Examiners’ Report

Principal Examiner Feedback

January 2020

Pearson Edexcel International GCSE

In Arabic (First Language) (4AA1) Paper 01:
Reading, Summary and Grammar
Edexcel and BTEC Qualifications

Edexcel and BTEC qualifications are awarded by Pearson, the UK’s largest awarding
body. We provide a wide range of qualifications including academic, vocational,
occupational and specific programmes for employers. For further information visit our
qualifications websites at www.edexcel.com or www.btec.co.uk. Alternatively, you can
get in touch with us using the details on our contact us page at
www.edexcel.com/contactus.

Pearson: helping people progress, everywhere

Pearson aspires to be the world’s leading learning company. Our aim is to help everyone
progress in their lives through education. We believe in every kind of learning, for all
kinds of people, wherever they are in the world. We’ve been involved in education for
over 150 years, and by working across 70 countries, in 100 languages, we have built
an international reputation for our commitment to high standards and raising
achievement through innovation in education. Find out more about how we can help
you and your students at: www.pearson.com/uk

January 2020
Publications Code 4AA1_01_2001_ER
All the material in this publication is copyright
© Pearson Education Ltd 2020
Introduction:

This examination paper has been designed to accommodate a wide range of student
profiles. The International GCSE qualification will be graded and certificated on a nine-
grade scale from 9 to 1, where the total subject mark having 9 as the highest grade and 1
being the lowest.

In general, there are no changes to the question’s styles from legacy to reformed
specification except for questions 4, 8 and 9 in component where the students were
expected to be well-versed in language rhetoric, structural linguistic and literary analysis.

General:

This paper carries a maximum of 75 marks, with the questions relating to themes that
consist of:

• Youth Matters
• Education
• Media
• Culture
• Sport & Leisure
• Travel & Tourism
• Business, work & Development
• Environment
• Health
• Technology

The content and the structure of the question paper has a few changes as the question
paper consists of two parts - the text booklet and the answer booklet. The reformed paper
comprises of three sections just like the legacy one, but there are a few changes in the
content of each section and in the allocation of marks. The marks which were allocated for
part 1 is 51 marks.
Part one of this paper in the reformed specification has nine questions based on two unseen
passages. Questions 1 to 4 are based on the first text; questions 5 to 8 are based on the
second text and question 9 is designed to require the candidates to compare between the
two texts. The allocation of marks for these questions are as follows:

• Questions 1 & 5 - 1 mark each.

• Questions 2 & 6 - 2 marks each.
• Questions 3 & 7 - 4 marks each.
• Questions 4 & 8 - 10 marks each.
• Question 9 - 15 marks.

Questions 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 are comprehensive questions targeting candidates of all abilities.

Questions 4 & 8 have identical rubrics, except that each is based on a different text. These
questions require the candidates to apply rhetoric and literary analysis to the texts. These
two questions are completely new to candidates.
Question 9 requires the candidates to apply literary and rhetoric analysis to compare
between the texts. Again, this is new and was not covered by their syllabus when preparing
to take the legacy exam.
Part 2 of this paper consists of one text, and the candidates are required to summarise it.
There are 6 marks allocated to this section. Although the total time allocated to this paper is
two hours and 15 minutes, candidates on page 11 in the new specification, were expected
and advised to spend half an hour answering it.
Part 3 is the grammar section and this part consists of four questions. They are comparable
to the four grammar questions in the legacy specification with regard to their level of
demand.

Comments on Individual Questions:

Question 1:
Generally, candidates’ responses to this question were good and it seemed that they had
found the text interesting and relevant. The majority of candidates scored high marks for
this question as they understood the text and the question was fair and relatable.
Question 2:
The majority of the candidates were able to extract the correct answers from the text
with a correct evidence from the text. They were mostly quite well answered.
Question 3:
Q3a: There were a number of candidates that demonstrated a very good understanding
of this topic ‫العلم والتقنية‬. They clearly understood and responded fully to the task by
mentioning the relation between science and technology. They give full description and
express opinions as appropriate to the task.
Q3b: A great percentage of candidates were able to get the right answer whereas some
students misunderstood the task and could not get the right quotation:
"‫" قيام اإلنسان بعمل علمي ناجح يسهم في تطوير العلم وتحفيز الباحثين‬
Question 4 and 8:
These two questions were difficult for the majority of the candidates, as most of them
wrote a lot but did not manage to relate to the correct answer. Subsequently, their
marks were weak. The questions were about the use of sentences and words in the text,
as it is a new exam in the style of writing ‫ البالغة‬which requires a high level of proficiency
in the knowledge of the language. In this series, the mark scheme listed a detailed point
of the answers, however, it was difficult for candidates who were not prepared for this
type of question. A majority of candidates listed the SAM as how they were memorized
prior to the exam where in fact they should have consolidated their answer with
evidences from the texts. For example, for question 4 if they had said the writer used the
‫ السجع‬they should write the example from the text ‫" جودتها وزيادتها" هي‬.

