QCAA Arabic (SEE) common mistakes
QCAA Arabic (SEE) · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Writing the extended response in Modern Standard Arabic but drifting into dialect forms (e.g., using Egyptian or Levantine verb and pronoun patterns) and colloquial vocabulary when the task requires formal register.
Candidates often practise speaking dialect at home or with media and unconsciously transfer spoken habits into written work, especially under time pressure when the formal equivalent is not automatically retrieved.
What to do instead
Build a personal register checklist (formal connectors such as لذلك، بالإضافة إلى ذلك، ومن ثمّ; formal negation لن/لم; dual and plural agreement) and apply it in a timed editing pass on every draft before submission, marking any word you would not read aloud in a news bulletin.
Producing an extended response that lists points without a clear structure: no introduction stating a position, no paragraph topic sentences, and no conclusion that answers the question asked.
Candidates focus on generating content and vocabulary and run out of planning time, so the response becomes a stream of ideas rather than an argument shaped to the task.
What to do instead
Spend the first five minutes writing a skeleton in Arabic: a thesis sentence, three topic sentences, and a concluding sentence; then draft only to that skeleton and check at the end that each paragraph opens with a sentence that signals its function.
Misreading the task verb in the prompt (for example, treating قارن 'compare' as if it said اذكر 'state', or treating حلّل 'analyse' as if it said صف 'describe'), so the response answers a different question.
Task verbs are often skimmed in the rush to start writing, and candidates assume any prompt about a topic wants the same kind of content they have memorised.
What to do instead
Underline the task verb and any limiting words (عدد، إلى أي مدى، ما مدى) before planning, and write a one-line Arabic paraphrase of the instruction at the top of the plan; check the finished response against that paraphrase.
Translating literally from English idiom, producing unnatural collocations and calques such as 'يلعب دورا مهما' used mechanically, or direct transfers like 'أخذ مكان' for 'took place'.
Candidates compose in English first and translate clause by clause, so English syntax and collocation patterns surface in the Arabic text.
What to do instead
Maintain a collocation log of authentic Arabic phrases from the texts studied (e.g., أدّى دورا، شكّل تحديا، برزت الحاجة إلى) and practise rewriting English sentences into Arabic without looking at the English once the meaning is grasped.
Ignoring the stimulus text in reading tasks and answering from general knowledge or personal opinion rather than from evidence in the passage.
Candidates recognise the topic and assume they already know the answer, or they find the passage dense and default to guessing.
What to do instead
For each question, locate and underline the exact phrase in the text that supports the answer and quote or paraphrase it in the response; if no supporting phrase can be found, reconsider the answer rather than writing from memory.
Confusing near-synonyms and words with multiple senses in comprehension items, for example reading أشار إلى as 'pointed at' rather than 'referred to', or treating عين as 'eye' when the context means 'spring' or 'spy'.
Vocabulary is often learned as single English glosses without context, so polysemous and figurative uses in the passage are misread.
What to do instead
Learn new words in full Arabic sentences with their collocates, and in the exam test each candidate meaning against the surrounding clause; keep a polysemy list for high-frequency words such as عين، يد، أمر، حق.
Missing implied meaning and writer attitude: answering only literal content when the question asks about tone, purpose, or inference (e.g., ما الهدف من النص، ما موقف الكاتب).
Candidates read for factual detail and stop at the surface, and they lack the metalanguage in Arabic for stance and purpose.
What to do instead
Practise annotating passages for evaluative vocabulary, rhetorical questions, and contrast markers (لكن، غير أن، على الرغم من), then write one-sentence Arabic summaries of purpose and stance for every text studied; in the exam, answer inference questions by naming the textual cue that supports the inference.
Producing short-answer responses that lift whole sentences verbatim from the passage instead of answering in own words, or that omit the required number of points when the question specifies اثنتين or ثلاثا.
Copying feels safer than reformulating, and candidates lose count of required elements while writing under time pressure.
What to do instead
Paraphrase using synonym substitution and changed sentence structure, and number the required points in the margin of the answer booklet before writing so each one is visibly ticked off.
Making systematic grammatical errors in production that change meaning or break agreement: gender and number agreement, case endings on duals and sound plurals, use of the wrong plural pattern, and inconsistent tense in narrative writing.
Candidates know the rules receptively but have not automatised them, so under timed production they fall back on the default masculine singular form or drop case marking altogether.
What to do instead
Keep an error tally from marked work, identify the two or three highest-frequency error types, and do short daily targeted drills (ten sentences on dual agreement, ten on plural patterns) followed by a proofreading pass in the exam dedicated to those specific error types.
Inaccurate or absent vowel marking and hamza spelling in writing (e.g., writing احمد for أحمد, confusing همزة القطع and همزة الوصل, or omitting tanwin), and inconsistent use of Arabic punctuation such as ، ؛ ؟ instead of English marks.
Candidates rely on the keyboard's default behaviour or on unvocalised input, and punctuation conventions are rarely drilled as a separate skill.
What to do instead
Practise writing by hand with full or partial vocalisation on key ambiguous forms, memorise a short list of high-frequency hamza words, and use a final two-minute proofreading routine that checks hamza, tanwin, and the Arabic comma, semicolon, and question mark specifically.