In this post, we’ll continue the discussion that we had in the previous post, which outlined the exam structure for Papers 1 and 2 on the IGCSE by going over some of the assessment objectives in the Writing and Reading components of the IGCSE English Language 0500 examination, administered by Cambridge International Examinations.

In this post, we will specifically go over A01: Reading for your understanding. If you are a parent, feel free to share this with your children – if you are a student, read it so you understand what you are being assessed on.

Here is the assessment objective, and its associated dependencies.AO1 Reading
Candidates will be assessed on their ability to:
R1 demonstrate understanding of explicit meanings
R2 demonstrate understanding of implicit meanings and attitudes
R3 analyse, evaluate and develop facts, ideas and opinions, using appropriate support from the text
R4 demonstrate understanding of how writers achieve effects and influence readers
R5 select and use information for specific purposes.

If you’d like to go over the full criteria, have a look here (2024-2026 syllabus).

For a more clear breakdown… Read on!

The IGCSE Reading assessment objectives focus on skills that enable students to comprehend and analyse a text effectively. These skills include understanding explicit and implicit meanings, evaluating and developing ideas, understanding how writers achieve effects and influence readers, and selecting and using information for specific purposes.

By developing these skills, students can improve their comprehension, critical thinking, analytical, and writing abilities, and become more adept at interpreting complex texts.

These skills are *incredibly* essential for success in academic and professional contexts, where the ability to comprehend and analyse information is critical, and they are a must for success on the IGCSE.

Ready? Let’s break it down!

AO1 Reading:

You will be assessed on your ability to:

R1 Demonstrate understanding of explicit meanings

Explanation: It is important to demonstrate understanding of explicit meanings as it helps you comprehend the basic information and ideas that the text is conveying. To demonstrate understanding of explicit meanings, you can follow these steps:

• Read the text carefully and identify the key information that is explicitly stated.
• Use your own words to summarise the information.
• Check that your summary accurately reflects the information in the text.

R2 Demonstrate understanding of implicit meanings and attitudes

Explanation: Implicit meanings and attitudes are those that are not directly stated in the text but can be inferred through the use of language, tone, and other literary devices. To demonstrate understanding of implicit meanings and attitudes, you can follow these steps:

• Read the text carefully and identify the words and phrases that suggest implicit meanings and attitudes.
• Use your own words to explain the implicit meanings and attitudes that you have identified.
• Use evidence from the text to support your analysis.

R3 Analyse, evaluate and develop facts, ideas and opinions, using appropriate support from the text

Explanation: This criterion assesses your ability to analyse, evaluate and develop the facts, ideas, and opinions presented in the text. To demonstrate this skill, you can follow these steps:

• Read the text carefully and identify the key facts, ideas, and opinions presented.
• Analyse the facts, ideas, and opinions, by breaking them down into smaller parts and examining their relationships to each other.
• Evaluate the facts, ideas, and opinions, by assessing their strengths, weaknesses, and limitations.
• Develop the facts, ideas, and opinions, by adding your own thoughts, opinions, and examples.
• Use appropriate evidence from the text to support your analysis, evaluation, and development.

R4 Demonstrate understanding of how writers achieve effects and influence readers

Explanation: This criterion assesses your understanding of how writers use language, structure, and literary devices to achieve specific effects and influence readers. To demonstrate this skill, you can follow these steps:

• Identify the literary devices used in the text, such as metaphors, similes, and imagery.
• Analyse the impact of these literary devices on the reader.
• Consider the purpose of the literary devices and how they contribute to the overall effect of the text.
• Use evidence from the text to support your analysis.

R5 Select and use information for specific purposes.

Explanation: This criterion assesses your ability to select and use information from the text for specific purposes, such as to answer a question or support an argument. To demonstrate this skill, you can follow these steps:

• Read the text carefully and identify the information that is relevant to the specific purpose.
• Analyse the information to ensure that it is accurate and reliable.
• Use the information to support your argument or answer the question, making sure to explain how it is relevant.

…Phew!

That was a mouthful.

And now, you may be wondering…

Why is this important to you and why should you care?

