How to improve your SATS level.

Update section: examiners’ advice from the 2005 SATs. For level 7 you need to:

Reading paper

-comment specifically on the way different non-fiction texts are organised in relation to their purpose (eg, to persuade or advise)

-when examining specific phrases or sentences, analyse the complete phrase or sentence and explain its precise meaning and effect on the reader (eg spell out how a simile works in full)

Shakespeare paper

-analyse character and action in detail, in a way firmly grounded in understanding the overall importance of the set extracts

-analyse the effects of words and phrases in relation to their specific dramatic context (eg what Macbeth’s words suggest about his mood, and their effects on other characters and on us as the audience; perhaps contrast with a previous mood)

-use apt and precise quotations and textual references to expand and explore ideas and advance an argument or interpretation

Writing

employ a variety of stylistic devices to build a convincing relationship with the reader (eg in non-narrative, consider using asides in brackets)
acknowledge alternative ideas and points of view
improve coherence within and between sections (eg by using discourse markers at the start of one paragraph that link to the point made in the previous paragraph; discourse markers include words like ‘Therefore…’ and ‘Consequently…’)
vary the structure of sentences (especially the openings; consider, for example, starting with a verb – eg ‘Wondering what to do next, he wandered around for some time….’)
use the full range of punctuation

Original section from previous reports follows below:

These points are from the Examiners’ Reports on a recent English SAT.

Spelling. Pupils on level 4 made about 8 spelling errors per 100 words; pupils on level 7 scored 1 spelling error per 100 words.

Sentencing. Pupils on level 4 used full stops correctly in about half their sentences(54%); those on level 7 did so for 92% of their sentences. The majority of errors made are omission (fused sentences); all the other errors are comma splices (joining separate sentences with commas).

Complexity: ‘the results show a clear transition between levels 5 and 6 with pupils gaining level 6 writing longer sentences and using both more co-ordination and more subordination.’ Pupils at level 7 used more adverbs and adjectives.

Paragraphing: ‘there is a major step up in performance between levels 6 and 7’. Paragraphing must reflect an underlying organisation of the writing.

Adverbials: ‘there is an increase with level in the use of adverbials to structure text. This applies most clearly in theuse of adverbials of time and place.’

This is the advice given in the report’s conclusion:

Writing

Pupils achieving level 5 need to:

¦ distinguish where a full stop rather than a comma is required;

¦ improve their organisation and paragraphing in order to guide the reader’s

understanding.

Pupils achieving level 6 need to:

¦ vary their sentence structure, including using noun phrases and non-finite clauses;

¦ provide clear links between paragraphs, eg by using such features as structural patterning and adverbials.

Pupils working at all levels need to:

¦ develop their understanding and use of commas to demarcate clauses and phrases;

¦ focus particularly on the endings of non-narrative texts;

¦ secure their knowledge of the layout and full punctuation of speech;

¦ develop a range of spelling strategies, beyond the phonological, which they can apply to increasingly complex words as their vocabulary expands;

¦ use the possessive apostrophe correctly.

This is the advice they gave to improve the level of reading comprehension:

Paper 1 Reading

Pupils achieving level 5 need to:

¦ comment in detail on the writers’ uses of language and how this affects the presentation of events and atmosphere;

¦ develop their comments in detail, linking points together to construct a well-argued response;

¦ select quotations carefully to support directly the points they are making.

Pupils achieving level 6 need to:

¦ comment on how choices of language and text structure indicate purposes and affect meaning.

Paper 2 Reading (the Shakespeare paper)

Pupils achieving levels 5 and 6 need to:

¦ show understanding of how mood and atmosphere in the scene are created;

¦ consider how structure and language, as well as character and motivation, might affect an audience.

Pupils achieving level 6 need to:

¦ select relevant aspects of language and show how they communicate character, dramatic tension, mood and atmosphere to the audience.