‫لهذا فشل بعض الطلبة في التحليل البالغي للنص واكتفى في عرض معلومات عامة حفظوها في علم البالغة بدون تطبيقها بشكل‬
.‫صحيح على النص وهذا ما أثر سلبا على درجاتهم‬

Question 5:
Most students understood the text ‫ مواقع التواصل االجتماعي‬and the answer for this question
was straight forward and the majority of candidates gave right answers to achieve the
one mark.

Question 6:
The majority of the candidates had no difficulty to give a good answer using the first
bullet point as a quotation. However, the second quotation which was shown in mark
scheme was rarely used. Generally, this question was fair and valid.
Question 7a:
 Most the students answered this question correctly as it is targeting all levels of learning.
The answer is clear and easy to answer. There are three expecting answers and the
students managed to mention both of them
Question 7b:
This question was slightly complicated and a high percentage of candidates were unable
to provide the correct answers and some struggling to provide it with a quotation of the
text. The question could have possibly been ambiguous to a large number of the
candidates. There were four correct answers and the students aim was to mention one
of them with a specific evidence quotation.
Question 9:
There were a number of candidates that demonstrated a good understanding of this
question in this series in comparison to the last exam in June 2019. The students were
able to give the correct comparison between the styles of the two authors with
evidences from the texts. They looked for similarities and differences between the
sentences’ structures ،‫ تراكيب الجمل‬the use of tenses ‫استعمال األزمنة‬, ‫األساليب البالغية والمحسنات البديعية‬,
and finally in the use of language ‫استعمال األلفاظ الكلمات‬. Other candidates had difficulties and
failed to provide adequate responses with evidence of mostly rhetorical comparison.
Question 10:
This question was relatively easy; the majority of the candidates did not find it difficult to
sum up the article “ ‫ ”إبدأ بالقليل‬and they had no difficulty to use good Arabic and correct
grammar in their answers. Their marks varied between 4 and 6.
Question 11:
Some candidates found this question easy to complete by extracting the correct answers
from the text. This question provided candidates with the opportunity to gain easy
marks. However. a large number of students did not succeed in answering the correct
way, and therefore did not achieve the full marks.
Question 12:
The majority of the candidates provided good responses to this question as they were
able to use the correct structure of the word according to their position in the sentences.
Others struggled with providing the correct word format in their answers. Examples of
this were through the use of the word ‫ كلمتان‬rather than ‫ كلمتين‬as it should have been
written.
Question 13:
This question was relatively easy and most of candidates obtained full marks. A small
percentage failed to provide good responses. Instead of ‫صفة مجرورة بالكسرة الظاهرة على أخرها‬,
candidates wrote ‫ مضاف اليه‬in question 13d and in question 13e, instead of writing ‫ظرف‬
‫ زمان منصوب‬they wrote ‫مفعول به منصوب‬.
Question 14:
This question includes a set of grammatical rules that the candidates must know. A good
number of students answered correctly and took the full marks, whereas others failed to
provide the correct answers. Examples of these were in part a, where they wrote ‫المزارعين‬
‫ ناشطون‬rather than ‫المزارعون ناشطين‬, in part b where they wrote ‫لم يجني‬rather than ّ‫لم يجن‬, in part
c writing ‫ لن يبيعوا التجار السكر‬rather than,‫ التجار لن يبيعوا‬and in part d where they wrote ‫لعل الناس‬
‫شاكرين‬rather than ‫لعل الناس شاكرون‬
Some students also found it difficult to answer 14e.

Advice to centres:

• Centres should inform their candidates that they should not answer in the transcript
booklet as it will not be scanned for marking.
 • Centres are advised to remind the candidates to write in black pen clearly and legibly.
• Candidates should be informed that the marking is done electronically, so they
should answer the questions in the allocated space. Some candidates have
answered question 8 in the space of question 9 and vice versa and that has affected
the marking procedure. Extra clear writing paper was provided after the answer for
question 9, so the candidate should not use this space for any other question as the
computer will not show it for question 8 or any other questions, as the computer
only shows the page allocated for the answer of question only.
• Centres are also reminded to use past papers, mark schemes, SAM, and examiner’s
reports.
• Centres should remind students to pay attention to the rubric of each question and
specifically grammar questions.
• Centres should inform their candidates to show a clear understanding of questions
which need quotes from evidence of the text in their answers as question 2, 6, 3b,
7b. The quotation should be clear through the use of the quotation sign “ ”.

Pearson Education Limited. Registered company number 872828

with its registered office at 80 Strand, London, WC2R 0RL, United Kingdom