Developing the reading skills assessed in the IGCSE exam is essential for success in academic and professional contexts because reading is a fundamental aspect of learning and working in these domains. In academic contexts, you are expected to read a wide range of texts, including textbooks, research papers, and academic journals, in order to comprehend complex concepts, synthesize information, and develop original ideas.

The ability to comprehend and analyse texts effectively is crucial for success in academic writing and research, as it enables you to identify key arguments, evaluate evidence, and present your own arguments convincingly.

Similarly, in professional contexts, reading is an essential skill for understanding job-related documents such as contracts, reports, and memos. Employees are also required to read and comprehend information related to their job tasks, such as instructions, regulations, and guidelines. The ability to comprehend and analyse information is crucial for decision-making, problem-solving, and innovation in the workplace.

Moreover, employers expect their employees (read: future you) to have strong reading skills, as it is a sign of their ability to learn new information and adapt to changing circumstances.

In both academic and professional contexts, strong reading skills are also essential for effective communication. Being able to comprehend and analyse texts enables you to communicate your ideas clearly and effectively, both in writing and in oral communication. This is especially important in collaborative contexts, where people need to understand each other’s ideas and perspectives in order to work together effectively, and where you will find it crucial to learn to do so in order to work with others in order to achieve great things.

In conclusion, the skills assessed in the Reading assessment objective are essential for success in academic and professional contexts. These skills enable you to comprehend and analyse complex texts, develop original ideas, make informed decisions, and communicate effectively.

By developing these skills, students can prepare themselves for success in their academic and professional pursuits.

We’ll cover how to excel in reading comprehension in another post – in the meantime, if you need tutoring and guidance to ensure that you can perform to the very best of your abilities, do feel free to drop a line!

In IGCSE English 0500, you have to read and respond with understanding to a rich range of reading texts during the course as a whole as well as during the exam. And what do you as a student have to do? You’ll need to use these texts to inform and inspire your own writing, as well as write in a range of text types for different purposes and audiences.

If you’re just transitioning from performing simple writing in a syllabus that doesn’t require this, you might think to yourself… Doesn’t this sound awfully challenging? 

It is, especially if you’re not prepared for it.

Maybe you’ve studied for years, written essays, gone through countless classes with your teachers… But are you ready to embark on the journey of preparing for the IGCSE First Language exam?

As it turns out, the answer to that question in many cases is no.

Trust me, many students still are unprepared even by the time they reach exam day, and teachers often find frustration in having to guide their students on an ad hoc basis when something more significant and deeper is required.

This resource exists to bridge that gap.

While it seems like it may be a daunting task, you are here for a reason – so let’s learn about the challenge you’re about to take on!

The Plan:

We will start by talking about the syllabus as a whole and the specific ways in which you will be assessed in the assessment overview section; you can read it here in full, but I’ll try to write in a simple and conversational way to make sure that you understand what you need. Moving on, I’ll speak more generally about reading skills and writing skills and how to develop them before ending this post.

How fortunate that you’re here!

Anyway, let’s go on to the assessment overview.

As an IGCSE First Language English candidate, you can get your grade by either taking:

a) Paper 1 and Paper 2 together.
b) Paper 1 and Component 3 (coursework) together.

Coursework is a bit different and not related to this, but we will talk about it soon!

There are only two exam papers, and we will break them down for you.

Paper 1 – Reading – 2 hours (50%)

All candidates will take this paper. Candidates answer five compulsory questions on three texts, texts A, B, and C, and answer five questions in two hours.

The exam paper consists of the following tasks: 

Comprehension task: This question requires candidates to respond to Text A and Text C. Candidates respond to a series of sub-questions. These include short answer questions testing understanding of both explicit and implicit meanings (more on this later!). 

Summary task: This question requires candidates to respond to Text B. Candidates write their summary as continuous writing in their own words. The length is in the range of 100 to 120 words.  

Language task: this question requires candidates to respond to Text C. Candidates comment on the effect of selected phrases in about 200–300 words.  

Lastly, the exam requires students to write an Extended Response Question in response to Text C.

The Extended Response will take the format of one of the following text types:

• Letter
• Report
• Journal
• Speech
• Interview 
• Article

…So it’s crucial that you develop a strong understanding how to write each one of these! There will be more posts about this in the future, so make sure to follow this space!

