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The wrap-up: 13 of 13
One real mistake per task — grounded in exactly how each one is graded — plus the single habit that catches most of them.
Build a Sentence: the real mistake
Capitalization and a missing period don't cost you — grading strips punctuation and ignores case first. The real trap is the distractor chunk in the wrong grammar form.
Item 1 chunk bank
my bus · were · was · delayed · because · of the traffic
Grab "were" instead of "was" and the sentence fails — order was never the problem.
Email & Discussion: the automatic 0
Copying the prompt to pad your word count, or writing something that never addresses the situation — both score a flat zero, same as a blank response.
Recycled prompt language = graded as if nothing was submitted
Answer the actual situation, in your own words, every time.
Discussion: the score cap, and the myth
Never naming a classmate's post caps you at 3, no matter how clean the grammar. But 1-2 isolated slips? Those don't drag a strong response down — only a repeated pattern does.
Isolated slip vs. pattern
1 wrong tense + 1 dropped article = still a normal 5
The same error, repeated = the pattern that actually costs you
The 1 habit for all 3 tasks
Last 30 seconds, every task: re-read against exactly what was asked — the chunks you picked, the requirements, the classmate you owed a response to.
One check, most of the points that were actually at risk.
DEB
4 mistakes to walk away knowing
Audio: DEB (ElevenLabs)