S3 ENGLISH NATIONAL EXAMINATION MARKING GUIDE, 2024

Section A: Reading Comprehension (30 marks)

Part I: Reading Comprehension (15 marks)
1. Choose the best answer among the given alternatives. (10 marks)
a) When can items of clothing be expensive?
iii) When it is a well-known brand or design.
b) What kind of job requires workers to wear protective clothing?
ii) Construction workers
c) How do some youths usually like to wear their clothes?
ii) Tight
d) What type of clothing is worn in times of celebration?
i) Formal
e) Who is more likely to wear baggy clothing?
iii) Pregnant ladies
2. a) Why is it a good thing for elderly people to wear more comfortable shoes? (2 marks)
Comfortable shoes allow them to walk with ease as they are old and it is difficult for them to remain
steady.
b) Do you think that it's a good thing for parents to advise young people on what to wear? Why? (3 marks)
Answer can be “Yes” or “No”. Consider the candidate’s opinion and give 1 mark for “Yes/No” and 2 marks
for the supporting idea. (1 or more ideas)
Note: - When a candidate gives the answer “yes” or “no” but he/she fails to give the reason, award 1
mark for “yes” or “no”.

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 - If a candidate uses other words which can show that he/she accepts or refuses without using “yes”
or “no”, mark him/her.

Part II: Vocabulary (15 marks)

3. Fill in the gaps with the words from the box. (5 marks)
a) The government gets foreign exchange from visitors who come to Rwanda.
b) The act of people travelling to places of interest is called tourism.
c) A person who serves in a hotel is a waiter.
d) A person who takes tourists to places of interest is a tour guide.
e) This year's annual excursion will be to Nyungwe national park.
4. Choose the correct answer and complete the sentences. (5 marks)
a) borrow
b) owe
c) lent
d) to withdraw
e) can’t afford

5. Fill in the gaps with the appropriate form of the word given in the brackets. (5 marks)
a) My suggestion was not acceptable/accepted to others. (accept)
b) She is a dignified/digne/dignitary old lady. (dignity)
c) Smoking is not permitted/permissible in public places. (permit)
d) His determination helped him succeed. (determine)

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e) The authority found his behavior suspicious/suspeciously. (suspicion)

SECTION B: LANGUAGE STRUCTURE (40 MARKS)

6. Use the correct connector to fill the gaps. (5 marks)
a) I slept after/since my grandmother finished telling the story.
(iii) after/(i)since
b) To encourage their leader, the animals cheered as/then he talked.
(ii) as/(iii)
c) Chameleon married the girl because it was assumed that he had arrived before Hare did.
(i) before
d) Hare felt cheated after/as he lost the girl.
(ii) as/ (iii) after
e) The father agreed to give his daughter to Chameleon as he arrived first.
(ii) as/(iii) after
7. Rewrite the sentences below as instructed in the brackets without changing their meaning. (5 marks)
a) - Neither the taxi driver nor the passengers knew that such a situation could lead one to prison.
- Neither did the taxi driver nor the passengers know that such a situation could lead one to prison.
b) Free mark
c) - Every bird that flies has wings.
- Every flying bird has wings.
- Every bird flying has wings.

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 d) - Henry is said to be 100 years old.
- Henry is said to be 100 years old (by people).
- Henry is said to be 100 years.
- “Henry is 100 years old”, people say.
- Henry is 100 years old as people said.
e) - John is not only a hardworking man but also a loving father.
- John is not only a hardworking man but he is also a loving father
- Not only is John a hardworking man but also a loving father.
- Not only is John a hardworking man but he is also a loving father

8. Choose the correct tense of the verbs in brackets: the present simple or continuous form. (6 marks)
This first person with the cigarette is Ben. He still (a) smokes about twenty a day. And next to him is his
girlfriend, Amy. They (b) are working in Cameroon at the moment with a voluntary organization. They (c) don't
want to stay there forever but for now, they really (d) free mark themselves. And this last person with the tie
is Anton. He never usually (e) wears a tie so I think it was a joke. Anyway, he (f) is staying with me for a couple
of weeks so maybe you’ll meet him.

9. Insert a preposition where necessary. (5 marks)

a) He asked his father for money.
b) Most people in Africa depend on/upon agriculture.
c) They succeeded in escaping from the burning house.
d) She gave him the wrong book by mistake.

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10. Put the regular verbs below in the column which corresponds with their past tense sound of the last
'ed'. (5 marks)
/t/: worked, laughed
/d/: judged
/id/: started, visited

11. Choose the correct alternative to fill in the blank space in each of the following sentences. (5 marks)
a) He ate the whole cake by himself.
b) Is everyone ready to begin the exam?
c) You must sign each of these letters.
d) I've never met anyone I like more than Jonathan.
e) I've been working hard all day and now I'm exhausted.

