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Home > Japanese > Continuers Course > How to Approach the Exam > Advice > Reading and responding examination

 

The reading and responding section of the examination is worth 40 marks.

You may use dictionaries in this section of the examination.

It is the second section of the written examination and is designed to assess your knowledge and skill in analysing information from written texts, and in analysing and exchanging information in response to a text.

The section is divided into two parts, Part A worth 25 marks and Part B 15 marks.

To prepare for reading skills examinations, students should be very familiar with the prescribed structures, vocabulary associated with the topics and prescribed kanji. Take note of and revise grammatical structures and kanji compounds with which you have difficulty. Retyping a reading passage using Japanese word processing software is a good way to test your ability to read kanji accurately. As you are now permitted to use dictionaries in the examination, it is very important to practise your dictionary skills, so that you can quickly identify different forms of verbs and adjectives and look these up. Many excellent examples of unseen passages are available on NSW HSC Online. Past HSC papers are also a good source, as even though the syllabus has changed, the topics and structures are very similar.

Part A

Part A will consist of two texts in Japanese of 1000-1200 ji in total with questions in English, and responses required in English. Students will be judged on the extent to which they demonstrate:

• capacity to understand general and/or specific aspects of texts, through, for example, summarising or evaluating
  
  
• capacity to convey the information accurately and appropriately.

Before answering the questions in the examination, carefully read the title of the passage and the questions. The questions are usually given in order as they occur in the passage, and they should give clues as to the overall meaning.

Part B

Part B will consist of one short text in Japanese of approximately 300 ji with a response required in Japanese. The task will be described in English. Tasks could include a response to a letter, message or advertisement, or a postcard or e-mail from a travel destination outlined in a brochure. The task will specify a purpose, context and audience. Students will be expected to understand the written text and to exchange information by responding to information contained in the text. The response should be 300-400 ji.

Students should demonstrate:

• capacity to understand general and specific aspects of a text by identifying, analysing and responding to information
  
  
• relevance of ideas, information or opinions
  
  
• accuracy of vocabulary and sentence structures
  
  
• variety of vocabulary and sentence structures