How do you guys study for English exams? (1 Viewer)

[LittlerCandy]

Just wondering how you guys all study for english exams, I personally just read over the texts and make sure I can find some good techniques. However, I find my way doesn't get me the marks I want (I get high 80's, I want 90's)

 

[jnney]

What kind of english exams are these? Unseen texts or just essays?

 

[brent012]

What kind of english exams are these? Unseen texts or just essays?

+1. The only way you are going to get better at unseen texts is revising techniques, learning new ones etc. or more importantly just practise.

 

[ShayK]

What I did for English essays were to make generic thesis statements for each modules, find examples/quotes, name and shame the techniques. so basically my summary for each point was usually around half a page and in exams, id usually analyse the effects of the technique according to the questions. hopefully this makes sense.

 

[Eduard_Khil]

Memorise quotes, often that's always a good way to prepare for the pre-examination period, on top of that, it'd be best to really understand the logocentric concepts of the topic that you're studying, often you need time to do this, so do it a few weeks before an exam perhaps? i always find discussions with peers to be most enlightening, because going by the saying "two heads are better than one" ultimately you might gather good ideas, that can related to your topic.

Often I also find myself writing practice essays, as many teachers say that is indeed a very good way to prepare for an exam, as you generally get that idea of what you're doing right and what you're doing wrong, basically if you spam the teacher with practice essays, it's highly likely you'll realise the main ideas you need to establish, and find what the markers are looking for, it's a good idea to give the "same" practice essay to other teachers in your school, as this ultimately provides a varied response.

Personally I like to ask my teachers to give me a mark for the practice essay, just cos, I can then set up a future goal, but that's entirely up to you.
You may then ask, Sir Eduard_Khil you genius, not everyone has that much time to write practice essays frequently especially when other assessments and exams are close by, well. As aforementioned by that panda looking fellow above, when I found myself lacking time, I would find an essay question and just write a thesis, which incorporated all my key themes and concepts I wanted to discuss, I found this method to be of great value, as it saved time as well as solved the everlasting conundrum of teachers saying "You haven't answered the question" this ultimately allowed me to identify key parts of the question, what the question wanted, and then answer it within one paragraph, as many people do say, the thesis is the backbone of your essay, which essentially is an argument. And what do you do in an argument? You make your introduction very powerful to prove that you are indeed right, and that noone should fuck with you.
Good day sir
EDIT: Do keep in mind this doesn't apply to unseen texts in paper 1, some parts can technically apply to creative writing, but I'll leave that to you, the esteemed intellectual being that you are to figure out how.

 

[Delta Education]

There are numerous ways you can approach English exams based on what works best for you, but to attain an excellent mark, much is based on a strong understanding of the section or module's requirements (more complex that most people think), the marking criteria, and marker's expectations. Simply knowing or finding out what marker's want will mean that you can study smarter, not just harder.

Personally, in terms of actual practice for the exams:
For Paper 1 Section 1, throughout Year 12 I regularly looked over various past papers from different schools and practiced finding techniques and writing explanations for them. At first, it might be tedious and slow and you might not be certain if it 'sounds right' - get it checked by a teacher or tutor. Once you're familiar with the task, it's simply a matter of exposure. By the end of the year, and particularly when I tutor now, I can read an unseen text and instantly see 5 or 10 or so potential techniques as I read, and the analysis comes naturally - as the same techniques, e.g. personification, used for similar purposes will generate similar explanations.

For Paper 1 Section 2, it's just a matter of perfecting a few creatives. Be sure to cover all of the AOS rubric keywords well, so that you will undoubtedly be able to use at least one of your prepared creatives.

For essays, I planned to memorise and adapt my essays - in my opinion, the best approach, although it doesn't work for everyone of course. It does help, however, that you have prepared coherent, sophisticated analysis or phrasing beforehand. Compose an essay that you know will be adaptable, with extra paragraph/s or points just in case. How do you know if it will be adaptable? Cover all of the syllabus keywords, and then it will be. Interlink ideas. E.g. 'The intrinsic desire to establish a sense of identity is shaped by the development of meaningful relationships.' - Voila! You can now connect your essay explicitly to identity and relationships/connections to people - but also potentially to acceptance, understanding, barriers, and connections to groups, communities and the larger world. Choose techniques/evidence that aren't too narrow, so that they can be adaptable to any of a set of ideas. Then, it's simply a matter of practice.

 

[LoveHateSchool]

What type of tasks are these?

If these are essay tasks, I would be practicing essays and getting feedback on them prior to the assessment task I find English is lots of writing and redrafting to get better marks.

Also a good way to prepare is know your techniques, but know how you can tweak them to argue different things if need be. This is known as moulding.

i.e Something I can remember from my prescribed text to show you what I mean hopefully.

Say the quote about the peppercorns in Romulus My Father, "planted to mediate between local and European landscapes". You could use this quote to discuss notions of belonging of place, where the peppercorns are a motif as bridging a sense of belonging. Or you could be discussing generational effects on belonging and talking the landscape being representative of the difference in the father and son's feelings on belonging.

You can use similar techniques across essays provided you know how to mould argument to the question.