WACE Italian Second Language ATAR common mistakes
WACE Italian Second Language ATAR · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Answering listening questions in English or with single Italian words instead of full Italian sentences that restate the question's grammar.
Under time pressure candidates transcribe the key fact they heard and stop, forgetting that the response is assessed as produced Italian, not as a comprehension tick.
What to do instead
In practice, always answer in a complete Italian sentence that recycles the question's verb and subject (e.g. 'Quando parte il treno?' -> 'Il treno parte alle sette e mezza'). Do ten recorded prompts a week and check each answer has a subject and a conjugated verb before moving on.
Writing numbers, times and prices as digits (7:30, 15 euro) in listening and reading answers rather than spelling them out in Italian words.
Candidates treat the answer as a note to themselves and are unaware that number words (sette e mezza, quindici euro) are part of the language being tested and are often required by the marking key.
What to do instead
Keep a one-page reference of number, time and date forms and drill converting digits to words aloud. On every practice task, circle any digit in your answer and rewrite it in words before submitting.
Preparing only monologue-style speaking answers and freezing when the examiner asks an unscripted follow-up or asks the candidate to rephrase.
Candidates memorise polished paragraphs about family, school and holidays, so their fluency collapses the moment the interaction departs from the rehearsed script.
What to do instead
Rehearse each topic as a set of bullet ideas rather than a script, and practise with a partner who must ask two unpredictable follow-up questions per topic. Record yourself and check you can sustain five turns without a memorised sentence.
Skimming an Italian reading passage for words that match the question and copying the surrounding sentence as the answer.
Word-matching feels efficient under exam pressure and gives an illusion of accuracy, but it ignores negatives, pronoun referents and the connective logic that determine the real answer.
What to do instead
Read the question first, then locate the relevant paragraph and paraphrase the answer in your own Italian words before checking it against the options or writing it out. Train on passages containing negation (non... mai, nessuno) and pronouns (ne, ci, quello che) so you habitually resolve reference.
Treating every unknown word in a reading text as a blocker and stopping to decode it, running out of time before reaching the later questions.
School vocabulary lists reward knowing individual words, so candidates have not built the habit of inferring meaning from word families, context and cognate patterns.
What to do instead
Practise timed readings where you must answer all questions without a dictionary, marking unknown words with a symbol and returning only at the end. Build inference skills by guessing a word's meaning from its root and context before checking.
Producing a writing task as one long undifferentiated block with no paragraphing, no opening framing and no closing, and with English-style sentence structure carried over.
Candidates plan content only, not text organisation, and translate thoughts from English clause by clause, so register and structure follow English conventions rather than Italian ones.
What to do instead
Before writing, spend three minutes on a skeleton: opening purpose sentence, two or three body paragraphs each with one idea, and a closing sentence. Learn a small set of Italian connectives (innanzitutto, d'altra parte, inoltre, in conclusione) and check each paragraph begins with one.
Writing a formal text (letter to a host family, email to a school, complaint) using informal tu forms, contractions and colloquial vocabulary throughout.
Candidates rehearse informal registers in class and underestimate how consistently Italian marks formality through pronoun choice, greetings and verb mood, so they default to the register they use with friends.
What to do instead
Memorise paired formal and informal frames (Caro/Cara versus Gentile, Ciao versus Distinti saluti, ti scrivo versus Le scrivo) and, for every formal task, highlight each verb and pronoun to confirm it is the Lei form before finishing.
Using the wrong auxiliary or an unagreed past participle in compound past tenses (ho andato, siamo mangato, le ragazze è arrivata).
English has one past tense with a single auxiliary pattern, so candidates transfer that simplicity and never internalise the movement versus transitive distinction and participle agreement rules.
What to do instead
Build a two-column list of common verbs taking essere and avere, and drill a rule card: essere verbs agree with the subject, avere verbs do not. Proofread every piece of writing specifically for passato prossimo forms, ignoring other errors on that pass.
Describing cultural topics through Australian or generic Anglophone assumptions without Italian-specific reference points, or using English loanwords where an Italian term exists.
Candidates know the topic in English (school systems, festivals, family life) and assume equivalence, so they fill gaps with Australian norms and with anglicisms absorbed from media.
What to do instead
For each prescribed theme, prepare a small fact file of Italian specifics (for example regional festivals, the maturita exam, the structure of the Italian school system) with the Italian terminology. In practice answers, ban yourself from loanwords and find the Italian equivalent before speaking or writing.
Translating idiomatic expressions literally from English into Italian (fare una decisione, prendere posto for 'take a seat' in the wrong sense, sono d'accordo with a person rather than su something) instead of using the established Italian collocation.
Candidates build sentences from English meaning and assume a word-for-word mapping exists, because collocation and idiom are rarely tested explicitly in class vocabulary quizzes.
What to do instead
Keep a collocation log organised by verb (prendere, fare, avere, dare) and record each new expression in a full Italian sentence rather than with an English gloss. Review it weekly by covering the Italian and producing the phrase from the situation, not from the English.