AP Intermediate English (BIEAP) common mistakes
AP Intermediate English (BIEAP) · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Answering comprehension questions by lifting whole sentences verbatim from the passage instead of restating the idea in the candidate's own words, especially on 'in your own words' items.
Under time pressure candidates treat the passage as a source to copy rather than to process, and they fear that paraphrasing will lose marks, so they copy the safest-looking line. This often happens because school practice rewarded lifted answers.
What to do instead
Before writing, underline the key words in the question, locate the relevant line, then close the passage and write the answer from memory in one sentence; compare afterwards and rewrite any phrase of four or more words that matches the original. Practise five such items per passage.
Writing a summary or précis that keeps the passage's order and detail level, running to nearly the length of the original or including examples, figures, and quotations.
Candidates confuse summarizing with shortening by deletion, so they trim adjectives but keep every point; they also lack a procedure for deciding what is central versus illustrative.
What to do instead
Use a three-step routine: mark the topic sentence of each paragraph, write one clause per paragraph in the margin, then combine clauses into a single paragraph of the required length without looking back at the source. Delete all examples and statistics, and count words at the end.
Shifting tense or voice mid-sentence in grammar items, for example writing 'The letter was written by him and he sends it yesterday', or choosing the wrong tense in conditional and time-clause items.
Candidates translate from their first language clause by clause rather than holding the whole sentence structure in mind, and they have not internalized that time conjunctions (when, after, until) take present forms for future meaning and that passives require a consistent auxiliary.
What to do instead
For each sentence, first identify the time marker and the subject-verb core, decide active or passive, then build the full verb phrase before adding other elements. Drill ten sentences mixing past simple, present perfect, and passives, and read each completed sentence aloud to catch mismatches.
Converting direct to reported speech without backshifting the tense or without adjusting pronouns, time, and place words, producing 'She said that she is coming tomorrow' inside a past-tense report.
Candidates memorize the reporting verb change but not the full set of knock-on changes, and they apply the rule mechanically without checking whether the original statement is still true.
What to do instead
Use a four-column checklist for every conversion: tense, pronoun, time word, place word. Apply it to ten sentences, then do five where the statement remains true (for example a universal fact) and leave the tense unchanged, noting why.
Choosing synonyms and antonyms by general association rather than by part of speech and register, so 'economical' is offered as the antonym of 'extravagant' in a context that needs 'frugal', or a noun is paired with an adjective.
Candidates learn word lists as loose clusters without collocations or word class, and they do not check that the substitute fits grammatically into the original sentence.
What to do instead
For every vocabulary item, substitute the chosen word back into the sentence and check part of speech, countability, and collocation. Keep a personal log of each new word with its word family (economy, economic, economical, economize) and one original sentence.
Misreading phrasal verbs and idioms literally, for example interpreting 'put off' as 'place on top' or 'break down' as 'destroy', and then answering a comprehension or dialogue item on that wrong sense.
Phrasal verbs are not compositional, and candidates often meet them only in isolated lists without context, so the literal reading wins under exam pressure.
What to do instead
Learn phrasal verbs in minimal pairs inside sentences (put off the meeting / put off the light is wrong; turn off the light), and for each idiom write the situation in which it would be used. In the exam, read the whole sentence before deciding the sense.
Writing a letter or report with no format: no sender address, date, salutation, subject line, or closing, and mixing formal and informal register within one piece.
Candidates focus entirely on content and treat format as decoration, and they have not practised the fixed skeletons for formal letter, informal letter, notice, and report.
What to do instead
Memorize one skeleton per text type and write it out from memory before the exam. For each practice task, draft the skeleton first, then fill content, then check register: no contractions or slang in formal letters, and consistent second-person address throughout.
Producing a paragraph or essay with no topic sentence and no linking devices, so ideas appear as a list of unrelated statements, or overusing 'and', 'but', 'so' as the only connectors.
Candidates plan in the first language and translate sentence by sentence, which loses the logical thread, and they have a thin repertoire of cohesive devices.
What to do instead
Plan three points before writing and give each its own sentence with a topic sentence first. Build a personal bank of connectors grouped by function (addition, contrast, cause, result, example) and deliberately use at least three different functions per paragraph.
Retelling the plot of a prescribed text instead of answering the analytical question, and quoting lines without explaining how they support the point.
Plot summary is the easiest material to recall, and candidates fear that analysis is risky, so they fill the answer with narrative. They also memorize quotations without the surrounding context.
What to do instead
Turn the question into a thesis sentence first, then select only two or three episodes that prove it. For each quotation, write one sentence naming the device or tone and one sentence linking it to the thesis; cut any sentence that only advances the story.
Ignoring word limits and instruction verbs in writing tasks: writing 300 words for a 100-word notice, or writing a description when the task says 'argue' or 'compare'.
Candidates do not decode the instruction verb, and they equate length with effort, believing more words earn more marks.
What to do instead
Circle the instruction verb and the word limit before planning, and match the verb to a structure (argue: claim, two reasons, counterargument, conclusion). Practise writing to a strict limit and stop when the required content is complete, checking the count.