WACE Chinese: Second Language ATAR common mistakes
WACE Chinese: Second Language ATAR · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
In the listening section, candidates write down the first number, time, or name they hear and stop listening, missing the correction or qualification that follows (e.g. hearing '三点' but the recording later says '改到三点半').
Under time pressure candidates treat listening as a dictation task, grabbing surface details before the whole utterance finishes, and they are not trained to expect self-repair or contrast markers like 但是, 其实, 不过.
What to do instead
Practise shadow-listening to short authentic dialogues where the speaker changes a detail, and drill a two-pass routine: first pass note only keywords and any contrast marker, second pass confirm the final value. Build a personal checklist of detail types (time, price, place, number of people) to verify before answering.
Candidates answer listening questions in single words or fragments in Chinese, or slip into English, when the question requires a full sentence response in Chinese.
They focus all attention on comprehension and treat the response format as an afterthought, and they lack automaticity with sentence patterns for stating opinions and reasons under time pressure.
What to do instead
Memorise and rehearse a small set of frame sentences (我认为……因为……; 对我来说……; 虽然……但是……) until they are automatic, and do timed practice where every answer must be a complete Chinese sentence of at least a set length. Self-mark for sentence completeness before checking content.
In the oral discussion, candidates deliver a memorised monologue on a prepared topic and fail to respond to the examiner's follow-up question or the prompt's specific angle.
Anxiety leads to over-rehearsing scripted content, and candidates have not practised the interactive moves of clarifying, hedging, asking for repetition, or extending a point spontaneously.
What to do instead
Replace script memorisation with topic cards plus flexible 'idea + reason + example' scaffolds so content can be reassembled. Practise with a partner who asks unpredictable follow-ups; rehearse repair phrases (您是说……吗?; 我的意思是……; 让我想一想) so interaction breakdowns are handled smoothly rather than ignored.
Candidates answer reading comprehension questions by copying a whole sentence from the text verbatim rather than locating and reformulating the relevant information.
They equate 'finding the answer' with 'copying the sentence', and they do not distinguish between questions asking for literal detail and those requiring inference, summary, or the writer's attitude.
What to do instead
Train a question-type sort before reading: classify each item as detail, inference, main idea, or vocabulary-in-context, then apply the matching strategy. For inference items, require answers that combine text evidence with a reformulated statement, and ban verbatim copying longer than a short phrase in practice tasks.
Candidates misread the text type and register in the reading section, treating an advertisement, notice, or informal message as if it were an expository article, and misjudging the writer's purpose or audience.
They decode vocabulary word by word without using layout, headings, punctuation, and formulaic markers (e.g. 敬请, 亲, 通知) as signals of purpose and audience, and they have limited exposure to authentic short texts.
What to do instead
Build a text-type recognition table (notice, advertisement, personal message, news brief, letter) listing typical layout features, formulaic phrases, and likely purpose. In practice, answer 'who wrote this, to whom, and why' in one sentence before attempting any comprehension items.
Candidates guess unfamiliar characters or words from their shape or from a single familiar character in a compound, and commit to a wrong meaning without checking it against the sentence.
They rely on partial visual recognition and neglect word-formation knowledge (radicals, semantic compounds) and context-based inference, so one recognised character hijacks the whole word.
What to do instead
Systematically learn high-frequency two-character compounds with their radicals and literal components, and practise cloze inference where the unknown word must be deduced from surrounding grammar and logic. Always verify a guessed meaning by substituting it back into the sentence for sense.
In writing, candidates produce a text that ignores the required text type conventions, for example writing a formal letter without salutation and sign-off, or an article without a title and introduction.
They plan content only and treat format as decoration, and they have not internalised the conventional structure of the text types on the syllabus.
What to do instead
Maintain a one-page per text-type template sheet (purpose, audience, opening, body organisation, closing formulas, register) and rehearse each under timed conditions. Before writing, spend two minutes writing a skeleton with the required structural elements listed, then tick each off after drafting.
Candidates write compositions that list ideas without development, or that answer the prompt only loosely, drifting into a related but different topic.
Planning time is skipped, and candidates generate ideas in Chinese while composing, so the first idea dominates and the prompt's specific requirement (e.g. 'discuss both views and give your opinion') is only partly addressed.
What to do instead
Use a fixed planning routine: underline the task words and constraints, decide a position, and outline two or three points each with a reason and an example before writing a single character. After drafting, check the outline against the prompt to confirm every required element is covered.
Candidates overuse a small set of high-frequency connectives (因为……所以……, 但是, 然后) and simple sentence patterns, producing repetitive, choppy writing with limited grammatical range.
They write within a narrow automatic repertoire acquired early, and they avoid complex structures out of fear of error, so range scores stay low even when accuracy is acceptable.
What to do instead
Build a personal bank of varied structures (虽然……但是……, 不但……而且……, 如果……就……, 与其……不如……, relative clauses with 的, complement structures) and deliberately insert a set number of different patterns per composition. Review each draft to count repeated connectives and replace duplicates.
Candidates translate English idioms and sentence structures word for word into Chinese, producing ungrammatical or unnatural expressions (e.g. literal renderings of English prepositions and tense marking).
They compose in English first and translate, and they lack awareness of where Chinese and English differ in word order, aspect marking, measure words, and idiom.
What to do instead
Compose directly in Chinese using known patterns rather than translating full English sentences, and study contrastive points explicitly (aspect markers 了/过/着, measure words, topic-comment order, resultative complements). Keep an error log of translated-sounding phrases with the natural Chinese equivalent and review it before each writing task.