Which section to do first in an English Exam? (1 Viewer)

[michaelle123]

Hi, I'm just wondering weather the best thing to do in an English exam is to start the essay first then go onto the creative writing and then short answer questions? What do you guys think? Help!!

 

[LoveHateSchool]

It doesn't really matter as long as you have sufficient time for them all.

I used to do it in order for Paper 1 iirc-many people swear by doing the essay first though because they are worried about running out of time (I find this is more rote people though).

I personally liked to do it in order because I wanted to not drop marks on the questions, hate doing a creative last with the most time pressure and essays were my fave part so yeah.

 

[Chubbeh]

I personally did it in order. Did short answers, and if I couldn't answer something properly just bs as fast as you can and come back if you have time (to further bs). Depending on your confidence in the other two sections, if you memorised one of the sections then do that first to get it out of the way (for me this was creative). Then after memorising all my quotes, I just wrote an essay on the spot, moulding the quotes' meanings to answer the question.

I aimed to complete each section in 35 minutes or less to give more time to either editing/checking or answering a section better (e.g. section 1 or finishing off my essay).

 

[strawberrye]

You should do it in order, since every paper has a 'theme', so doing the short answers first will allow you to identify the 'theme' of the english paper and prepare your mindset into concentrating onto that theme when you write your creative and essay writing. But ultimately do what works the best for you

 

[iStudent]

Do section I first to take best advantage of your 10 minutes reading time when you read the texts

 

[deloving]

Short answer > Essay > Creative. The reason is in some circumstance a creative can be slightly cut down and still get great marks, whilst if you do that in an essay your argument may suffer more severely.

 

[dinomyte]

Short answer > Essay > Creative. The reason is in some circumstance a creative can be slightly cut down and still get great marks, whilst if you do that in an essay your argument may suffer more severely.

I agree with that. The short answer questions are generally marks that are easy to get anyways, so might as well get them over and done with. Personally, I also find that it's beneficial when I start with the easier questions first, so I can gradually get into the exam and get focused. Same with the essay, because you do not want to sacrifice your argument because of time.

 

[Fawun]

For me, I always do essay --> creative --> unseen texts

Essay and creative first because I need to write everything down before I forget my memorised essay and creative and then I spend however much time I have left on unseen texts lol which I just usually quickly rush through (don't recommend it though)

 

[deloving]

If you're prepared enough you won't forget what you memorised in 40 minutes. Doing section 1 first will get you going and your mind around 'belonging', which will help with adapting your essay.

But whatever floats your boat~

 

[rumbleroar]

Would definitely go with short answers > essay > creative. With creative and essay, ensure you spend at least 30 seconds making a plan so you know exactly what you're going to say (more for essay, with creative, make sure you know how to incorporate the stimuli better into your narrative)

 

[Fawun]

Im like 6/10 prepared for english fuck

 

[deloving]

Im like 6/10 prepared for english fuck

It's tomorrow isn't it.

 

[senorceepa]

Just do whatever you're good at first. That way, you could blitz through the stuff that you know well... then spend the rest of exam crying silently because you have no idea how to answer the last couple of questions (and/or essay, and/or creative writing).

(This is not a jab at you. This actually happened to a friend of mine. Needless to say, he still beat me...)

 

[obliviousninja]

Yall all rookies.

Creative>Belongong>Reading

Basically, you can pump out a memorised creative straight up. This is the key to doing well, a memerised short story is gonna sound a lot better than one with partial memory. In the areas you have forgeten, this usually turns into primary school level simplistic shit.

Next you do your belonging essay because you can essentially copy and paste your topic sentences and use them as topic sentences for the reading paper.

By leaving the reading paper last, it adds pressure to you to finish. If you were one of those.typical students who did it first, you would go about doing the paper relatively slow as you are trying to perfect each response and most of the time you spend a lot of unncessary time writing more than you need to. This in turn leads to less time on the writing pieces. You cannot simply leave out ideas/paragraphs, your essay would be reduced majorly.

