School Assessment in SACE Stage 2 Romanian (continuers)
What school assessment is testing
School assessment (often called internal or school-based assessment) is where your teacher judges work produced during the year against the subject's performance standards. In a continuers language, the assessed skills are typically listening, speaking, reading and writing, plus analysis of texts and cultural or social ideas expressed in Romanian. You must understand the difference between task design (what the teacher sets) and performance standards (the descriptors your work is matched against). Learn the descriptors: they reward depth of understanding, range and accuracy of language, and control of register, not length.
Concepts you must control
- Text types and purposes: formal letter, article, blog, speech, report, dialogue. Each has conventions (salutation, structure, register).
- Register and audience:
dumneavoastrăversustu; formal versus colloquial vocabulary. - Grammar accuracy: noun gender and plural, definite article suffixes (
băiatul,cartea), verb tenses, subjunctive aftersă, clitic pronouns (îmi,îl,le). - Cohesion: connectors such as
totuși,prin urmare,pe de o parte. - Cultural reference: knowing Romanian social contexts well enough to write or speak about them without cliché.
Traps that cost marks
- Writing a long answer that answers only half the prompt; task fulfilment is scored first.
- Mixing registers, e.g. addressing an examiner formally then using
tu. - Ignoring the required text type - a report written as an essay loses structure marks.
- Memorised chunks that do not fit the question, which read as incoherent.
- For speaking, preparing content but not practising spontaneous follow-up questions.
Rule of thumb
Before submitting any piece, run the P-A-L check: Prompt (every bullet answered?), Audience (register consistent?), Language (three specific grammar points proofread). Spend the last five minutes only on this check; it usually recovers more marks than adding new sentences.
Worked example
Prompt: write a formal email to a Romanian cultural centre asking about a volunteering programme. Weak opening: Bună! Vreau să știu despre voluntariat. Strong opening: Stimată doamnă, vă scriu pentru a vă solicita informații despre programul de voluntariat. The second answers the prompt, sustains formal register (vă, solicitați) and uses a correct text-type convention.