1. Paper structure
The format has not changed in any session from 2022 to 2026. Every exercise kept the same question numbers, the same mark split and the same word targets.
| Component | Duration | Marks | What it contains |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1 Reading and Writing | 2 h | 60 | Exercise 1: an article + 6 short-answer questions (Q1–6, 8 marks). Exercise 2: four paragraphs A–D + 9 "which paragraph says this?" tick-box items (Q7–15, 9). Exercise 3: a longer article + 4 note-making questions under headings (Q16–19, 9). Exercise 4: a summary of about 100 words built from your Exercise 3 notes (Q20, 10: 4 content, 6 language). Exercise 5: an email of about 120 words covering three bullet points (Q21, 8: 3 content, 5 language). Exercise 6: an opinion article of about 200 words with two speech-bubble prompts (Q22, 16: 8 content, 8 language). |
| Paper 2 Listening | about 35–45 min | 30 | Exercise 1: eight short recordings, one short written answer each (Q1–8, 8). Exercise 2: a talk or report, fill 8 gaps in notes with one or two words (Q9(a)–(h), 8). Exercise 3: six speakers matched to seven opinions A–G (Q10, 6). Exercise 4: an interview with 8 three-option multiple-choice questions (Q11–18, 8). You hear everything twice. |
| Speaking (Component 05) | about 10 min | 60 | Presentation, topic conversation and general conversation. Graded separately (1 to 5) and not part of the grade below. Not analysed here. |
| Overall grade | 90 | Papers 1 + 2. |
All questions are compulsory, there is no choice, and dictionaries are not allowed. The only small change is in 2022, when Exercise 2 used four named experts instead of paragraphs labelled A–D (see Trends).
2. Topic weights
The figures below are marks from all 10 papers (5 sessions × Papers 1 and 2, 450 marks).
| Topic | Share of marks | Sessions examined (of 5) | Marks per session |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading comprehension (short answers, matching, note-making) | 28.9% | 5 | 26 / 90 |
| Composition (opinion article) | 17.8% | 5 | 16 / 90 |
| Summary writing | 11.1% | 5 | 10 / 90 |
| Directed writing (email) | 8.9% | 5 | 8 / 90 |
| Listening: short extracts | 8.9% | 5 | 8 / 90 |
| Listening: note completion | 8.9% | 5 | 8 / 90 |
| Listening: interview (multiple choice) | 8.9% | 5 | 8 / 90 |
| Listening: speaker matching | 6.7% | 5 | 6 / 90 |
In short: reading is about 29% of the grade, writing in Urdu about 38% (article, summary, email) and listening a third. The opinion article alone is worth almost a fifth of the grade.
3. Bankers
Every one of these appeared in all five sessions, with the same numbers and marks:
- The opinion article (Q22, 16 marks). A statement in quotation marks, "how far do you agree?", about 200 words, written for a school magazine or a youth website, with two opposing speech bubbles.
- Note-making then summary (Q16–20, 19 marks together). The summary always asks for two aspects of the Exercise 3 text, usually a problem and a solution, or a harm and a benefit.
- The three-bullet email (Q21, 8 marks). About 120 words, one content mark per bullet.
- Paragraph matching (Q7–15) and six short answers (Q1–6) on Paper 1.
- All four listening tasks, always in the same order: short extracts, gap-fill notes, speaker matching, interview.
4. Rarely tested
- Formal or semi-formal emails. Only 2022 (an email to a teacher about a book fair). Since 2023 every email has been to a friend or cousin.
- Matching by person. Only 2022 used four named experts (dentists) instead of paragraphs A–D.
- Stories, letters, speeches, dialogues and reports have never been set. The long writing task is always an opinion article.
- Grammar exercises, cloze, idioms and translation are not part of 0539 at all (they are in O Level 3248). Grammar and vocabulary are tested only through your writing.
5. Trends
- Exercise 1 texts are usually about a place or a famous achievement: ancient Sumerian writing in Iraq (2022), a theatre for blind people in Moscow (2023), a personal air-travel story (2024), Shimshal valley and its village self-help system (2025), the underground city of Derinkuyu in Turkey (2026).
- Exercise 2 (matching) texts are often biographies or histories: dentistry (2022), Owney the postal dog (2023), how news writing developed (2024), crow intelligence (2025), Louis Braille (2026).
- Exercise 3 (notes and summary) is a science or social issue: eagles and falcons (2022), insects (2023), acid versus natural fertiliser in farming (2024), learning a new language (2025), tourism in Antarctica (2026). Environment and nature come up often.
- Opinion topics are close to teenagers' lives: friendship (2022), school uniform (2023), whether zoos should close (2024), mobile phones for under-16s (2025), life skills such as cooking and shopping in the school curriculum (2026). Since 2025 the article has been for a youth website, not a school magazine.
- Email topics are school or leisure events: a book fair, online versus school study, joining a drama club, a healthy holiday programme, a cricket World Cup match in your city.
