Assessment Report

New Zealand Scholarship
Japanese 2017

Standard 93002

Part A: Commentary

Candidates are advised to read the questions carefully and ensure that they target their responses to what is being asked. Candidates should also familiarise themselves with the assessment schedule and the criteria to gain scholarship or outstanding performance in each section.

Candidates are encouraged to use essay writing skills that apply across a range of disciplines. These skills are transferable and apply directly to the writing techniques required in the Japanese Scholarship examination.

Part B: Report on performance standard

Candidates who were awarded Scholarship with Outstanding Performance commonly:

  • exhibited perceptive and insightful ideas that were fully integrated into their response
  • made clear reference to, and fully interpreted, the stimuli material
  • gaveevidence of critical thinking across all three responses 
  • presented ideas in a logical way with clear organisation across the three responses.

Candidates who were awarded Scholarship commonly:

  • paid close attention to what the questions were asking and endeavoured to answer both parts of the question 
  • used appropriate translations of English to Japanese to produce arguments that were supported by examples from the texts 
  • offered strong evaluative statements
  • had some difficulty at times referencing back to the texts to support their ideas. 

Other candidates

Candidates who were not awarded Scholarship commonly:

  • gave a summary of what they had read and heard
  • showed little evidence of going beyond what was in the texts  
  • did not respond specifically to all parts of the questions
  • translated the texts and did not have sufficient evidence of putting forward arguments or evaluating them
  • lacked structure in their essays 
  • gave a collection of thoughts with little connection back to the examination in the oral section.

Standard specific comments

Question One: 

Candidates are encouraged to read the question carefully and note all the points that are required to give a full answer.  Several candidates discussed the advantages and disadvantages of digital devices but ignored the potential for using digital devices in education in the future. Candidates coped well with loan words (report, share and smart phone) that were not glossed. All candidates stayed well within the three pages and the focus was on quality rather than quantity. Many students made good use of the listening notes and the planning page.

Question Two:

To encourage linking back to the text, the English question included ‘Discuss, with close reference to the text’. Successful candidates referenced, rather than translated texts. This reflects examination technique and response focussed on the requirements needed. Some candidates made good use of the brainstorming page to organise their points. 

Question Three:

Many of the candidates struggled with the word, ‘excessive’ and quite a few of them talked mainly about the positive and negative uses of the internet rather than ‘excessive use’. Successful candidates showed evidence of working in a structured, practised way.

Subject page

 

Previous years' reports
2016 (PDF, 187KB)

 
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