TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Level 5 exemplar 1
Level 5 exemplar 2

Level 4 exemplar 1
Level 4 exemplar 2

Level 3 exemplar 1
Level 3 exemplar 2

Level 2 exemplar 1
Level 2 exemplar 2

Level 1 exemplar 1
Level 1 exemplar 2
 INTRODUCTION

To enhance understanding of the standards of the HKDSE Examination, authentic samples of

There are four papers in this subject. This set of exemplars is selected from candidates’ scripts of
Paper 2 to illustrate the typical performance standards at different levels.

It is advisable to read this set of exemplars together with the question papers and the marking
schemes in order to understand the requirements of the questions and the marking criteria. The
question papers and the marking schemes are published in the 2019 HKDSE Question Papers (with
marking schemes and comments on candidates’ performance).

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Level 5 exemplar 1

Part A

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Level 5 exemplar 1

Part A

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Level 5 exemplar 1

Part A

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Level 5 exemplar 1

Part B Question 2

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Level 5 exemplar 1

Part B Question 2

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Level 5 exemplar 1

Part B Question 2

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Level 5 exemplar 1

Part B Question 2

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Level 5 exemplar 1

Part B Question 2

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Level 5 exemplar 1

Comments

Content

- For Part A, ideas are varied, well supported and relevant. Personal details provided are very vivid.

- For Part B, many relevant points are made, e.g. benefits (increased competitiveness, strengthen
international status), challenges (lost opportunities for locals, lower quality of life) and ways (limit the
number of international talent, training).

- High awareness of audience.

Language

- Language is highly accurate, appropriate and idiomatic, with only minor slips.

- There is a wide range of sentence structures showing a good grasp of complexity.

- Vocabulary is wide and appropriately used, e.g. geography specific words ‘field trip, map interpretation’ to
describe geography lessons; ‘international status’, new source of labour, ‘mitigate negative effects’ to
explain abstract concepts in Part B.

- Register, tone and style are appropriate to the genre and text-type.

Organisation

- The overall structure is coherent and the text is organised extremely effectively.

- Cohesive ties are strong and there is a logical flow of ideas.

- The whole text is well organised with appropriate connectives.

- The overall structure is clear and paragraphs are well defined.

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Level 5 exemplar 2

Part A

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Level 5 exemplar 2

Part A

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Level 5 exemplar 2

Part A

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Level 5 exemplar 2

Part B Question 3

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Level 5 exemplar 2

Part B Question 3

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Level 5 exemplar 2

Part B Question 3

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Level 5 exemplar 2

Part B Question 3

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Level 5 exemplar 2

Comments

Content

- Ideas are rich and fulfill the question requirements.

- The first entry in Part A is summary of things learned in the Visual Arts elective. The second entry
recounts the friendships of classmates in 6C using short anecdotes.

- In Part B, arguments about why social media platforms do not encourage rational debate are presented
with supporting examples, e.g. users posting comments about the police with no accountability for their
words or actions.

- Ideas are elaborated with examples and justification.

- Audience awareness is high.

Language

- A wide range of accurate sentence structures is used, with few grammatical errors.

- Vocabulary is wide (e.g. ‘job discrimination’, ‘online judgement’).

- Collocation is generally natural and used to good effect, e.g. ‘keyboard warriors’, ‘loopholes’, ‘fierce
debate’.

- Register, style and tone are appropriate to the genre.

Organisation

- Cohesive ties are strong and ideas are logically linked.

- The text is well organised with clear pronoun references.

- The overall structure is clear and coherent.

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Level 4 exemplar 1

Part A

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Level 4 exemplar 1

Part A

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Level 4 exemplar 1

Part A

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Level 4 exemplar 1

Part B Question 7

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Level 4 exemplar 1

Part B Question 7

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Level 4 exemplar 1

Part B Question 7

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Level 4 exemplar 1

Part B Question 7

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Level 4 exemplar 1

Part B Question 7

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Level 4 exemplar 1

Comments

Content

- Content is relevant and fulfills the requirement of the question well.

- In the first entry for Part A, there are some interesting self-reflections (e.g. regret about not concentrating
on lessons in the past). In the second entry, the remarks on how some classmates offered help to overcome
difficulties are well written.

