemny przyrost naturalny once again appear.
Question 1(a)(xii) Co sądzisz o tym artykule i poglądach w nim zawartych?
This was the only part of the comprehension where students were asked to give their own opinion
of the article that they had read. Very often, the answers provided were shallow and were not
developed. For example, one student claimed that the article was interesting, but did not say why it
was interesting. In another example, the student stated that the article was useful, but again, did
not tell us why. For example: Uważam, że jest to interesujący artykuł. Co do poglądów, zgadzam
się z nimi.
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REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – A-LEVEL POLISH – PLSH1 – JUNE 2013
The examining committee would like to see an improvement in students’ answers to the final
comprehension question.
Here is an example of one of the better responses given in answer to Question 1(a)(xii):
Sądzę, że artykuł zawiera bardzo interesującą treść, pokazującą, że dziecko wychowane bez
rodzeństwa nie powinno z góry być uważane za gorsze i mniej rozwinięte intelektualnie. Pokazuje
nam, że nie można nikogo dyskryminować, bo jednak jest tak samo zdolnym i towarzyskim
dzieckiem jak każde inne. Myślę, że owy artykuł zmienił poglądy wielu ludzi i z pewnością podniósł
samoocenę i wiarę w swoje możliwości wielu jedynakom.
It is not necessary for the student to agree with the opinions presented in the text. On the contrary,
students are encouraged to express alternative points of view, as long as they have their basis in
sound judgment and reasoned argument. The following may serve as an example of just such a
response worthy of full marks:
Myślę, że to bardzo ważne, by przełamać stereotypy o jedynakach, jednak nie należy też
przesadzać w drugą stronę: propagowanie rodzin z jednym dzieckiem nie sprzyja gospodarce
państw, czego efekty widać już w państwach zachodnich – niedobór ludzi dotowych do pracy
skutkuje imigracją. Myślę, że w tym artykule jedynacy zostali trochę zbyt wychwaleni.
A further example:
Uważam, że ten artykuł jest interesujący, aczkolwiek nie zgadzam się z niektórymi poglądami,
gdyż moim zdaniem wielodzietne rodziny są lepszym miejscem dla dzieci, ponieważ dziecko z
większej rodziny posiada więcej doświadczenia odnoszącego się do jak pracować w grupie.
Dzielenie się rzeczami przychodzi łatwiej, bo robią to codziennie ze swoim rodzeństwem.
Section 2 – Translation
The standard of the translation appears to be improving year on year. There were fewer poorer
translations in 2013 than in previous years, and very few students now leave a blank page. There
is evidence that students taking the Polish AS level exam have a sufficient grasp of English to be
able to fulfill the demands of the translation task. It is however, of concern, that there is evidence
that some students are not particularly strong in either language when the AS paper is considered
as a whole. There were still fundamental errors, especially regarding correct usage of English
tenses. If students took the time to read through the text before beginning their translation they
would avoid many mistakes.
In reviewing performance, specifically on the 2013 translation, many students did not translate the
heading Dawniej to były czasy! They simply began with the first paragraph. Students are reminded
that it is worth reading through the whole text before attempting the translation. This is always time
well invested. The text appears in three paragraphs. Of these, the first is the longest and students
found this paragraph the most challenging. Indeed, many students who started weakly, later
performed much better in paragraphs two and three. The bullet points below give the most
common errors found in this year’s translations:
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fenomenalni ludzie, spelled ‘fenomenal’ rather than ‘phenomenal’.
wielkimi epokami, often translated as ‘great centuries’.
w latach pięćdziesiątych, sześćdziesiątych, lata trzydzieste, all incorrectly spelled in their
English equivalent, e.g. ‘fifties’, ‘sixties’, ‘thirties’.
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REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – A-LEVEL POLISH – PLSH1 – JUNE 2013
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okres stalinowski, translated as ‘period stalinowski’.
czas upadku, zbrodni, inaccurately or erroneously translated.
starsza pani, occasionally misread and translated as ‘terrible or horrible woman’.
