How we got there
Read this like a teacher at the board. We go slowly, name every number, and say why we take each step.
Explain in another language · 11
1. What is the question asking?
Read the question twice. Circle the unknown. Underline every number and unit. The paper is asking: Polelo, Mphato 12. Polelo ye e lokišeditšwego. O šaletšwe ke motsotso o tee eupša o sa le matsenong. O kgaola eng?
In other words — as if you have never seen this before
If you have never seen this before: Mmele o swere dintlha. Matseno ke lefoko le tee goba a mabedi. Phetho ke lefoko le tee. We will name a method in words, write the formula with no numbers, then substitute one line at a time.
2. What do we already know?
Polelo ye e lokišeditšwego. Nako ke karolo ya meputso.
3. Which method — and why this one?
Mmele o swere dintlha. Matseno ke lefoko le tee goba a mabedi. Phetho ke lefoko le tee.
4. Step-by-step working
01 / 06
Ntlha
Go rulagantšwe dintlha tše tharo. Nako o e dirišitše ntlheng ya mathomo.
nakoWhy this step: We only do one job per line so a marker can follow the marks — and so you can find a slip without starting over.
02 / 06
Diriša molao
Bolela ntlha ya bobedi le ya boraro ka lefoko le tee ye nngwe le ye nngwe. Ke moka phetho yeo o e itlwaeditšego.
fetša dintlhaWhy this step: We only do one job per line so a marker can follow the marks — and so you can find a slip without starting over.
03 / 06
Lekola
O se ke wa bala ka lebelo. Go lebelela batheeletši go phala lefoko le le phethagetšego.
kgokaganoWhy this step: We only do one job per line so a marker can follow the marks — and so you can find a slip without starting over.
04 / 06
Step G — Sense-check the size
Ask: is this the kind of number a Grade 10–12 paper would want? A speed of 3 000 ms for a learner walking, or a probability bigger than 1, means a unit or algebra slip. Estimate first: round the numbers and do the sum in your head.
Why this step: Markers write ‘unrealistic’ in the margin when the method is right but the size is wild. A 10-second head check often finds a missing 10² or a unit that never changed.
05 / 06
Step F — Box the answer with its unit
Fetša dintlha tše di šetšego ka bokopana o be o phethe. O se ke wa thoma matseno gape.
Why this step: A number without a unit is half a mark on a Physics paper, and a marker can miss a Maths answer that is buried in working.
06 / 06
Step H — What the marker is looking for
On an NSC memo you usually earn: (1) a method mark for naming the right formula or idea in words, (2) an accuracy mark for substituting the given numbers with units, (3) an accuracy mark for the boxed answer with its unit. Write those three lines even if you are unsure of the arithmetic — blank pages score zero.
Why this step: First-timers chase the final number and leave the method blank. The memo still pays out for the idea and the substitution even when the last line is wrong.
5. The answer
Fetša dintlha tše di šetšego ka bokopana o be o phethe. O se ke wa thoma matseno gape.
6. Check it like a marker
Go bala letlakala ka moka ka go sebela o sa phethe go lahlegelwa ke meputso ye mentši.
7. A trap first-timers fall into
First-timers often grab the first formula they remember, mix units (cm with m, minutes with seconds), or drop a minus sign. Write the formula in words first: “this equals that, because…”