- In Part B, the speech covers a number of areas including what criticism is, how it can have a negative
effect, how to give it and how to respond to it.

- An awareness of audience is evident, particularly in how the speech addresses members of the art club.

Language

- There is a range of accurate sentence structures and vocabulary which fits the context.

- Collocations are mostly accurate with correct use of stock phrases.

- Errors do not affect clarity.

- Register and tone are quite consistent.

Organisation

- There is a lack of paragraphing in Part A but this does not affect comprehension.

- The text flows quite well, with the passage of time in the first entry and the justification in the second
entry.

- A short and clear opening in Parts A and B gives a preview of the important ideas to follow.

- Cohesion is strong, with appropriate use made of cohesive devices.

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Level 4 exemplar 2

Part A

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Level 4 exemplar 2

Part A

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Level 4 exemplar 2

Part A

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Level 4 exemplar 2

Part B Question 8

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Level 4 exemplar 2

Part B Question 8

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Level 4 exemplar 2

Part B Question 8

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Level 4 exemplar 2

Part B Question 8

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Level 4 exemplar 2

Comments

Content

- Ideas are relevant and well developed in most parts.

- Some specific examples are used to support ideas (e.g. in Part A, practical experiences learnt from the visit
to HKMA).

- There are some irrelevant details in Part A, e.g. the arrangements for the dance competition, types of
economics. In Part B, ideas are relevant but sometimes too general as a description for the ideas in the
posters.

- Awareness of audience is present, and there are some touching memories conveyed in Part A.

Language

- There is a good grasp of simple and complex sentences.

- Grammar is mainly accurate but there are some minor problems related to collocation and verbs.

- Vocabulary is moderately wide and used appropriately, with some examples of more sophisticated lexis.

- Register, tone and style are mostly appropriate to the text type.

Organisation

- Cohesion is generally strong.

- Ideas are mostly well developed.

- The texts are mostly organised effectively, with clear paragraphing.

- The ending successfully direct readers’ attention back to the purpose for writing.

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Level 3 exemplar 1

Part A

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Level 3 exemplar 1

Part A

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Level 3 exemplar 1

Part A

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Level 3 exemplar 1

Part B Question 4

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Level 3 exemplar 1

Part B Question 4

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Level 3 exemplar 1

Part B Question 4

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Level 3 exemplar 1

Comments

Content

- Ideas are all relevant and followed by some elaboration which helps address the question directly.

- Simple reasons are given, e.g. in Part A, why the writer enjoyed studying the subject and why good
relationships is the thing he/she misses most; in Part B, what caused the incident and reactions of people
watching the game and the parents of the players.

- However, content in Part A is lacking personal details.

- Awareness of audience is present but not very strong.

Language

- The use of a rhetorical question at the beginning of the first entry in Part A grabs readers’ attention.

- Vocabulary is generally used appropriately.

- Most sentences are simple with occasional attempts to use more complex structures.

- There are some weaknesses in grammar in relation to verb form, passive/active voice, tense, agreement,
articles etc. but overall clarity is not really affected.

- Some evidence of register and tone of a news report in Part B.

Organisation

- The whole text is quite easy to follow, with simple connectives used appropriately.

- Ideas are usually logical.

- Cohesion between sentences and across paragraphs is quite successful.

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Level 3 exemplar 2

Part A

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Level 3 exemplar 2

Part A

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Level 3 exemplar 2

Part A

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Level 3 exemplar 2
Part B Question 9

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Level 3 exemplar 2
Part B Question 9

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Level 3 exemplar 2
Part B Question 9

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Level 3 exemplar 2

Comments

Content

- Interesting events are given in Part A, e.g. why the writer misses his/her teacher most, though some
reasons mentioned are not logical (e.g. reading famous writers’ work leads to achievement in the subject).

- In Part B, there are recognizable elements of a story: characterization (e.g. Tortoise was afraid of being
last, Hare was nervous), conflict (e.g. started to rain like cats and dogs), theme (e.g. cooperation and
friendship).

- There are examples of creativity and imagination shown, e.g. Hare picking up the Tortoise and jumping
over the contestants, Tortoise pushing the tired Hare; use of quotations to express dialogue etc.

- There is a message given at the end of the story but it is bit unclear.

- There is evidence of audience awareness and a tone appropriate to the text-type.

