MATSEC SEC English Language common mistakes
MATSEC SEC English Language · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
In the reading paper, answering comprehension questions by copying out a whole sentence or paragraph from the passage instead of selecting and shaping only the relevant words, so the answer contains the right idea buried in irrelevant material and loses precision marks.
Candidates fear losing marks by leaving something out, and they have been trained in earlier schooling to 'lift from the text'. They do not realise that MATSEC comprehension rewards a focused answer that addresses the exact wording of the question, and that lifting whole sentences often fails to answer the specific point asked (e.g. 'in your own words' questions).
What to do instead
Practise rewriting each answer as a single sentence that begins by echoing the question stem, then prune every word that does not carry the required information. For 'in your own words' items, underline the key phrase in the passage, cover it, and re-express it aloud before writing. Build a habit of checking each answer against the question's command word (identify, explain, suggest, compare) before moving on.
Treating all comprehension questions as equally weighted and spending too long on early literal questions, so the final inference, evaluation, and 'effects of language' questions are rushed or left blank.
Literal retrieval questions feel safe and quick, so candidates over-invest in them for reassurance. Higher-order questions require interpretation and are perceived as risky, so under time pressure they are abandoned. Many candidates also do not know how marks are distributed across a paper.
What to do instead
Before starting, scan the whole question set and mark each item H (higher-order: inference, purpose, effect of a word or image) or L (literal). Do the L items briskly with a strict per-question time cap, then allocate the remaining time to the H items. Rehearse timing with full past-paper-style passages under exam conditions, and always attempt every H question with at least a partial answer rather than leaving it blank.
Writing a composition that narrates events in a flat chronological sequence with no shaping - no hook, no controlling idea, no deliberate paragraphing - so the piece reads as a list of things that happened and scores low on structure and engagement.
Candidates plan by asking 'what happens next?' rather than 'what is this piece really about?'. School creative-writing habits reward plot over purpose, and many candidates have never been taught to decide on a central impression or theme before drafting.
What to do instead
Before writing, complete a one-line 'so what?' statement: what should the reader feel or understand by the end? Then plan 4–6 paragraphs where each has a job (set the scene, introduce tension, turn, consequence, reflection). Open with a specific image or line of dialogue rather than 'One day...'. Draft at least two openings for practice pieces and choose the stronger one.
In transactional writing (letters, articles, speeches, reports, reviews), ignoring the required format conventions and audience register - e.g. writing an informal letter with no addresses, a speech with no address to the audience, or a formal letter full of contractions and slang.
Candidates focus almost entirely on content and treat format as decoration. Many have memorised only one layout and apply it to every task, and they do not consciously adjust tone for a specified reader (headteacher, peer magazine, local council).
What to do instead
Build a one-page reference of the conventions for each transactional type (salutations and sign-offs, headings, bylines, bullet points in reports, direct address and rhetorical questions in speeches) and drill them until automatic. For every practice task, write the audience and purpose at the top of the page and check the draft against both before finishing. Keep a personal checklist of register markers (contractions, idioms, formal vocabulary) to include or exclude.
Producing compositions that are long on event but short on accurate sentence control: comma splices, run-on sentences, tense slips between past and present, and inconsistent narrative voice, which drag down the mark for accuracy even when ideas are good.
Candidates draft at speed and proofread only for spelling, not for sentence boundaries. Under exam pressure they write as they speak, joining clauses with 'and' or commas, and they lose track of tense when shifting between narration, description, and reflection.
What to do instead
Train a three-pass proofreading routine: first pass for sentence boundaries (read each sentence aloud mentally and check it has one main clause joined correctly), second for tense consistency (underline every verb and check the timeline), third for spelling and punctuation. Practise rewriting comma-spliced sentences into correctly punctuated ones until the pattern is recognised instantly.
Misusing punctuation in ways that change meaning: apostrophes for plurals ('CD's for sale'), missing apostrophes in possessives, commas splicing independent clauses, and no punctuation to mark direct speech.
Candidates rely on how a sentence sounds rather than on grammatical rules, and apostrophe use is inconsistently modelled in everyday writing and social media. Direct-speech punctuation is often taught once and rarely revisited.
What to do instead
Learn and apply three explicit rules with examples: apostrophe before s for singular possession, after s for plural possession, never for a simple plural; a comma cannot join two independent clauses without a conjunction; speech marks enclose the spoken words with the comma or full stop inside. Do short daily error-correction exercises on 5–10 sentences and keep an error log of your own repeated slips.
Choosing vocabulary by first association rather than by precise meaning and collocation - e.g. using 'big' for 'significant', 'do a decision', 'very enormous', or mixing up confusable pairs such as affect/effect, practice/practise, its/it's.
Candidates translate directly from Maltese or another first language, producing collocations that are grammatical in the L1 but not in English. Limited reading breadth means they have not met the word in enough contexts to know its partners and register.
What to do instead
Keep a vocabulary log organised by collocation and word class, not by single words: record 'make a decision', 'significant increase', 'affect (verb)/effect (noun)' with an example sentence. Read quality non-fiction and note two new collocations per page. In the exam, prefer words you can use accurately over ambitious words you cannot control.
In the oral/aural component, answering a listening question with a detail heard early in the recording while missing the qualification or correction that comes later, or writing during the recording and losing the thread of the next answer.
Candidates try to transcribe everything and cannot keep pace with natural speech. They do not anticipate that speakers often self-correct ('actually, make that Tuesday'), and they do not preview the questions before the audio starts.
What to do instead
Use the reading time to underline the key word in each question and predict the type of answer (number, name, reason). Write only keywords or abbreviations while listening and complete full answers afterwards. Train with authentic audio at natural speed and practise noting corrections and signpost words ('however', 'in fact', 'what I meant was').
In the speaking/oral assessment, giving minimal one-line responses to prompts, or delivering a memorised monologue that does not respond to the examiner's actual question, so fluency and interaction cannot be credited.
Candidates are anxious about accuracy and choose short answers to avoid errors, or they over-prepare a scripted topic because it feels safer. Neither strategy demonstrates range or the ability to sustain and develop a discussion.
What to do instead
Practise the 'point–reason–example–link' pattern so every answer extends naturally by two or three sentences. Rehearse with a partner who asks unpredictable follow-up questions, and record yourself to check pace, fillers, and pronunciation. Prepare topic vocabulary and ideas rather than full scripts, so you can adapt to whatever is asked.
Mismanaging time across the whole exam: running out of time in the writing section so the composition is unfinished or unproofread, or allocating equal time to sections that carry very different marks.
Candidates do not know the mark weighting or the recommended timing, and they over-run on earlier sections out of perfectionism. Without a watch-based plan, the final long writing task absorbs the consequences.
What to do instead
Before the exam, write a timing plan based on the paper's mark allocation (e.g. roughly one minute per mark, with the composition given the largest block plus five minutes to proofread). In the exam, write the target finish time for each section at the top of the page and move on when it is reached, leaving a gap rather than over-running. Practise full papers under timed conditions at least twice before the exam.