MATSEC IM English common mistakes
MATSEC IM English · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Writing a summary or directed-writing task that simply lifts whole sentences verbatim from the passage instead of reworking them in the candidate's own words.
Under time pressure, copying feels safer than paraphrasing, and candidates do not realise that lifting long stretches of source text is penalised even when the content is accurate.
What to do instead
Practise the 'read-cover-rewrite' loop: read a paragraph, cover it, write the idea from memory in one or two sentences, then check against the original. Build a small bank of synonym swaps (e.g. 'increased sharply' → 'rose steeply') and rehearse them on past-style passages.
Producing a piece of writing that answers the topic but ignores the specified purpose, audience and format (e.g. a letter written as an essay, or an article with no headline).
Candidates focus on the content prompt and skim over the situational detail, and many have never explicitly learned the conventions of Maltese-exam letter, article, report and speech formats.
What to do instead
Before writing, spend 60 seconds making a three-line plan: purpose, audience, format features. Memorise the signature features of each genre (salutation and sign-off for letters, headline and byline for articles, headings for reports) and check them off at the end.
Writing an essay or composition with no clear paragraph structure, so ideas run together in one or two long blocks.
Candidates draft straight onto the answer sheet without planning, and paragraphing is rarely taught as an assessable skill rather than a cosmetic one.
What to do instead
Adopt a fixed skeleton: introduction stating the position, two or three body paragraphs each with a topic sentence and supporting example, and a conclusion. Practise writing only topic sentences for ten prompts to make the habit automatic.
Using an overly informal or conversational register in formal tasks, including slang, contractions, and abbreviations such as 'etc.' and '&'.
Candidates transfer the register of texting and social media into exam writing, and register is often assessed separately from grammar so the loss is invisible to them.
What to do instead
Keep a two-column register list (informal → formal equivalents) and edit a completed piece specifically for register, circling every contraction and slang item. In the exam, reserve the final five minutes for a register-only pass.
Misreading the question instruction, for example writing an opinion piece when the prompt asks for a description, or answering only one of two required parts.
Candidates read the prompt once quickly and start writing immediately, and multi-part prompts are common in directed writing, so one requirement is silently dropped.
What to do instead
Underline every instruction verb and every 'and' in the prompt, then number the requirements and tick each one off in the plan before drafting. If the task has two parts, allocate words explicitly to each.
Answering comprehension questions with a bare phrase or single word when the question requires a full sentence, or failing to use the question's own wording to frame the answer.
Candidates treat comprehension as a vocabulary test and answer for meaning only, not noticing that full-sentence answers and embedded question wording are part of the mark scheme.
What to do instead
Rehearse the 'stem-plus-answer' pattern: turn 'Why did the writer leave?' into 'The writer left because…'. Practise on short passages until full-sentence answering becomes default, then apply it under timed conditions.
Giving a personal reaction or unsupported opinion where the question asks for inference from the text, or conversely merely repeating a literal line where inference is required.
Candidates do not distinguish between literal retrieval, inference and evaluation, and many have never had these question types named explicitly.
What to do instead
Label each practice question as retrieval, inference or evaluation before answering, and learn the cue words for each ('state', 'suggest', 'do you think'). For inference answers, always anchor the point to a specific phrase in the passage.
Losing marks on the language-use section through subject–verb agreement, tense consistency and article errors in short controlled tasks.
These errors persist from earlier schooling and are not caught by ear, especially with third-person singular -s, countable/uncountable nouns and the definite article.
What to do instead
Keep a personal error log from every practice piece and drill only your recurring three or four error types. Do a targeted proofread of any short-answer or gap-fill task, reading each completed sentence aloud mentally to test agreement.
Mismanaging time so that the writing task is rushed or unfinished, with the last paragraph or the editing stage cut off.
Candidates spend too long on early reading and comprehension items and do not budget by marks, so the highest-value writing section absorbs the shortfall.
What to do instead
Work to a written time budget derived from the mark allocation, and rehearse full papers with a visible clock. Reserve a fixed final block (e.g. five to seven minutes) for proofreading, and practise stopping a section even when unfinished.
Linking sentences only with 'and', 'but' and 'so', producing flat, repetitive prose with no complex or compound-complex structures.
Candidates write in short safe sentences to avoid grammatical risk, and complex structures are rarely practised as a deliberate technique.
What to do instead
Build a repertoire of five or six reliable connectives (although, whereas, despite, consequently, in addition) and one relative-clause pattern, and deliberately insert two or three into every practice paragraph. Check each one for correct punctuation before moving on.