Ace the PSLE English Exam: How to Reduce Careless Mistakes

Careless mistakes can greatly impact your performance for the English exams especially during the PSLE. It is important to take the time to prepare carefully and review your work once you have completed your papers. Proofreading is a crucial step in ensuring that your answers are accurate and complete. Here are some tips our Writers Studio PSLE English Language teachers recommend to help you proofread your exam answers more effectively. One of our language courses, Stellar Integrated, includes intensive proofreading practices for Primary School students.

1. Focus and Plan
Make sure you thoroughly understand the instructions and the format of the PSLE exam before you enter the examination hall. Read each question carefully and make sure you understand what is being asked. Do not rush through the questions or make assumptions. Before you start writing, take a moment to think about what you want to say and how you want to say it. This point is extremely important for creative writing as it can save you a lot of unnecessary corrections. Planning can help organise your thoughts and reduce the likelihood of making careless mistakes.

2. Time Management
Set a timing for yourself. If it is a 1-hour long paper, you may want to pace yourself to complete it 10 minutes before time. Do not wait until the last minute to proofread your answers. Allocate enough time to carefully review your answers and make any necessary corrections. Rushing through your checking due to poor time management will result in lost marks due to carelessness while checking your paper.

3. Take a Break
Before proofreading your answers, have a mental reset by drinking some water or stretching. Under examination conditions, you’ll be extremely stressed. Taking slow, deep breaths to clear your thoughts. This allows you to approach your answers from a fresher, different perspective that can prove vital to spotting any careless mistakes.

4. Thorough Checks
Read each answer thoroughly, paying attention to these four major components

• • Grammar – pay attention to sentence structure and tenses.

• • Punctuation – proper use of commas, semi-colons, full stop, exclamation.

• • Spelling – look out for common spelling errors especially homonyms (e.g. “there” vs. “their”)

• • Vocabulary – use words correctly and in the appropriate context.

Checking on these four components are important when it comes to creative writing.

5. Clarity and Consistency
Make sure that your answers are clear, and that they accurately reflect what you intended to write by answering the question fully. Reading your answers out softly under examination settings will help you identify awkward phrasing. Ensure that your answers are consistent in terms of tone, style, and format. Check that your handwriting is legible and that your answers are well-organised. Readability makes it easier for the examiners to mark and hopefully they will be more lenient with you.

6. Create a Checklist
Before the examination, go through your checklist of common mistakes to look for when proofreading your answers. This can help you identify and correct errors more quickly. At Writers Studio, our English tuition teachers work with constantly updated checklists in order to work more efficiently.

By following these golden PSLE Exam tips, you can effectively proofread your exam answers and ensure that they accurately reflect your knowledge and understanding.

At Writers Studio, we understand how crucial proof-reading is to scoring a better grade. Our English language tutors are experienced in analysing our students’ work especially in Creative Writing, offering critical feedback. This can help students identify areas that need improvement and ensure that their answers are accurate and complete.

Success is just a call away. Text us at 9122 4880 to enrol or visit us at our branches at Beauty World Centre or Kovan.

These tips are contributed by Clement, an English teacher at Writers Studio School of English. At Writers Studio, our teachers work closely with students, educating them in heartfelt ways to achieve higher scores in their English language examinations. This includes achieving excellence for their creative writing exams in school.