1. Analysis of the Bagrut Exams June 2010 Rina Akotonas,, Access Project Director Ahuva Dotan, English Counselor

2. What did we choose to show? The complexity of certain Reading Passages The complexity of certain questions : 1.the way they are formulated, 2.the time the answers would take, 3.the intellectual effort they demand.

3. MODULE C http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/Mazkirut_Pedagogit/English/Bagrut/2010.htm Title : students may not guess the implications easily. First Sentence – the topic becomes familiar. Question 1. – TWO possible answers Question 2. – the key word is ‘persuaded’ Question 3. Teach the students that there are two answers,one will appear at the beginning of the paragraph and one at the end.

4. Question 4.ii and iv are confusing – the students tend to confuse how with why. Question 7. It demands rewriting skills – must has been replaced with should ( Is it the same ? ) Question 8. No paragraph is mentioned, so the students have to scan the questions and the text, which may waste a lot of time. Teach them to leave this kind of question for the end.

5. MODULE D http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/Mazkirut_Pedagogit/English/Bagrut/2010.htm Reading Passage Question 2.Demands rewriting. Teach that skill in class. Question 3.Demands drawing conclusions and complete a given sentence. Question 5. Demands working on two paragraphs’ main idea and writing.

6. Writing A Description is the most difficult skill in writing. Most teachers deal with writing an informal letter and dislike dealing with a description. We feel the students didn’t do well in writing because they haven’t been trained on describing. Please refer to the booklet developed by Access Teachers on Amal Site.

7. MODULE E http://cms.education.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/74F75C10-3086-4030-9DBC- C5DCC66C294C/118203/D0161060610.pdf Reading Passage The title is familiar. Question 1. The word ‘explained ‘ needs to be clear. Question 6. Again the word ‘ understand ‘ may create a difficulty. Make sure the students control the key words in a question.

8. Question 8. ‘convenience ‘ is a tricky word here. Listening http://cms.education.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/74F75C10-3086-4030-9DBC- C5DCC66C294C/118203/D0161060610.pdf