These ten questions move from easy to harder. They practise the five lessons in language confidence and transfer: preparing questions, rehearsing phrases, using your first language wisely, reflecting with evidence and planning a repeat attempt.
Write your own answer first. Open the explanation only after you have tried. For open questions, compare your answer with the criteria, not word for word.
Questions
1. Choose the better question. (A) “Can you check my writing?” (B) “In my second paragraph, I used however twice. Does the second one fit?”
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B. It points to one place and asks one answerable question. A leaves the teacher to guess where to start. See preparing questions.
2. Turn this into a specific question using what you tried, where you got stuck and what you want to see: “I do not understand reading.”
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Answers vary. Criteria: it names a task, a line or answer, and what help is wanted. Model: “In the reading task about the library, I chose B for question 4, but the answer was D. Can we find the sentence in the text that shows why?”
3. Correct the sentence: I look forward to see you next week.
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I look forward to seeing you next week. In look forward to, the word to is a preposition, so the verb after it takes the -ing form.
4. Choose the correct form: She used to (live / lives / living) in Ipoh.
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live. After used to for a past habit or state, the verb keeps the base form.
5. Write two true sentences about your own life with be interested in, changing the person in the second.
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Answers vary. Criteria: interested in is followed by a noun or an -ing form, and the sentences are true for you. Model: I am interested in learning photography. and My cousin is interested in robotics.
6. A student thinks in Malay and writes: I wait you since morning. Correct it and name the pattern carried over.
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I have been waiting for you since morning. In Malay, tunggu awak takes the person directly, and the verb does not change for a time that began in the past and continues. English needs wait for and a present perfect continuous form with since. See bilingual explanation.
7. Which is better preparation, and why? (A) Write a full answer in your first language and translate each sentence. (B) Write key words in your first language, then build English sentences from them.
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B. The key words hold the ideas while each sentence is built in English. In A, the sentence structure stays as in your first language, which can produce unnatural English and takes more time.
8. Rewrite this reflection using evidence: “My email was bad.”
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Answers vary. Criteria: it quotes a line, says what the line shows, and names one next step. Model: “My request, I want to change the time, sounded blunt. Next time I will write Could we move our meeting to another day?” See reflecting without a grade label.
9. Feedback on a paragraph says: “Your ideas are clear, but sentences are short and the linking is missing, and definately is misspelt.” Choose one point and write a goal.
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Answers vary. Criteria: one point only, a small piece of work, and a goal that can be checked. Model: “Rewrite paragraph two using two linking words (so, however).” The spelling (definitely) can be fixed as a quick correction, but not as the main goal.
10. A student’s repeat-attempt plan says: “Rewrite the whole essay and fix tenses, linking, spelling, the introduction and the ending.” Improve the plan.
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Keep one point and one small piece: “Rewrite the middle paragraph with consistent past tense; compare with the first draft by underlining verbs.” The original plan changes six things at once, so you cannot tell which change helped. See planning a small repeat attempt.
If you got these wrong
| Where you slipped | What to do | Lesson |
|---|---|---|
| Questions 1 and 2: the question was too wide | Rebuild it with three parts | Prepare questions before an online lesson |
| Questions 3, 4 and 5: the phrase pattern | Name the pattern, then write true sentences | Rehearse a difficult phrase |
| Questions 6 and 7: first-language patterns | Explain in your language, build in English | Bilingual explanation |
| Question 8: the reflection had no evidence | Quote a line and name a next step | Reflect without a grade label |
| Questions 9 and 10: the plan was too big | Choose one point and one small piece | Plan a small repeat attempt |
What should you do next?
Write each repeated slip in the mistake log and retest queue. Try the writing revision compare view to compare a first draft with a repeat attempt, and use the summary selection and paraphrase studio to practise expressing ideas in your own words.
If the same kind of slip keeps coming back, online one-to-one English as a Second Language tuition gives you a teacher who can listen to how you reach each answer.