Language

- Simple sentences are accurately constructed on the whole.

- There are some successful attempts to use more complex sentences as the candidate tries to express more
sophisticated opinions.

- There are mistakes in spelling, agreement, collocation, etc. but comprehension is still possible.

Organisation

- In Part A, the opening and ending are simple and effective.

- In Part B, simple cohesive ties are used to link ideas but it is difficult to follow the dense plot as the range
of cohesive devices used is quite limited and this affects the overall coherence of the text.

- Cohesion between some sentences and paragraphs is successful.

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Level 2 exemplar 1

Part A

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Level 2 exemplar 1

Part A

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Level 2 exemplar 1

Part B Question 3

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Level 2 exemplar 1

Part B Question 3

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Level 2 exemplar 1

Comments

Content

- There are some examples of relevant content but ideas are not easy to follow.

- The second paragraph in Part A and most of the ideas in Part B do not directly address the question, e.g.
discussion is about benefits of social media rather than how social media encourages public debate.

- Some evidence of audience awareness.

Language

- Vocabulary is generally basic.

- There are some attempts to use more sophisticated words but also evidence of wrong word choice.

- There are attempts to use more complex sentences though frequent grammatical mistakes affect
comprehensibility.

Organisation

- For Part A, the opening and ending are appropriate in both entries. For Part B, the introduction is closely
adapted from the prompt.

- Some cohesive devices are used coherence is limited e.g. In Part A the use of the pronoun ‘you’, and the
switch from ‘we’ to ‘you’, are confusing.

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Level 2 exemplar 2

Part A

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Level 2 exemplar 2

Part A

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Level 2 exemplar 2

Part B Question 5

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Level 2 exemplar 2

Part B Question 5

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Level 2 exemplar 2

Part B Question 5

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Level 2 exemplar 2

Comments

Content

- For Part A, most ideas are relevant but unnecessary repetition is found in the first and second paragraphs.
Ideas in the second entry are relevant but they relate only weakly to what the writer will miss most.

- For Part B, the candidate tries to show how TV and Movies and Music and Concerts are the best way to
get information about popular culture. As a source, these are broad categories and ideas are not well
developed.

- Likewise in Part A, there is no identification of the people mentioned, which makes the description
seemingly generic.

Language

- Simple sentences are generally accurate.

- Meaning is sometimes affected by errors of spelling, part of speech, tense, collocation, etc.

Organisation

- Links between sentences are rather weak, making ides disconnected and affecting coherence.

- There is a clear opening and conclusion.

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Level 1 exemplar 1

Part A

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Level 1 exemplar 1

Part A

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Level 1 exemplar 1

Part B Question 6

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Level 1 exemplar 1

Part B Question 6

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Level 1 exemplar 1

Comments

Content

- Some parts do not seem to be relevant e.g. the time taken to answer maths questions, ‘chocolate inclease
curry’.

- ‘This is a not traditional film’ is one of the few relevant points in Part B.

- Some ideas are developed but most are unclear and difficult to comprehend.

- Audience awareness is rather limited.

Language

- There are many errors in sentence structure, spelling and parts of speech, causing confusion.

- There are very few correctly constructed sentences.

Organisation

- There is some evidence of an attempt to organise ideas with simple discourse markers.

- There is a clear opening with an attempt to address the question.

- Paragraphing helps, but cohesion is not very effective in general.

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Level 1 exemplar 2

Part A

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Level 1 exemplar 2

Part A

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Level 1 exemplar 2

Part B Question 9

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Level 1 exemplar 2

Part B Question 9

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Level 1 exemplar 2

Comments

Content

- In Part A, the first entry focuses on the teacher instead of the subject while the second entry is rather short.

- In Part B, the story does not depict the tortoise and the hare racing as a team. There is also no message
expressed at the end of the story.

- Repetition is frequent in Part A, e.g. of ‘thing(s)’, ‘miss my class’.

- There is very limited audience awareness.

Language

- Grammatical errors often obscure meaning.

- Poor spelling hinders understanding.

- Some short simple sentences are accurately constructed.

Organisation

- Long sentences give rise to problems in organisation, e.g. the second paragraph is a single sentence.

- Simple discourse markers make understanding easier, though some connectives are wrongly used.

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