Raise standard of editing section in O-level exam

There is room for improvement in the O-level English examination and, in particular, the editing section of the paper (GCE O-and A-level exams are based on Singapore curriculum, by SEAB; March 13).

The editing segment of the paper has become far too easy.

The O levels in the 1960s had a far higher standard of testing students' editing skills. Students like myself had to edit a passage without any clues as to the number of errors in a passage or line.

An exercise focusing on the ability of students to pick out flaws in writing will hone their English skills and hopefully produce graduates who know the difference between "site" and "cite" or "trust" and "thrust", for example.

Lowering the standard of the editing section does students no favours. Something must be done or we will be seeing more notices written in poor English on display islandwide.

Phillip Tan Fong Lip

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on March 15, 2018, with the headline Raise standard of editing section in O-level exam. Subscribe