Having gone over and understood Paper 1, let’s now proceed to Paper 2. 

Paper 2 – Directed Writing and Composition – 2 hours (50%)

If you choose not to take the Coursework Component 3, you’ll be doing Paper 2.

Paper 2 has two questions requiring candidates to do two writing tasks which are:

• Directed Writing 
• Composition Writing

These papers are where you’ll demonstrate the writing skills that you’ve cultivated throughout the course of your course, in slightly different ways.

Section A Directed Writing 

This is what candidates have to do: 

• Candidates answer one compulsory question on two texts totalling 650–750 words in length. 
• Candidates use, develop and evaluate the information in the texts to create a persuasive speech, letter or article. The length is 250–350 words. 

Section B Composition

Here is what you’ll have to do: 

• Answer one question from a choice of four titles: two descriptive essay questions and two narrative essay questions.  
• Use the title to develop and write a composition. 
• Write about 350–450 words. 

Now, let’s talk more generally about what these exams assess: Reading skills and Writing skills.

We will talk more deeply about the assessment objectives in another blog post later on, but for now I will list them, alongside some thoughts about how to do well.

What do reading questions require you to do? 

AO1 Reading
You will be assessed on your ability to:
R1 demonstrate understanding of explicit meanings
R2 demonstrate understanding of implicit meanings and attitudes
R3 analyse, evaluate and develop facts, ideas and opinions, using appropriate support from the text
R4 demonstrate understanding of how writers achieve effects and influence readers
R5 select and use information for specific purposes.

On the other hand…

What do writing questions require you to do?

A02 Writing

You will be assessed on your ability to:
W1 articulate experience and express what is thought, felt and imagined
W2 organise and structure ideas and opinions for deliberate effect
W3 use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures appropriate to context
W4 use register appropriate to context
W5 make accurate use of spelling, punctuation and grammar.

These skills take time to develop, and often require extra work and passion for the English language outside of the classroom in order to develop in the best possible way.

To understand meanings, for example, you must regularly be exposed to them – to analyze and evaluate well, you should be immersed in an environment that supports that. To appreciate effects, you must begin to think about language on the meta level as a form of communication and consider how it is used in various ways as you develop the capacity for critical thinking; to select and use information effectively, you must be discerning, understand context, and make good decisions.

All in all, to understand the three unseen texts that you’ll see and respond effectively, you need targeted and intelligent practice, some good habits of reading (this would be ideal!), good examples (to be provided on this blog in the members’ section), and potentially if needed, targeted tutoring and guidance to ensure that you can perform to the very best of your abilities.

In the meantime, do use this blog in collaboration with your English teacher and not replace them (this blog and the classes offered here reflect these collaborations!) make sure that you complete all your reading assignments, and make sure that you also practice active learning in class – make sure to actively read the texts and try to discuss the texts with your teacher and classmates, because it is what makes the difference between two students who spend the same amount of time studying but take on different strategies – the one who studies smart and studies consistently will tend to do better per unit time, have more free time, and end up achieving better results, and the learning that you’ll develop from that process is going to be much deeper and more valuable than what you would get simply by reading alone.

Do feel free to look at some of the blog posts here to support your knowledge – they are designed to help you learn how to write on a much higher level than you otherwise would through most conventional methods.

We’ll talk much more about the content of the exam and how to do well in it in the days ahead 🙂

Till our next one!

Welcome to the ultimate guide to conquering the 0500 First Language English exam!

Whether you’re a student or a teacher, we are confident that you’ll find some value here. The materials on this site will break down the IGCSE First Language English curriculum for you, offer you some helpful tips, and provide you both with a rough outline as well as in-depth guides to success, even and especially if you’ve never done well on this subject in the past.

Some of the materials are free, and others are premium materials accessible if you choose to purchase membership access.

Here is the site directory!

