HSC Swedish Continuers common mistakes
HSC Swedish Continuers · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Listening once for gist and again for detail, then answering from memory of the general topic rather than from what was actually said, so answers reflect what students expect a Swedish teenager to say rather than the speaker's real position.
The recording is played a limited number of times and candidates fear missing the next sentence, so they stop processing and fall back on schema-driven guessing; the topic (school, holidays, environment) feels familiar enough that the guess seems safe.
What to do instead
Train with two-pass listening: first pass note only the speaker's attitude and any numbers or names; second pass write a short paraphrase of each answer-bearing sentence in Swedish before choosing an option. In the exam, mark uncertain items and re-check them against your notes rather than your memory of the topic.
Missing negations and hedges in the recording (inte, aldrig, knappast, inte särskilt, snarare, å andra sidan) and therefore recording the opposite of what the speaker said.
Negation in fast speech is unstressed and easily swallowed, and Swedish places the negating word after the verb (jag tror inte, han kommer inte), which is the reverse of English word order and easy to mis-parse under time pressure.
What to do instead
Practise dictation of short clips containing inte/aldrig/knappast in mid-sentence position, and build a personal checklist of negation and hedging markers to scan for in your notes. In multiple-choice items, actively look for the distractor that is the positive version of a negative statement.
Answering listening questions in English, or with a single Swedish word, when the question asks for a response in Swedish with a reason.
Candidates translate the question mentally and answer in the language they thought in; under time pressure they write the shortest possible response and overlook the instruction om svenska or motivera.
What to do instead
Before the recording starts, underline the language and length requirements in each question. Rehearse a fixed answer frame such as 'Talaren tycker att ... eftersom ...' so a full Swedish sentence with a justification is the default output.
Reading a Swedish text word by word and running out of time, leaving later questions or the longer response unanswered.
School reading habits reward full comprehension of every word, but the exam rewards locating specific information; unfamiliar vocabulary triggers a stop-and-puzzle response instead of moving on.
What to do instead
Practise skimming for structure first (title, headings, first sentence of each paragraph), then scanning for the key word in the question. Set a strict time budget per text and leave any unknown word unless the question depends on it; if it does, infer from the surrounding sentence.
Confusing near-identical words and false friends when reading, for example tro/tro på, tycka/tänka, hinna/hitta, lära/lära sig, or reading a modal particle such as väl, ju, nog as if it carried no meaning.
These pairs are formally similar and are usually learned as single glosses, so the reader assigns the first translation that comes to mind; modal particles are rarely taught explicitly but change the certainty of a statement, which is often exactly what the question tests.
What to do instead
Keep a contrastive vocabulary log organised by confusable pairs with one authentic example sentence each. When a question asks about attitude or certainty, highlight every particle (väl, ju, nog, visst) and decide what it adds before answering.
Copying a whole sentence or paragraph from the reading text into the answer instead of locating and reformulating the relevant information.
Copying feels safe and is fast, and candidates believe quoting proves they found the answer; but it often includes irrelevant material and shows no comprehension.
What to do instead
Answer in note form first (two or three keywords), then write one sentence that combines them in your own words. Check that your answer would still make sense to someone who had not read the text.
Ignoring the text type, audience and register specified in the writing task, producing an informal chat message when a formal letter or article was requested, or omitting required elements such as a greeting, a closing, or a stated purpose.
Candidates focus on producing correct Swedish and on length, treating the prompt's context as decoration; register differences in Swedish (du/ni, informal contractions, formal openers) are also under-practised.
What to do instead
Before writing, spend two minutes annotating the prompt: text type, reader, purpose, and every bullet point required. Draft the opening and closing formulas for the main text types (brev, e-post, artikel, recension, insändare) and check each bullet point off at the end.
Writing long, ambitious sentences with English word order, especially verb-second errors after an initial adverbial (for example 'Igår jag gick till skolan') and misplaced negation.
The V2 rule and the placement of inte/sentential adverbs after the finite verb are automatic in Swedish but absent in English, so under cognitive load the English pattern reasserts itself; longer sentences increase the chance of losing the rule mid-clause.
What to do instead
Practise a transformation drill: take simple sentences and front a time or place expression, then move the verb into second position. In the exam, keep sentences moderate and reread each one checking that the finite verb is in second position and that inte follows it.
Producing a response that is well under the required length, or padding it with repetition, because ideas were not planned before writing and vocabulary gaps blocked the flow.
Candidates either run out of content after the first idea or freeze when they lack a word, and there is no time to plan because writing starts immediately; repeating the same idea is the easiest way to fill space.
What to do instead
Spend several minutes on a five-point plan (one point per required element plus an opinion and a conclusion) before writing. If a word is missing, paraphrase with a simpler Swedish expression rather than switching to English or repeating; keep a bank of linking phrases (dessutom, däremot, sammanfattningsvis) ready for transitions.
Spending disproportionate time on one section and leaving the final writing task or the last reading questions rushed or blank.
Candidates do not rehearse the paper as a whole, so they do not know how long each section should take and cannot judge when to abandon a difficult item; perfectionism on early items compounds the loss.
What to do instead
Do full timed practice papers and record the time taken per section, then set target checkpoints (for example, begin the writing task with a fixed number of minutes remaining). During the exam, apply a rule: if an item is unresolved after its allotted time, write a best guess and move on, returning only if time remains.