Wiedniu, translated as ‘Lithuania’, ‘Vilno’, ‘Wembley’, ‘Sweden’, ‘Vietnam’, ‘Venice’,
‘Vatican’ or strangely ‘Belgium’ or ‘Madrid’.
inappropriate use of colloquialisms, for example, a teraz jest beznadziejnie, translated into
rather than offensive English slang.
szachy, szachistów. Incorrect spellings of this, or inaccurately translated, e.g. ‘cheese’,
‘checkers’, ‘board gamers’, ‘chest’ or ‘chesters’.
zadaje pytanie, frequently translated as ‘I ask a question’ when in fact it was the chess
instructor asking the question.
Należało do przeszłosci – ‘belonged to the future.’
Wykształcony przed wojną – ‘clever or intelligent before the war’, or ‘physically fit before the
war’.
Below is a successful translation from a member of this year’s cohort, to illustrate a piece achieving
full marks. It should be noted that translations do not have to be word perfect to be deemed worthy
of ten marks.
Good old times!
For many years I couldn’t get rid of the sense that I was born too late. Interesting times, great
events, amazing people – I felt that all of that belonged to the past. During my childhood, in the
50s, the recent war and the 30s were ‘great ages’ for me. Later on, in the early 60s, the era of
Stalin became another ‘great age’. I realized, of course that just like the war it was a horrifying
period, a time of downfall, crime and heroism, and because of that I knew that it was a unique and
amazing period.
I had the feeling of being born too late in many different situations. Here I am, beginning my piano
lessons. My teacher is an older, elegant lady who studied at universities in Paris, London and
Vienna. And from the very first lesson I begin to hear how wonderful it used to be and how awful it
is now. I’m told all about the amazing talents and champions of the old days and how quickly
people learned back then.
I’m interested in chess, so I sign up to a club to develop my skills. The instructor, a person who
studied before the war, is practising with us. And after making a move he asks a question. “Do you
know who came up with this move?” Naturally no one knows; the instructor was just waiting for
that. “Capablanca in 1925, during a tournament in London! That man was a genius. There are no
players like that nowadays!”
Section 3 – Essay
This year’s question was on the pace of life and its effects on the quality of our life. The topic
seemed not to interest all students. There were a number of quite short essays and more than
usual for Polish. There were also, however, many excellent essays and some that were even
outstanding.
Some students used the stimulus material in the language they used in their answer. The stimulus
should not simply be copied or expanded. Some students explained how the washing machine
works and that it still has to be loaded, and that the washing powder has to be bought and that is
time consuming.
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REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – A-LEVEL POLISH – PLSH1 – JUNE 2013
One student displayed quite a scientific approach to the essay question:
Nasze subjektywne pojęcie czasu się zmienia. Jest to nieskomplikowana matematyka. Używając
zwykłe ułamki jako modele czasu, gdy X podzielone przez Y symbolizuje X czasu w życiu
podzielone przez cały czas spędzony w życiu, X się nie zmienia lecy liczba Y staje się coraz
większa i coraz większa. W ten ścisły sposób można udowodnić, że nasze pojęcie czasu się cały
czas skraca...
There was a bias in the essay question towards negative responses, in the sense that hurrying is
seldom seen as anything other than a bad thing. Some of the sobering reflections contained in
many of these essays still came as something of a surprise.
‘Tik, tak, tik, tak’ dźwięk zegara wystukującego każdą sekundę, widok wskazówki pędzącej wokół
zegara jak samochód wyścigowy; wszystko to sprawia, że człowiek nagle zdaje sobie sprawę jak
krótkie jest jego życie i jak blisko jest on leżenia w trumnie zakopanej pod ziemią.