12. Choose the best option from the given alternatives to fill the blank space in each of the following
sentences. (4 marks)
a) No matter how hard she tried, her boss always complained about her work.
(i) No matter
b) He consistently refused to take his medicine and consequently his illness has gotten worse.
(v) consequently

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c) When Sir Richard Burton set out on his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1854, no one knew whether he would return
alive.
(ii) whether
d) On the other hand, I have never understood why leisure industry, instead of using their imaginations, people
have to rely on the.
(iii) why

13. State whether each of the following statements is True or False. (2 marks)
a) We measure weight in kilograms. True
b) We measure area in meters. False (Area is measured in square meters.)
c) We measure length in square meters. False (Length is measured in meters.)
d) We measure volume in liters. Free mark.

14. Complete each of the following sentences with an appropriate term. (3 marks)
a) In ancient Rwanda, the exchange of goods for other goods was called barter trade/barter
system/bartering/barter trade system/barter.
b) A period of 1000 years is known as a millennium.
c) The anniversary of 50 years is called a golden jubilee/a golden anniversary/a golden/jubilee/a gold/a
half century anniversary.

Note: Don’t penalize a candidate about spelling. Every spelling is tolerated.

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SECTION C: SUMMARY WRITING (10 MARKS)
15. Read the following text and summarize it in not more than 100 words.
Possible Titles:
- The impact of social media on teenagers/youth,
- Effects of social media,
- Impact of social media,
- Social media channels,
- Social media.

Note: Any other relevant title to the text is welcome.

Possible ideas
NEGATIVE
- Damaging sleep to teenagers,
- Increasing of psychological risks,
- Social media is harmful to health,
- Spending too much time on social media.
POSITIVE
- Social media gives quick access information,
- Getting information from others,
- Social media is used for entertainment,
- Social media is used for research.

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Note: A candidate is penalized when he/she used “I” personal pronoun by removing 1 mark from the marks of
ideas.

SECTION D: COMPOSITION WRITING (20 MARKS)

TOPIC (a)
Possible titles
- My best economic activity;
- The best economic activity to me;
- My economy;
- My economic activity;
- Trading as my economic activity;
- Farming;
- Agriculture as my economic activity;
- My favorite economic activity;
- Fashion design;
- Film production;
- Hair dressing;
- Culinary arts,
- Teaching,
- Music industry,
- etc. …..
Possible ideas

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 - Transportation;
- Food security;
- Employment;
- Investment;
- Farming;
- Marketing;
- Selling;
- Economic activity provides jobs;
- It provides money;
- It provides food;
- It increases employment level,
- It reduces poverty;
- It increases family’s development status;
- It may result to positive relationship among people;
- It helps in expansion of knowledge, skills and experiences;
- It can provide raw materials needed to industries;
- It may increase the country’s taxes;
- etc. ……

TOPIC (b)
Possible titles
Advantages of being self-employed

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 - Good of being self-employed;
- Importance of being self-employed;
- Good things to be self-employed;
- Being self-employed;
- Self-employment;
- Owning a business
- etc. …..
Disadvantages of being self-employed
- Challenges of being self-employed;
- Difficulties of being self-employed;
- Barriers of being self-employed;
- Demerits of being self-employed;
- Negative effects of being self-employed;
- Self-employment;
- etc. ….
Possible ideas
- Being self-employed leads to expansion of knowledge and skills;
- Being self-employed leads to personal benefits;
- The owner is the boss and manager;
- Being self-employed enables creativity and innovation;
- Being self-employed encourages time management;
- It makes someone motivated;

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 - It provides flexibility (you can set your own hours, choose when and where to work and create a
work life balance);
- The owner has ability to hire workers;
- The owner is the decision maker and risk taker;
- The loss is not shared;
- It leads to the failure when the owner is unskilled;
- It leads to the failure when there is insufficient capital;
- It leads to the failure if the owner is not flexible;
- It leads to the failure when the owner has not a good plan of his/her business;
- It leads to pressure due to working extra-time;
- etc. …

Note: A candidate who chose two or more activities in one composition, mark every idea. (e.g: paragraph
1: Agriculture; Bee keeping; shopping, ….)

TOPIC (c): LETTER WRITING

Possible ideas
- Providing jobs;
- Reducing malnutrition and stunting;
- Reducing unemployment;
- Reducing poverty among citizens;
- Attracting tourists;

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 - Improving country’s development;
- Reducing poaching;
- Availability of pastures;
- It makes the area remarkable/famous or well-known;
- etc. ….
Note: Any address (without using NSHUTI Lenny) must be marked.

