Advice for Yr 11 student starting Advanced English (1 Viewer)

[-tal-]

What was your mark? Every kid I know who got 95+ memorised essays and worked on their adapting skills to incorporate it into an apt answer.

Is it a good idea to memorise short stories and write them in the Exam?

I'll be the 3rd. Don't memorise essays. Memorise an introduction and conclusion only, if you must.

Why should you work on adaptation skills when you could spend time working on knowing the module & texts really well?

Remember sentence starters, not a whole story. The brain can easily clog up during creative sections.

 

[jennieTalia]

What was your mark? Every kid I know who got 95+ memorised essays and worked on their adapting skills to incorporate it into an apt answer.

Is it a good idea to memorise short stories and write them in the Exam?

I got mid nineties as well, cant remember the exact mark tbh!

Short stories are easier to manipulate to suit a question, as you can fit them abstractly to the stipulated material. If it is a picture then you can incorporate it in much more easily than if it was an entirely different question.
I memorised parts of a story, indeed. And luckily it fit. But memorising story lines and good description is more important than an entire story which might be completely invalid.

Hmm. It depends on the person I guess!

 

[erm]

memorising word for word is gay. What you should memorise is techniques + examples then practice adapting.

 

[Dragonmaster262]

memorising word for word is gay. What you should memorise is techniques + examples then practice adapting.

Can you guarantee a high Band 6(95+) with those strategies? That's what I'm aiming for.

 

[erm]

Can you guarantee a high Band 6(95+) with those strategies? That's what I'm aiming for.

I can't guarantee any method. It depends more on the person to achieve those top marks.

 

[Freckles14]

You do one topic with 2 prescribed texts and 2 of your own choice.

Isn't it three prescribed texts? We're doing three :|

You're the first person who told me not to memorise essays.

Seriously? Maybe you just weren't listening...?

Anyway.
You may find that the top students don't actually memorise the entire essay per se - they memorise the techniques and composer's intent behind them. It makes them (and us) more versatile students when exam time comes around.

And no, I can't guarantee you a 95+ mark. Mostly because I have no idea what kind of student you are, sorry. But appealing to your logic here, doesn't it make more sense to memorise techniques and concepts that would fit every question rather than learning one concrete response off by heart.

As a close friend of mine said in English near our prelim exams:
"'Cause you're so much better off memorising every question ever created than learning the techniques!"

Pre-learned responses limit the marks you can get in the exam... because the markers hate them with a passion. It's better, and more original, and less lazy, to come up with an original line of argument and write an essay that answers the question throughout. They can tell if you've used a generic essay and just referenced the question in the intro before veering off onto the tangent of your choice.

Wow, what a rant. Sorry about that.

 

[Dragonmaster262]

Isn't it three prescribed texts? We're doing three :|





Seriously? Maybe you just weren't listening...?

Anyway.
You may find that the top students don't actually memorise the entire essay per se - they memorise the techniques and composer's intent behind them. It makes them (and us) more versatile students when exam time comes around.

And no, I can't guarantee you a 95+ mark. Mostly because I have no idea what kind of student you are, sorry. But appealing to your logic here, doesn't it make more sense to memorise techniques and concepts that would fit every question rather than learning one concrete response off by heart.

As a close friend of mine said in English near our prelim exams:
"'Cause you're so much better off memorising every question ever created than learning the techniques!"

Pre-learned responses limit the marks you can get in the exam... because the markers hate them with a passion. It's better, and more original, and less lazy, to come up with an original line of argument and write an essay that answers the question throughout. They can tell if you've used a generic essay and just referenced the question in the intro before veering off onto the tangent of your choice.

Wow, what a rant. Sorry about that.

I'm more of a Math person so I'm not that great in English. I hate the fact that we have to use sophisticated language in order to achieve a high mark in it. I don't think that there is any real way of increasing your vocabulary other than reading books.

Anyway, thanks for your advice.

 

[morganjane]

Just a few ideas,

Always be reading, something other than school novels/plays etc- to keep expanding your vocabulary, allows you to achieve more sophisticated responses in exams.

Do practice your essays AND your creative writing responses, your teacher will (or should) be happy to read and give advice on the responses you write. It is too easy to find practice questions or starters for creative writing online.

Ask for advice from your teacher and your peers on your work, and make sure you're asking questions even if you think its small and insignificant. You never know what insight you may get.

and finally- know the requirements in your rubric, if you dont have one or don't understand it- get one and ask about it!
The rubric is the guidelines of your units of study, know them and you will cover all your bases. (just like learning your dot points in other subjects)

God Bless
xXx

 

[insideout]

ok
DONT do what i did which was take the easy way and do nothing whatsoever in terms of h/w and preperation for essays and exams etc. You wont get the results that way. I am now regretting doing shit all in all my subjects last year. It does come back to bite you. Know your texts, find killer quotes that are easy to use to support your point about any theme/aspect of the text and make sure you prepare for any question they may ask in relation to essays. The question could be really general or really specific. Like i said, try and prepare for both. If you do the work and prepare for the assesments you will be fine.

 

[KinKaida]

can someone pls list the topics that are covered in Advanced and Extension English?

All topics can be found in the syllabus at the boardofstudies website.