Section 4 note completion: self-correction, word limit and the brochure distractor
Candidate A is working on a Section 4 lecture about seed conservation. The notes read: "Svalbard vault - main store temperature: ______ °C" and "maximum capacity: ______ samples", under the instruction "Write ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer." The recording says: "The main vault is held at minus eighteen degrees Celsius; the backup facility in the same mountain runs slightly colder, at minus twenty. As for capacity, the vault can hold just over four and a half million samples, although the figure we quote in the visitor brochure is a round five million." The candidate first writes "minus eighteen degrees" on the temperature line, crosses it out and writes "−18 °C". On the capacity line they write "five million". During the ten minutes of transfer time they are also unsure about a third answer, "permafrost", which they have written as "permofrost".
1. Which of the candidate's two attempts at the temperature gap is likely to earn the mark, and why? Deal explicitly with the word limit.
Read the worked answer
Answer: neither as written is ideal; the safe version is "−18" or "minus 18".
- "minus eighteen degrees" is three words against a one-word limit. The meaning is right, but markers apply the key and the instruction mechanically; an over-length answer is rejected even when the content is correct.
- "−18 °C" is a number plus a unit. Adding units is usually harmless because they are symbols rather than words, but it is unnecessary risk: the gap already supplies "°C", so the unit is duplicated.
- "18" alone would be wrong, not just incomplete. The sign carries meaning: the main vault is −18 and the backup is colder still at −20. Dropping the minus reports a different fact.
Transferable rule: strip nouns and units, keep the sign, decimal point and currency. "minus 18" is acceptable because it is one word plus one number. The crossing-out itself costs nothing on the question paper, but candidates should avoid rewriting during the recording - the seconds spent editing are seconds not spent hearing the next answer.
2. The candidate wrote "five million" for capacity. Explain why that is a distractor and what should have been written within the word limit.
Read the worked answer
Answer: "4.5 million".
The lecture gives two figures, and the discourse marker "although" signposts which one to distrust. The pattern is: real answer first, contrast clause second - "just over four and a half million..., although the figure we quote in the visitor brochure is a round five million." "Brochure", "round" and "although" all signal a public-relations approximation, not the vault's capacity. Note also the earlier nearby distractor, the backup facility at −20, which exists to tempt candidates away from the main vault.
The difficulty is compression. "Four and a half million" is four words and breaks the limit; "over four and a half million" is worse. The numerical form "4.5 million" is one number plus one word and fits. This is a judgement call the exam rewards: when the accurate phrase is too long, rewrite it as a numeral rather than writing an inaccurate short answer. "Just over" is a qualifier the key does not require - 4.5 million communicates the figure without it. Writing "five million" is not a minor slip; it is choosing the wrong fact, and it will be marked wrong however neatly it is spelled.
3. How should the candidate handle the misspelled "permofrost" and the remaining transfer time generally?
Read the worked answer
Answer: correct it to "permafrost" on the answer sheet - a misspelt word answer scores zero.
Listening marks are not impressionistic. A word answer must be spelled correctly enough to match the key; British and American spellings are both accepted ("colour"/"color"), but "permofrost" is a different string and will not match. In contrast, capitalisation is not penalised, so "Permafrost" and "permafrost" are equally fine - candidates waste transfer time worrying about the wrong thing.
What the ten minutes should actually be used for, in order:
- Completeness - every gap has an answer; a blank is certain loss, a guess is not.
- Legibility and one answer per line - two alternatives on one line cannot both be marked, even if one is right.
- Grammatical fit - singular/plural and article agreement with the note ("sample" vs "samples").
- Spelling of word answers only - numbers need no spelling check.
Do not use transfer time to re-litigate answers you heard clearly; second-guessing a cleanly heard number is one of the most common ways candidates lose marks they had already earned.