SUMMARY WRITING MARKING SCHEME

Title: 1
Body: 1
Ideas: 6
Coherence: 1
Length: 1
Scale for Coherence
Ideas’ marks Coherence marks
6 marks 1 mark
4 marks 0.5 mark
2 marks 0 mark

Scale for Length

Words Marks
50-100 words 1 mark

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30-49 words 0.5 mark
0-29 words 0 mark
101 and above 0 mark

NOTES:
1. If candidates copy the whole text, award them 0.
2. Outlining or numbering deserves 0 mark for summary and composition but if a candidate numbers or
outlines the paragraphs mark it.
3. If the candidates skip any sentence/ paragraph of the text, give them marks but penalize them on
the length.
4. Any candidate who provides three or more points on one side (positive or negative related to social
media), deserves full marks.
5. In case we meet a summary which does not have any punctuation mark, ignore punctuation and mark
it.

COMPOSITION WRITING MARKING SCHEME

Section D: Composition Writing (20 marks)
Topics (a) and (b)
- Title: 1
- Paragraphing: 1
- Margins: 1
- Neatness: 1
- Introduction: 2

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 - Ideas: 6 (3 well developed ideas)
- Conclusion: 2
- Language use: 2
- Coherence: 2
- Length: 2

Scale for Coherence

Ideas’ marks Coherence marks
5 - 6 marks 2 marks
3 - 4 marks 1 mark
0 - 2 marks 0 mark

Scale for Length

Words Marks
200 - 300 words 2 marks
150 - 199 words 1 mark
100 - 149 words 0.5 mark
301 – 350 words 1 mark
351 – 400 words 0.5 mark
401 and above 0 mark
0 – 99 too short 0 mark

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Scale for Language Use
Mistakes Marks
0 – 50 mistakes 2 marks
51 – 70 mistakes 1 mark
71 –100 mistakes 0.5 mark
101 and above 0 mark

TOPIC (c): Letter Writing

LETTER WRITING MARKING SCHEME
- Sender’s Address: 0.5
- Date: 0.5
- Salutation: 1
- Conclusion (Ending): 0.5
- Signature and name: 0.5
- Margins: 1
- Neatness: 1
- Introduction: 2
- Body (ideas): 6
- Conclusion: 2
- Grammar& language use: 3
- Coherence: 2

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Scale for language use
Mistakes Marks
0 – 50 mistakes 3 marks
51 – 70 mistakes 2 marks
71 –100 mistakes 1 mark
101 and above 0 mark

Notes:
1. Any candidate who provides three or more developed/explained ideas on one side (advantages or
disadvantages) deserves 6 marks.
2. If a candidate provides one non developed/explained idea, he/she deserves a half mark (1/2 marks).
3. A composition is considered to be too short when it has below 100 words, it deserves 0 mark for
language use and length.
4. In case we meet a composition which does not have any punctuation mark, mark ideas but penalize
those punctuations in language use.
5. Outlining or numbering deserves 0 mark for summary and composition but if a candidate numbers or
outlines the paragraphs, mark it.
6. In case of irrelevant composition, award marks of title if it is there and margin.

Marking order
FOR 5 MARKERS:
Marker 1: Q1, Q2&Q3+Q16 (Composition)
Marker 2: Q4, Q5&Q6+ Q16 (Composition)

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 Marker 3: Q7, Q8&Q9+ Q16 (Composition)
Marker 4: Q10, Q11&Q12+ Q16 (Composition)
Marker 5: Q13, Q14&Q15+ Q16 (Composition)
FOR 4 MARKERS:
Marker 1: Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4+Q16 (Composition)
Marker 2: Q5, Q6, Q7+Q16 (Composition)
Marker 3: Q8, Q9, Q10, Q11+Q16 (Composition)
Marker 4: Q12, Q13, Q14, Q15+ Q16 (Composition)

CROSSMARKING
4 markers
Marker 1 crossmarks marker 3
Marker 2 crossmarks marker 4
Marker 3 crossmarks marker 2
Marker 4 crossmarks marker 1
5 markers
Marker 1 crossmarks marker 4
Marker 2 crossmarks marker 3
Marker 3 crossmarks marker 5
Marker 4 crossmarks marker 2
Marker 5 crossmarks marker 1

Be careful:
In multiple choice questions, if the candidate writes the draft and fair copy, consider only the
fair copy. If some numbers are missing in the final copy but found in the draft, mark them and
add those marks to the ones of the final copy.

END

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