I'm only just starting to find the will to try harder for English. Where do I start? (1 Viewer)

[nuvardex]

I've always hated English. My attitude towards the subject has been terrible in the past and I haven't had any passion to try in it. I've decided that I need to pull my head in and focus more on the subject. I don't wish to drop to English Standard.

Trouble is, I'm not too sure where to start. The question that I mainly ask myself is what can I do to improve my ability to understand and write English like an 'advanced' student? Some advice that people have given me is:

- Read more --> do you concur that this is important? I've got under a year until my HSC exams, and I don't know if I have time to start reading to see a noticeable difference.

- Do timed writing practice.

I really want to get rid of this grudge that I have for this subject. If anyone can lead me in the right direction as for what I should do to get myself on track, that would be great. Thanks!

 

[sab13562]

I've always hated English. My attitude towards the subject has been terrible in the past and I haven't had any passion to try in it. I've decided that I need to pull my head in and focus more on the subject. I don't wish to drop to English Standard.

Trouble is, I'm not too sure where to start. The question that I mainly ask myself is what can I do to improve my ability to understand and write English like an 'advanced' student? Some advice that people have given me is:

- Read more --> do you concur that this is important? I've got under a year until my HSC exams, and I don't know if I have time to start reading to see a noticeable difference.

- Do timed writing practice.

I really want to get rid of this grudge that I have for this subject. If anyone can lead me in the right direction as for what I should do to get myself on track, that would be great. Thanks!

This was basically me, I hated English all of year 11 and year 12, but I kept reminding myself that I'd never have to do it again after the HSC, and that I have to deal with it for now and study regardless if I enjoy the subject or not.

Other than timed practice, I suggest that you go to your local library, and borrow as many HSC English Advanced textbooks as possible. Once you do that get a notebook, and start gathering the analysis from all the textbooks and group them by quote/technique/scene and write them down.

Since you have probably done one module already, you should aim to have a full, summarised analysis of your prescribed text by the end of these holidays if you have not done so already, and also analyse and read your prescribed text for next term, with the assistance of the books you have borrowed.

About reading more, I didn't read a single book in year 12 except for my prescribed text and my textbooks. You don't need to, and probably won't have the time to either.

Instead of reading books, you should aim to expand your vocabulary. For example, if you come across the word "integrate" when analysing your text, and it is a major theme for your text, find synonyms for it online such as "coalescence, amalgamation, merging" etc depending on the context.

You can also expand your vocab by reading sample essays of your prescribed text and picking up words you really like and putting putting in a list or word document, which you can refer to when writing essays. Eventually, they'll become second nature to you when writing your own essays. I did this and it honestly helped me expand my vocab so much in just a year. My vocab in year 11 wasn't the best tbh, but even my teacher has noticed the improvement in year 12.

You can find sample essays on the Matrix, those are really good.

My final tip is to constantly ask for feedback from your teacher when writing practice essays. This also helped me heaps in improving my vocab and writing style too.

Good luck, and remember, you have less than a year and then no more English ever again, so push through!

 

[FesuY]

fuck english

 

[sso]

This was basically me, I hated English all of year 11 and year 12, but I kept reminding myself that I'd never have to do it again after the HSC, and that I have to deal with it for now and study regardless if I enjoy the subject or not.

Other than timed practice, I suggest that you go to your local library, and borrow as many HSC English Advanced textbooks as possible. Once you do that get a notebook, and start gathering the analysis from all the textbooks and group them by quote/technique/scene and write them down.

Since you have probably done one module already, you should aim to have a full, summarised analysis of your prescribed text by the end of these holidays if you have not done so already, and also analyse and read your prescribed text for next term, with the assistance of the books you have borrowed.

About reading more, I didn't read a single book in year 12 except for my prescribed text and my textbooks. You don't need to, and probably won't have the time to either.

Instead of reading books, you should aim to expand your vocabulary. For example, if you come across the word "integrate" when analysing your text, and it is a major theme for your text, find synonyms for it online such as "coalescence, amalgamation, merging" etc depending on the context.

You can also expand your vocab by reading sample essays of your prescribed text and picking up words you really like and putting putting in a list or word document, which you can refer to when writing essays. Eventually, they'll become second nature to you when writing your own essays. I did this and it honestly helped me expand my vocab so much in just a year. My vocab in year 11 wasn't the best tbh, but even my teacher has noticed the improvement in year 12.

You can find sample essays on the Matrix, those are really good.

My final tip is to constantly ask for feedback from your teacher when writing practice essays. This also helped me heaps in improving my vocab and writing style too.

Good luck, and remember, you have less than a year and then no more English ever again, so push through!

hey, could I ask what you included in your summarized analysis of your texts?

 

[sab13562]

hey, could I ask what you included in your summarized analysis of your texts?

Basically I divided my quotes based on themes and had a table with three columns, one for the quote itself, one to explain the meaning and one for technique used. I would gather the interpretation of all the textbooks and put them into one tiny paragraph.