- Listening draws on everyday life. Short extracts are about shopping, travel, doctors and parties. The report is a factual talk: school subjects, Malta, ants, coffee, Sri Lanka. The speaker-matching is about opinions on holidays, stories, learning English, life decisions or sport. The interview is with a well-known person: a magazine editor, a hockey player, a YouTube blogger, an actress, a TV drama writer.
- Grade boundaries rose in 2024 and then came down again in 2025–2026 (see section 8).
6. Question styles
- Short-answer reading questions start with question words such as "why", "how", "what change" or "which". The mark tells you how many details to give. Questions ask for "two things" when there are 2 marks.
- Paragraph matching: tick A, B, C or D for each statement. One mark each, and a paragraph can be the answer more than once.
- Note-making: short bullet notes under a heading such as "two reasons", "three effects" or "benefits". You get 2 or 3 marks, one per correct point.
- Summary: about 100 words, in your own words as far as possible, covering two aspects equally. 4 marks for content and 6 for language.
- Email: cover every bullet, use the right register for a friend, and write in paragraphs. 3 marks for content and 5 for language.
- Opinion article: "how far do you agree?" You can argue one side or both. Use the speech bubbles and add your own ideas. 8 marks for content and 8 for language.
- Listening: one- or two-word answers or short phrases, gap-fills that must fit the grammar of the sentence, letter-matching and ticking one box out of three. Spelling only needs to be clear enough that the meaning cannot be mistaken.
7. Common mistakes
These come from the June 2022, 2023 and 2025 examiner reports.
- Answering in the wrong place. Some candidates wrote the answer to one question under another, for example Q1's answer under Q2.
- Incomplete answers. The most common reason for lost marks in Exercise 1 and in the notes was giving one detail when two or three were needed, or leaving out a key word (such as "need", "achievable" or "pesticides").
- Answering a different question. Examples include writing about the importance of insects when the question asked about the effects of losing them, or giving the present situation when it asked about the past. Read the heading exactly.
- Summary too long or off-topic. Points placed after the word limit were not credited. Many candidates added an introduction that repeated irrelevant facts, or copied sentences from the text, which costs language marks.
- Missing an email bullet. Each bullet left out loses one of the 3 content marks. The report suggests one short paragraph per bullet.
- Article not focused on the statement. Essays that ignored the title or did not reach a conclusion missed the top band. Both one-sided and balanced answers are fine.
- English words. Avoid English or English words written in Urdu script, except for names and places.
- Listening: writing a gap-fill word that does not fit the sentence grammatically, ticking two boxes, or not crossing out a changed matching letter clearly. Use ordinary numbers if you are unsure of Urdu numerals.
- Untidy handwriting. Examiners can only credit what they can read.
8. Grade thresholds
Overall marks needed out of 90 (Papers 01 + 02):
| Session | A* | A | B | C | D | E | F | G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2022 | 81 | 72 | 63 | 55 | 46 | 38 | 30 | 22 |
| June 2023 | 80 | 71 | 60 | 50 | 42 | 34 | 26 | 18 |
| June 2024 | 83 | 76 | 69 | 62 | 52 | 42 | 31 | 20 |
| June 2025 | 77 | 69 | 61 | 54 | 45 | 36 | 26 | 16 |
| June 2026 | 78 | 69 | 60 | 52 | 44 | 36 | 28 | 20 |
Component A grade boundaries: Paper 1 (out of 60) was 46, 46, 49, 46 and 44. Paper 2 (out of 30) was 26, 25, 27, 23 and 25. An A* needs about 86–92% and an A about 77–84%, so strong candidates cannot afford many slips.
9. Revision priorities for Oct/Nov 2026 and 2027
- The opinion article (16 marks). Practise "how far do you agree?" topics on school, technology, health, animals and lifestyle. Plan an introduction, two or three developed paragraphs and a conclusion that answers the statement, in about 200 words. Use the speech bubbles and add your own ideas.
- Notes and summary (19 marks). Practise pulling exact points under headings, then joining them into about 100 words in your own words. Cover both aspects and leave out any introduction.
- Listening (30 marks). Listen to Urdu news, interviews and talks every week. Practise writing short answers quickly and spelling common words correctly. For the multiple choice, listen for the speaker's actual opinion, not just words that also appear in the options.
- The email (8 marks). Give each bullet its own short paragraph, use an informal tone for a friend, and keep to about 120 words. Prepare one semi-formal email (to a teacher) as well.
- Reading technique (18 marks for Exercises 1–2). Count the marks and give that many details. For matching, look for the same idea in different words, not the same words.
- Language quality. Learn a set of linking words, a few idioms and complex sentence patterns. Avoid English words, and check spelling and paragraphing. These are what lift writing into the top band.
Compared with O Level 3248 (Second Language Urdu): both have the same note-making → 100-word summary and paragraph-matching tasks, an email with bullets and an agree-or-disagree opinion article. 0539 adds a listening paper (a third of the grade) and gives more weight to the opinion article (16 of 90). It has no translation, cloze or sentence-rewriting, which together make up about 30% of 3248.