External Assessment in SACE Stage 2 Romanian (continuers)
What the external assessment is testing
The external assessment is the examination component set and marked outside the school. It samples the same skills as school assessment but under timed conditions: listening and responding, reading and responding, and writing in Romanian, often with an analytical or interpretive element. Because you cannot choose your texts, the exam rewards transferable strategies rather than prepared content. Know the format your school confirms, the time allocation, and whether dictionaries are permitted, then rehearse under those exact conditions.
Concepts you must control
- Gist before detail: read or hear the whole text once for topic, purpose and tone.
- Inference: identifying attitude from evaluative vocabulary (
din păcate,e de preferat,aș îndrăzni) rather than stated fact. - Summary versus translation: answers must be in your own words, in the language the question requires.
- Text-type production: article, formal letter, speech, report, with correct layout and connectors.
- Timing discipline: allocating minutes per section and leaving review time.
Traps that appear in exams
- Copying long phrases from the stimulus; this earns no credit for comprehension.
- Answering in the wrong language when the rubric specifies one.
- Missing negatives and hedges:
nu neapărat,aproape niciodată,se pare că. - Over-writing one section and rushing the final writing task, which carries substantial marks.
- Ignoring word-count guidance, producing answers too short to show range.
- In listening, writing the answer before the second playing and not checking it.
Rule of thumb
Use the two-pass method: pass one, note gist and structure; pass two, extract the specific details each question demands. In writing, budget roughly one-fifth of the time for planning and one-tenth for proofreading grammar endings and agreement.
Worked example
Question: Ce atitudine are autoarea față de turismul de masă? A weak answer copies turismul de masă a crescut. A strong answer infers and paraphrases: Autoarea dezaprobă turismul de masă, pentru că folosește termeni precum „excesiv” și „pierderea autenticității”. It names the attitude and justifies it with evidence, in Romanian, in its own words.