 

[obliviousninja]

By the way, during reading time, you come up with responses for the reading paper in your head and in the first 30 seconds you jot them down. Eg. u underline the quote, write the technique next to it and question number. For the reading questions you dont have a response to, your mind will subconsciously unravel whilst you undertake the creative and essay. So by the time you get to the reading at the end, you will most likely have an answer. By doing reading first, you dont allow for this subconscious thinking.

 

[Tyrone Turnbull]

I suggest doing the hardest section first (and so on). This would potentially be the essay, then, creative writing... Why? Well, personally I tend to deteriorate as time progresses and after the first hour of writing my focus and fluidity aren't as good. So, by putting your time into the more draining sections first-up (for which these section require more sophistication therefore more effort) it can actually be better for your marks. People may say that, 'you need to ease into the essay and creative writing therefore doing the short questions are better', but... you should be doing some revision during the morning of the exams - which requires you to write anyway.

But it is all about finding your own way that ultimately suits you!

 

[madharris]

I liked to do it in order (short answer, essay, creative)

The reason for this is that the short answer usually took me the longest to complete (like 45-50 minutes) - I took my time on this, so did it first so I didn't feel pressured to rush it.
I would then write out my essay asap.
Then I would do my creative last because depending on time issues, that was the thing that I could mould the easiest if I only had like 30/35 minutes left

 

[Mdyeow]

Short answer, up to the first question which is 4 marks or more (i.e. requiring actual in-depth response).

Switch to essay. Complete essay.

Switch back to short answer. Now that you've done your essay, the "big" chunk of text-writing is out of the way; and your mind is already warmed into an analytical framework. You're running hot from your 1000-words of blah. Take down those larger comprehension questions.

Switch to creative. Like some of the others said, you can get away with slightly less "bulk" than you can with essays (where you need to provide at least a certain level of rigour in analysis). HOWEVER you can only get away with this if your writing style is strong - that is, if you are confident in writing good prose without using too many words. To do that, you really need to practise honing your creatives so that you do not write anything which you do not need for your story to have POW. Write, write, write. I say this so often and nobody listens.

Paper 2: the secret to that is in my book.

You should do it in order, since every paper has a 'theme', so doing the short answers first will allow you to identify the 'theme' of the english paper and prepare your mindset into concentrating onto that theme when you write your creative and essay writing. But ultimately do what works the best for you

Never thought of that. Makes sense in retrospect.

By the way, during reading time, you come up with responses for the reading paper in your head and in the first 30 seconds you jot them down. Eg. u underline the quote, write the technique next to it and question number. For the reading questions you dont have a response to, your mind will subconsciously unravel whilst you undertake the creative and essay. So by the time you get to the reading at the end, you will most likely have an answer. By doing reading first, you dont allow for this subconscious thinking.

This is why I hold off the longer answers until after the essay. But by shooting down the small questions first, you score some quick wins and get warmed up for your essay. Most of these you can answer, verbatim, in your head during reading time.

 

[Mdyeow]

Yall all rookies.

Creative>Belongong>Reading

Basically, you can pump out a memorised creative straight up. This is the key to doing well, a memerised short story is gonna sound a lot better than one with partial memory. In the areas you have forgeten, this usually turns into primary school level simplistic shit.

Next you do your belonging essay because you can essentially copy and paste your topic sentences and use them as topic sentences for the reading paper.

By leaving the reading paper last, it adds pressure to you to finish. If you were one of those.typical students who did it first, you would go about doing the paper relatively slow as you are trying to perfect each response and most of the time you spend a lot of unncessary time writing more than you need to. This in turn leads to less time on the writing pieces. You cannot simply leave out ideas/paragraphs, your essay would be reduced majorly.

I'm no rookie.

I'm sure you know my opinion of memorised creatives so I won't go there.

When you split the reading paper/short answer into two sections - quick wins (1-3 marks) and longer response (4+ marks) - you solve all those issues associated with wasting too much time, compromising your essay structure, et c. Though this is the only time I advocate splitting responses.