Before you use any task checklist, match it to your exam year. Cambridge issues syllabuses for a run of years, and a checklist built for one run may not describe the tasks you will meet in another. The year on your entry statement tells you which syllabus document applies.
This lesson follows finding your code. The code and the year together tell you which guidance to trust.
What is a task checklist, and why can it age?
A task checklist is a list of steps or features for a kind of task: for example, “email: greeting, reason for writing, three points, polite close”. Teachers, books and websites all make them.
A checklist ages when the task description, format or assessment details are updated. Skills such as paragraphing or careful proofreading stay stable. Details such as the number of parts, how a task is set out or how it is judged are the parts to verify.
How to check a checklist, step by step
- Note your code and exam year from your statement.
- Find the source’s year. Look for a syllabus year range, a publication date or an “updated for” note. If none is given, treat the checklist as unknown.
- Open the syllabus page for your code. Find the document that covers your exam year.
- Compare the parts of the checklist that describe format or assessment against that document.
- Label each line: matches, differs, or cannot check yet.
- Keep the lines that only describe skills, and ask your centre about any you could not check.
Worked example
Mei Ling is entered for October/November 2027. She finds a writing checklist with no year on it.
Her notes look like this:
| Checklist line | Type | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Plan for two minutes before writing | Skill habit | Keep |
| Include a clear opening and closing | Skill habit | Keep |
| A fixed number of tasks in one sitting | Format detail | Cannot check yet: look at the syllabus |
| A stated word range for one task | Format detail | Cannot check yet: look at the syllabus |
She keeps the two habits, opens the syllabus document for her year and checks the two format lines. If they differ, she updates the checklist and writes the year beside the title.
The mistake to watch for
Mistaken reasoning: “The checklist is well presented and popular, so it must be right for my exam.”
Good presentation does not show that it was written for your syllabus year.
The correction is to treat the year as part of the checklist, like the expiry date on a medicine bottle. No year, no trust for format details.
Check yourself
1. A checklist has no date. Which lines can you use straight away?
Show answer
The lines that describe general skills, such as planning and proofreading. Lines about format or assessment need checking against your syllabus first.
2. Where do you find the exam year that applies to you?
Show answer
On your entry statement from the school or centre, then match it to the syllabus document that covers that year on the Cambridge page for your code.
3. Your checklist says “Syllabus years 2024 to 2026” and your exam is in 2028. What should you do?
Show answer
Treat the format details as possibly out of date, open the syllabus document that covers 2028 and compare line by line.
Where this leads next
Some questions cannot be settled from documents. See how to raise route questions with your school or centre. The summary selection studio and writing revision compare view help you update a checklist and compare versions.
A teacher in online one-to-one English as a Second Language tuition can go through your checklist with the syllabus open beside it.