Paper 3: Listening, reading and writing in Arabic — Edexcel A-Level Arabic
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Paper 3: Listening, reading and writing in Arabic explained
In Paper 3 you read or hear Arabic material in which people express opinions, then write an extended Arabic response that weighs those views and reaches your own reasoned conclusion.
Read the full explanation
Evaluating means judging how convincing each point of view is: you consider the evidence, reasoning and possible bias behind it, compare competing views, and decide which carries more weight and why. Drawing conclusions means stating a clear overall judgement that follows from that evaluation, not merely summarising the sources. For example, if two speakers disagree about the benefits of city life, you would set out each position, test the support offered, note any weakness or assumption, and then commit to a justified verdict in your own words. Accurate Arabic, range of vocabulary and grammatical control matter, but the decisive skill is sustained critical reasoning anchored in the material.
Your focus
- Evaluate competing points of view from Arabic source material by weighing evidence and reasoning.
- Draw and justify a clear overall conclusion in extended written Arabic.
- Sustain accurate, varied and coherent Arabic to communicate critical judgement.
Paper 3: Listening, reading and writing in Arabic exam tips
Marking Points
- Identifies the relevant points of view expressed in the Arabic source material and represents each one accurately.
- Evaluates each view by weighing the supporting evidence, reasoning, assumptions or possible bias rather than simply restating it.
- Compares or contrasts competing points of view and explains which is more persuasive and on what grounds.
- Draws a clear, justified overall conclusion that follows logically from the evaluation and is expressed in the learner's own Arabic.
- Sustains accurate and varied Arabic, including appropriate connectives and opinion or evaluation language, so the argument is coherent.
- Organises the response so that evaluation and conclusion are clearly signposted and developed, not left implicit.
Examiner Tips
- 💡Before writing, list each point of view and one evaluative comment for it so your plan already contains judgement, not just content.
- 💡Use precise Arabic evaluation phrases to signal weighing and conclusion, and vary them so the argument does not become repetitive.
- 💡Reserve time to reread your response and check that the conclusion genuinely follows from the evaluation and that grammar and spelling are accurate.
Common Mistakes
- Summarising the points of view instead of evaluating them: the correction is to add judgement, weighing evidence and stating which view is stronger and why.
- Offering a personal opinion with no link to the source material: the correction is to anchor every evaluative claim in a specific point of view from the Arabic stimulus.
- Ending without an explicit conclusion, or with a conclusion that contradicts the evaluation: the correction is to state one clear overall verdict that follows from the reasoning given.
- Treating all views as equally valid and refusing to judge: the correction is to commit to a reasoned position while still acknowledging counter-arguments.