VWO Engels cheat sheet

VWO reading texts are authentic: newspaper articles, opinion pieces, literary extracts, and academic prose; question types are multiple choice, open, gap-fill, and summary tasks.

Skimming first: read title, intro, subheadings, and final paragraph to identify the text's main claim before answering detail questions.

Signal words guide structure: contrast (however, yet, although), cause (therefore, consequently), example (for instance, such as), and conclusion (in short, all in all).

For 'what is the function of paragraph X' questions, check the relation to the previous and next paragraph, not only the content of paragraph X itself.

Multiple-choice distractors often reuse exact words from the text while flipping the relation (cause/effect, condition, or scope); prefer the option that paraphrases meaning.

Open questions in Dutch require answering in Dutch unless the rubric states otherwise; quote only the requested fragment and keep quotes short.

Reference words (this, such, they, the former) must be traced back to the nearest grammatically matching antecedent; test each candidate by substitution.

For summary and gap-fill items, the answer must fit both the content of the passage and the grammatical slot (tense, number, word class).

Register and tone questions: identify irony, understatement, or hedging through modal verbs (may, could, would) and evaluative adjectives.

The audio or video is played a fixed number of times (often once or twice); read the questions during the preview pause and mark keywords before playback starts.

Question order normally follows the chronological order of the fragment; a missed answer means moving on immediately rather than replaying mentally.

Distinguish main idea from detail: global questions are answered from the opening and closing sections; detail questions need a specific number, name, or reason.

Numbers, dates, and names are frequent traps: listen for corrections and hedges ('actually', 'or rather', 'about') that revise an earlier figure.

Speaker attitude is signalled by intonation, stress, and discourse markers ('frankly', 'to be honest', 'I suppose'), not only by lexical content.

In video items, on-screen text, captions, and images can carry part of the answer; visual context sometimes contradicts the spoken words.

British, American, Australian, and other accents appear; train recognition of vowel shifts and weak forms (schwa) rather than expecting standard pronunciation.

Note-taking during playback should use abbreviations and symbols; full sentences slow down comprehension and cause missed subsequent information.

Answers must match the language of the question; where Dutch is required, translate the idea rather than copying English phrases verbatim.

VWO writing tasks specify text type (email, letter, article, essay, review), audience, purpose, and a fixed number of content points that must all be addressed.

Assessment typically covers content (task fulfilment), structure (paragraphing, cohesion), vocabulary range, grammatical accuracy, and spelling/punctuation.

Formal email conventions: salutation (Dear Mr/Ms + surname), opening reference, body paragraphs, closing formula (Yours sincerely / Kind regards), and signature.

Cohesive devices (however, moreover, in addition, as a result, whereas) must be varied; repeating 'and', 'but', and 'also' lowers the language score.

Sentence variety: mix simple, compound, and complex sentences; subordinate clauses with 'although', 'because', 'which', and 'while' demonstrate syntactic range.

Word count limits are enforced; staying 10-20% above the minimum is safe, but exceeding the maximum can cost marks or be ignored by the marker.

Common Dutch-English interference: 'since' for 'because', 'learn' for 'teach', 'actual' for 'current', and double negation; check these during proofreading.

Punctuation rules: no comma before a defining relative clause, apostrophes for possessives (the student's / the students'), and capitalisation of nationalities and languages.

Proofread for agreement (subject-verb), tense consistency, and article use (a/an/the), which are the most frequent error categories at this level.

The oral exam typically pairs a presentation or monologue with a dialogue or discussion task; both content and interaction are assessed.

Assessment criteria usually include fluency, pronunciation, vocabulary range, grammatical accuracy, coherence, and interactive strategies.

Interaction strategies: turn-taking ('May I add something?'), asking for clarification ('Could you repeat that?'), and paraphrasing when a word is missing.

Fillers ('well', 'I mean', 'let me think') are functional in speech; short silent pauses are more damaging to fluency scores than natural hesitation markers.

Pronunciation targets: word stress (PHOtograph vs phoTOgraphy), sentence stress for emphasis, and connected speech such as linking and elision.

Prepare topic vocabulary and fixed structures for functions: giving an opinion, agreeing/disagreeing politely, comparing, speculating, and concluding.

Dutch 'dt' habits do not transfer: English third-person singular adds -s (he works), and questions use do-support (Does she work?).

In discussion tasks, respond to the partner's actual point before adding your own; ignoring the interlocutor lowers the interaction score.

A structured monologue uses signposting: introduction of topic, two or three main points with examples, and an explicit conclusion.

The VWO literature list typically requires a minimum number of works (commonly around 8-12), with at least a few originally written in English.

Genres to distinguish: novel, novella, short story, play, poetry, and essay; each has distinct conventions for analysis.

Narrative analysis terms: narrator (first/third person, omniscient/limited), focalisation, setting, characterisation (direct/indirect), plot, conflict, and theme.

Poetry devices: metre, rhyme scheme, enjambment, stanza form, imagery, metaphor, simile, personification, alliteration, and assonance.

Literary periods commonly referenced: Renaissance, Romanticism, Victorian era, Modernism, and Postmodernism, each with characteristic themes and styles.

Context matters: publication date, author biography, and historical setting inform interpretation but should not replace textual evidence.

Quotations for the oral exam should be short, memorised accurately, and tied to a specific interpretive claim.

A literary essay or oral argument needs a thesis, textual evidence (quotes with page or act/scene reference), and analysis of how form supports meaning.

Dutch literary terms map onto English ones: 'vertelperspectief' = narrative perspective, 'beeldspraak' = imagery, 'thema' = theme, 'motief' = motif.