Moldova Bacalaureat Romanian Language and Literature common mistakes
Moldova Bacalaureat Romanian Language and Literature · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Candidates write the essay without referring to the literary text, offering only general ideas about the theme (e.g., 'love is important') instead of analyzing characters, scenes, or stylistic devices from the work.
They misunderstand the requirement of the literary commentary and rely on personal opinion or memorized generalities, often because they have not practiced close reading under time constraints.
What to do instead
Always anchor every paragraph in a specific quotation or episode from the text. Use the formula: idea → textual evidence (short quote or paraphrase) → analysis of effect. Practice with past papers, timing yourself to 10 minutes per paragraph.
In argumentative essays, students confuse the thesis with the topic, stating a fact (e.g., 'This text is about technology') rather than taking a debatable position (e.g., 'Technology isolates individuals more than it connects them').
They are not taught to distinguish between subject and stance, and often fear committing to a clear opinion.
What to do instead
Before writing, formulate the thesis as a complete sentence that someone could disagree with. Use the 'although' test: if you can add 'although some may disagree', it is a thesis. Draft two possible theses and choose the more arguable one.
In summarizing a text, candidates copy long fragments verbatim or include personal commentary, rather than condensing the main ideas in their own words.
They confuse summary with paraphrase or commentary, and lack practice in identifying topic sentences and hierarchical information.
What to do instead
Apply the 'gist' technique: read the text twice, underline only the main clause of each paragraph, then write a one-sentence summary per paragraph without looking back. Ensure the final summary is 1/3 of the original length and contains no direct quotes or opinions.
Students misplace the comma before 'și' or 'sau' in enumerations, or omit it between main clauses linked by 'iar' or 'dar', leading to punctuation errors that affect clarity.
They overgeneralize the rule that 'și' never takes a comma, ignoring cases of coordinated clauses or appositions, and they do not review punctuation after drafting.
What to do instead
Learn the three main uses of comma: (1) between homogeneous parts not linked by 'și/sau', (2) before 'dar', 'iar', 'însă', 'ci' when joining clauses, (3) to isolate appositions and explanatory phrases. Do targeted exercises with 10 sentences per rule, then proofread your essay specifically for commas.
Candidates use the wrong diacritic or letter (e.g., 'sînt' instead of 'sunt', 'î' vs 'â' in the middle of words) in formal writing, or they mix up 'ia' and 'i-a', 'la' and 'l-a'.
They rely on phonetic spelling or confuse homophones, and they do not apply the current orthographic norms (â inside words, î at beginning/end).
What to do instead
Memorize the rule: 'î' is used at the beginning and end of words (în, însă, a coborî), 'â' in the middle (când, pâine). For homophones, apply the substitution test: replace 'i-a' with 'îi' or 'le-a'; if it works, it is 'i-a'. Keep a personal list of 20 commonly misspelled words and test yourself weekly.
In morphology, students label words by their meaning rather than by their grammatical form, e.g., calling 'lui' a pronoun when it is an article, or identifying 'mai' as an adverb when it is a modal particle.
They learn definitions in isolation and do not practice contextual analysis; they also confuse homonyms across parts of speech.
What to do instead
For each word, ask: what is its form? what is its function? what can it be replaced by? Use a decision tree: if it accompanies a noun and shows possession, it is a possessive article; if it can be replaced by 'nu', it is a verb. Do 20 contextual identification exercises from past exams.
When analyzing syntax, candidates fail to distinguish between a complement and an attribute, or between a subordinate clause and a main clause, leading to incorrect function labels.
They memorize lists without understanding the relationship between words, and they do not apply the question test ('pe cine?', 'al cui?', 'ce fel de?').
What to do instead
Use the question test: for a complement, the question is asked from the verb (e.g., 'vorbește cu cine?'); for an attribute, from the noun (e.g., 'cartea cui?'). For clauses, identify the predicate first, then see if the clause can stand alone. Practice with 10 sentences per function, color-coding the elements.
In literary history, students attribute works to the wrong author or period, e.g., placing Eminescu in the interwar period or confusing Creangă with Sadoveanu.
They rely on fragmented memorization without a chronological framework, and they do not connect authors to their literary movement.
What to do instead
Build a timeline with five major periods (Pașoptism, Junimism, Symbolism, Interwar, Postwar) and place 3 canonical authors and one work per period. Create flashcards with author–work–period–one key feature, and review them weekly.
Students identify lexical figures (metaphor, metonymy, personification) but cannot explain their effect or distinguish them from each other, e.g., calling any comparison a metaphor.
They learn definitions without examples and do not practice differentiating based on the presence of 'ca' or the transfer of meaning.
What to do instead
Learn the tests: simile uses 'ca' or 'asemenea'; metaphor directly substitutes; metonymy replaces by contiguity (cause–effect, container–contained). For each figure, write the definition, two examples from canonical poems, and one sentence on its effect. Then analyze a poem and label five figures with justification.
In text analysis, candidates ignore the type of text (literary vs. nonliterary) and apply the same approach, e.g., looking for characters in an argumentative article or ignoring the author's bias in a journalistic text.
They do not read the instructions carefully and lack a repertoire of analysis grids for different text types.
What to do instead
Before writing, identify the text type by its purpose (to narrate, to persuade, to inform) and its features (characters and plot for literary; thesis and arguments for argumentative; facts and sources for journalistic). Use a checklist: for nonliterary, analyze tone, bias, evidence; for literary, analyze theme, characters, style. Practice with one text of each type per week.