Site Directory:

1. Syllabus-related
   • IGCSE First Language English (0500) – What’s On Papers 1 and 2? (Reading and Writing)
   • IGCSE English 0500 Assessment Objectives, Part I: A01 Reading
   • IGCSE English 0500 Assessment Objectives, Part 2: A02 Writing
2. Paper 1
   • Summary (Question 1(f))
     • How To Write A Summary Well
     • Summary Sample Responses
   • Writer’s Effect (Question 2(d))
     • Writer’s Effect for IGCSE First Language English: A Guide
     • Writer’s Effect: A Deep Dive Into Marking Criteria
     • Writer’s Effect Sample Responses
3. Paper 2
   • Directed Writing
     • How To Excel At Directed Writing! (April 6th)
     • Directed Writing Sample Responses
   • Descriptive Writing
     • Unlock the Secrets to High-Scoring Descriptive Essays: A Comprehensive Guide.
     • Essay bank: Descriptive Essay Composition Essay Bank
   • Narrative Composition
     • Unlock the Secrets to High-Scoring Narrative Essays: A Comprehensive Guide.
     • Unleashing Your Creativity: Story Structures for Top-Scoring IGCSE Narrative Writing
     • Essay bank: Narrative Composition Essay Bank (Updated once weekly)
4. Coursework
   • To be updated
5. Text types
   • To be updated
6. Tips for optimizing your time for exam practice
   • The Power of Intelligent Practice
   • The Magic of Examiner Reports
7. Resources and publications
   • FirstLanguageEnglish.com – 56 Descriptive and Narrative Essays
   • Recommended websites (TBD)
   • Book recommendations (TBD)
   • More to come!

Also, it IS a blog, so you’ll get some of my thoughts here, there, and everywhere.

First Language English isn’t easy, but I hope this helps you out!

If you find this work valuable, do consider sharing it over social media, sharing it with your students, feel free to integrate it into your lesson plans as well, and make sure to learn as much as you can during this epic time ahead 🙂

…What are you waiting for?

Go forth and succeed! Happy reading!

Are you a Year 9, 10, or 11 First Language English student? Are you struggling with tricky Writer’s Effect questions, tough summaries, at a loss as to how to deal with Directed Writing or Descriptive/Narrative Writing?
Sign up for our classes today!

If you’d like a free assessment of your capabilities, consider dropping me a WhatsApp! Trial classes are available as well 🙂

In particular, two classes are available:

1) Thursdays 730pm – 9pm – This is an exam preparatory class that’s suitable for Year 9, 10, and 11 students who are interested to prepare for the IGCSE!
2) Tuesdays 730pm – 9pm – This is also an exam preparatory class that’s suitable for Year 9, 10, and 11 students!

The Thursday group class is an IGCSE class, and it is an exam preparatory class.

This class will be focused on past year papers in an interesting and engaging way, and we will focus on a mixture of directed writing, summary writing, writer’s effect, and descriptive and narrative composition, focusing on the difficult questions as we learn how to formulate responses to them directly in class.

Generally, we will look at actual exam papers, comprehensively reviewing the mark schemes so as to develop an intuitive understanding of Cambridge’s criteria while going through specific exercises that will help you become a more eloquent writer and score those marks that you’re looking to get!

Why would you need a class?

Learning on your own is noble, it is admirable, and it is deeply necessary – I know that for a fact and respect that.

To that I would say that while it’s true that you can obtain good guidance from our guides, it’s great to have someone who can specifically target your needs and coach you to reach your goals, and if that is what you’re looking for, I am confident that I will be the best guide to assist you on your journey!

What will the class be like?

I am a bit different from most instructors in that I strongly encourage class participation and input. I expect a lot of my students, but also keep classes fun, enjoyable, and a joy to attend! There will be plenty of opportunities to write in the class, and we will work together both through guided feedback (I assign homework each week) and also through live-writing in class.

Duration, timing, and payment:

Group classes take place for 1.5 hours per class and will take place on Thursdays at 730pm – 9pm MYT; if you’re interested to sign up for an alternate timing, please fill up this form!

They are pre-billed prior to the beginning of each term for 12 classes in advance for a total of MYR1000 or the equivalent in your domestic currency. You may sign up and confirm your enrollment via this link.

Promotion:
If you sign up for a class with EnglishFirstLanguage.net, you’ll receive premium access to our website and collection of resources, and will also receive a copy of our 56 Excellent Narrative and Descriptive Essay Exemplars book 🙂

Thank you for your interest, and I look forward to working with you soon!