This student was not alone in his use of funereal imagery. The theme of humanity hurtling
headlong towards oblivion was common and ran through many of the essays, some putting the
blame squarely on factors outside the control of the individual:
Tempo naszego życia to morderca, którego policja jeszcze nie złapala.
However, others stressed that the life that we live is the result of our individual choices. One
student, in particular, painted a very bleak picture of what can happen if we get those choices
wrong:
Mężczyzna stanął lichym krokiem na stołku, na szyje założył sobie ciężki sznur, który już
śmierdział śmiercią. Wziął on ostatni oddech i poczuł smród komercjalizacji, pośpiechu oraz
chciwości, która go zapędziła w kajdany pośpiechu, które wisiały mu teraz na szyji.
Stołek obalił się. Odruchowe oraz silne i krótkie westchnienie już nie pomogą. Zawisł na kajdanach
czasu, a wszystko zamarło. Czas jego stał się zimny i zamarł...Tym mężczyzną jesteśmy my
wszyscy...
Other students were not quite so morose in their treatment of the subject, but even so the theme of
regret was one that surfaced time and again in a variety of different ways. In some of the best
essays, students could be pessimistic but also still found room for optimism, advising that living in
the moment is the solution to our malaise in the need to hurry. They explained that we only have
one life and we should not waste it on the wrong priorities.
Ludzie dają się wciągnąć w wyścig szczurów, w którym nie ma wygranych. Wydaje im się, że jeśli
nie dołączą do nurtu zabieganych, nic nie osiągną. To przekonanie jest błędne. Tak naprawdę to
ci, którzy znajdą chwilę, aby kontemplować piękno nocnego nieba lub rozkoszować się słoną bryzą
nadmorskiego wybrzeża odnajdą prawdziwą wartość życia.
There were many suggestions in relation to slowing down, reassessing our situation and taking
practical steps to live a more fulfilling life:
Wspólczesne czasy i aspekty codziennego życia sprawiaja, że żyjemy w rozgardiaszu
spowodowanym terminami i obowiązkami. Moim zdaniem, warto zorganizować swoje obowiązki
tak, aby mieć więcej czasu na rzeczy wartościowe, takie jak spędzanie czasu z dziećmi lub
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REPORT ON THE EXAMINATION – A-LEVEL POLISH – PLSH1 – JUNE 2013
rodzicami, głęboka rozmowa lub po prostu słodkie ‘nic-nie-robienie’. Pamiętajmy, że życie jest w
naszych rękach i to od nas zależy jak wypełnimy ten krótki czas.
There were two issues within the essay question: firstly, why we are in a hurry, and secondly, what
effect this has on the quality of our life. Students who wrote on just one of these and not the other
did not score as well as those who dealt with both. Certainly, the best essays were invariably those
that were written by students who wrote about both the causes of hurrying and its effects. At times
their treatment of the latter aspect was very thorough and detailed, resulting in some very good
responses.
Długie godziny pracy i napięte harmonogramy często uniemożliwiają normalne funkcjonowanie.
Powodują dużo stresu i frustracji, zabierają dużo energii życiowej, która mogłaby być wykorzstana
w inny o wiele lepszy i bardziej produktywny sposób. Duża ilość stresu odbija się negatywnie nie
tylko na życiu rodzinnym i stanie emocjonalnym, ale także na zdrowiu i samopoczuciu człowieka.
Wysoki poziom stresu obniża poziom białych krwinek we krwi, co redukuje naszą odporność i
stajemy się o wiele bardziej podatni na infekcje. Oznacza to, że niewinne bakterie i wirusy mogą
zmienić się w długotrwałą chorobę, z którą nasz system odpornościowy nie umie sobie poradzić.
Converting Marks into UMS marks
Convert raw or scaled marks into marks on the Uniform Mark Scale (UMS) by using the link below.
UMS conversion calculator www.aqa.org.uk/umsconversion
Mark Ranges and Award of Grades
Grade boundaries and cumulative percentage grades are available on the Results statistics page
of the AQA Website.
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