SACE Stage 2 Romanian (continuers) common mistakes
SACE Stage 2 Romanian (continuers) · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Writing the school-assessed folio responses in a single short paragraph that states an opinion without referring to any specific text, event, or source studied during the year.
Students treat the folio as a personal reflection and rely on general impressions, because they have not kept notes linking each topic to concrete evidence from the texts and materials covered.
What to do instead
Before drafting, build a one-page evidence sheet per topic with three or four specific references (text title, character, statistic, quotation in Romanian). Draft each response as claim, evidence, explanation, and check that every paragraph names at least one specific source.
Producing an interaction task in the school assessment where the student only answers the interlocutor's questions and never initiates a question, request, or follow-up.
Candidates prepare answers rather than conversational moves, and under time pressure they default to responding, which caps their marks for interaction and exchange of information.
What to do instead
Prepare a bank of five or six functional openers per topic (asking for an opinion, requesting clarification, suggesting an alternative, expressing polite disagreement). Rehearse with a partner and require exactly two initiations per turn before the partner may reply.
Submitting written school-assessment tasks in an informal register and with English-influenced syntax when the task specifies a formal or public audience such as a letter to a newspaper, a report, or an application.
Students practise mostly with peers and social media, so colloquial forms and calques surface automatically, and they do not consciously select register before writing.
What to do instead
Before writing, write the audience and register at the top of the page and list the required conventions (salutation, closing formula, pronouns of address, avoidance of contractions and slang). Do a final pass checking only register features, highlighting every second-person pronoun and every colloquial word.
Handing in school-assessment writing that meets the word count by padding with repeated ideas, while the required content points are only partly covered.
Students count words as they write and add filler rather than planning coverage, and they misjudge how much space each content point needs.
What to do instead
Allocate a target number of words to each bulleted content point before writing, draft to those allocations, and then check coverage by ticking each point in the task. Cut repetition last, not content first, and keep the final count within about ten percent of the limit.
In the oral external assessment, memorising a scripted monologue and delivering it fluently but then failing to answer unscripted follow-up questions, or freezing when the examiner changes the angle.
Rehearsal is done by reciting a fixed text rather than by practising flexible responses, so the student has no prepared language for unexpected questions.
What to do instead
Rehearse the topic from keyword cards rather than a full script, and practise a set of generic response frames (giving a reason, conceding a point, comparing, speculating about the future). Record yourself answering unseen questions for two minutes per topic and review the recording for hesitation patterns.
Reading the external assessment text aloud or translating it word by word before answering comprehension questions, so time runs out and later questions are left blank.
Students have been trained to understand every word, and they fear guessing, so they process the passage sequentially instead of strategically.
What to do instead
Practise the sequence of skimming the questions first, then scanning for the relevant section, then reading that section closely. Time each passage at the exam allocation, and train yourself to leave an unknown word and return only if the question depends on it.
Copying long phrases verbatim from the reading passage into comprehension answers or from source material into the writing task, instead of answering in their own words.
Lifting feels safe and saves time, and students do not realise that lifted material may not be credited and may breach authenticity requirements.
What to do instead
After locating the relevant sentence, cover it and write the answer from memory in a full sentence, then compare for accuracy of meaning. In extended writing, note only keywords from sources and build sentences around them; keep direct quotation to short, clearly marked phrases.
Losing marks on the listening external assessment by writing answers that capture a single detail but miss the speaker's attitude, purpose, or the relationship between speakers.
Students listen for isolated facts and stop processing once they hear a number or name, and they are unused to inferential questions.
What to do instead
In practice, listen once for gist and note the speakers' stance in two or three words, then answer detail questions on the second hearing. Drill question types explicitly: why does the speaker say this, how does she feel, what will happen next, and justify each answer from a heard cue.
In the written external assessment, producing an extended response with accurate grammar but no clear structure, so ideas are not signposted and the argument or narrative loses the reader.
Students plan content but not organisation, and they have few practised linking devices beyond basic conjunctions, so paragraphs run together.
What to do instead
Use a fixed three-part plan (introduction stating position or setting, two or three developed body paragraphs, conclusion) and a memorised set of discourse markers for addition, contrast, cause, example, and conclusion. Check that each paragraph opens with a signpost and develops one idea only.
Making recurring control errors in Romanian that are predictable from English interference, such as omitting diacritics, misusing the infinitive after modal verbs, or confusing the subjunctive with the indicative in wishes and purpose clauses.
These structures differ from English and were learned late, so the English pattern reasserts itself under exam pressure, and diacritics are skipped because they are slow to type or write.
What to do instead
Keep a personal error log of your five most frequent control errors and do a targeted five-minute drill on each before every practice task. In the final proofreading pass, check only those five items plus diacritics, reading the text aloud to catch missing marks.