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Repeating... =( help on english course

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  • 08-09-2009 10:56pm
    #1
    ihavequestions
    Registered Users Posts: 711 ✭✭✭


    i am repeatin unfortunately and have to do d new english course :( i didnt wanna do eng this yr but coulnt take up geog so in order to hav 6honors i had to...:mad: cept in my school d honors english classes r full so i just have to wait for people to drop dwn to actaully get into a class...which sucks cos i actually wanna do well in english this year!! any english notes, tips, predictions etc wud b greatly appreiciated


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    #2
    li-evo7
    Closed Accounts Posts: 156 ✭✭li-evo7


    Is there any other subject other than geog you could do?And why couldnt you do geog?im repeating aswell but not doing english,irish or maths again.taking up biology and accounting instead


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    #3
    ihavequestions
    Registered Users Posts: 711 ✭✭✭ihavequestions


    my school suck with timetables I couldnt get a geog class because it wud mean Id have 6 options whe Im only suppossed to hav 4... so like I cant do anything else in my school and I dunno wud I be able to teach myself a whole new subject on my own! im takin up construction ,i shud hav no worries with that tho hopefully. You'll be fine with biology, its fairly simple, just plain learning!


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    #4
    Swizz
    Closed Accounts Posts: 643 ✭✭✭Swizz


    Im in the same sorta situation myself!

    It sucks.

    Ask the teachers what theyre doin for comparative and read em yourself and do some poetry aswell.


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    #5
    implausible
    Registered Users Posts: 3,937 ✭✭✭implausible


    Post the texts that that you studied last year and we might be able to help. You might be able to use them again. 4 of the poets are the same.


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    #6
    ihavequestions
    Registered Users Posts: 711 ✭✭✭ihavequestions


    we had inside im dancing, philadelphia here i come and the secret life of bees last year...
    ya its good that 4 poets are the same but 3 of them came up last year, like longly was on the original paper2... Il have to work away myself i know but im just really worried because i could not get gvvp last year at all i hated it and i wouldnt even know where to start with litary genre!!!


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    #7
    Reillyman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 834 ✭✭✭Reillyman


    ihavequestions wrote: »
    i am repeatin unfortunately and have to do d new english course :( i didnt wanna do eng this yr but coulnt take up geog so in order to hav 6honors i had to...:mad: cept in my school d honors english classes r full so i just have to wait for people to drop dwn to actaully get into a class...which sucks cos i actually wanna do well in english this year!! any english notes, tips, predictions etc wud b greatly appreiciated

    <nosey> Where are you from by the way? </nosey>


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    #8
    implausible
    Registered Users Posts: 3,937 ✭✭✭implausible


    ihavequestions wrote: »
    we had inside im dancing, philadelphia here i come and the secret life of bees last year...
    ya its good that 4 poets are the same but 3 of them came up last year, like longly was on the original paper2... Il have to work away myself i know but im just really worried because i could not get gvvp last year at all i hated it and i wouldnt even know where to start with litary genre!!!

    If you didn't get GVVP, don't try it this time, you can afford to leave one out. Literary Genre is handy enough. You can divide it up into neat sections like chronology, narrative (1st person, omniscient), characterisation (how the characters are created) and language, for example. You can use Inside I'm Dancing again obviously. Your best bet is to cover the texts that your class is doing, it's very difficult to do on your own, and adapt the notes to fit with IID (if they're not doing it).

    Longley coming up on the original paper is irrelevant. Make sure you've covered the two women and pick up another poet. There's a good chance your teacher hasn't covered all the poets yet, so pay attention in class.

    You don't have to do it all yourself. An OL class will be covering at least two texts and social setting (which isn't much different to cultural context), the poets might be the same. Your biggest problem will be your single text, which is probably Lear.


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    #9
    ihavequestions
    Registered Users Posts: 711 ✭✭✭ihavequestions


    Reillyman wrote: »
    <nosey> Where are you from by the way? </nosey>


    im from killarney .. :D

    thanks deemark thats very helpful! I do have someone teaching me Lear so that should be ok. Im less worried about the litery genre now you say its not too bad ....phew!


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    #10
    Lawliet
    Registered Users Posts: 2,761 ✭✭✭Lawliet


    deemark wrote: »
    If you didn't get GVVP, don't try it this time, you can afford to leave one out.
    What's GVVP short of anyway?


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    #11
    pathway33
    Registered Users Posts: 2,229 ✭✭✭pathway33


    Lawliet wrote: »
    What's GVVP short of anyway?

    General Vision and Viewpoint


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    #12
    bythewoods
    Registered Users Posts: 2,361 ✭✭✭bythewoods


    Doing the course in a year's a bit daunting alright, but honestly, I did it and it's not so bad.

    Closer to the time predictions will come rolling in, you can pretty much bank on 'em. (Note: Safer not to do so tbh..)

    What poets are you doing?
    There's always been a female and an Irish poet up etc. I think I've an Adrienne Rich essay banging around here somewhere, and an Elizabeth Bishop one.

    My advice to you is to write up your essays NOW and get them corrected. Memorise them when they're perfect and just spit them out on the page for the exam.

    But yeah. Get 'em done now to take the pressure off. We all know how fast those last few months'll go..


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    #13
    KarlMarx
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23 ✭KarlMarx


    I strongly disagree with the above advice.

    Reading over themes etc. is a good idea - it gives you a dimension beyond just the bare learning of quotes.

    Memorizing specific answers is a terrible plan - it means that if a predicted question does not appear (and this will happen) you will not be able to give the best answer possible. Markers are severe with regurgitated answers, as they should be.


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    #14
    implausible
    Registered Users Posts: 3,937 ✭✭✭implausible


    KarlMarx wrote: »
    Markers are severe with regurgitated answers, as they should be.

    Correction: markers are severe with regurgitated answers that do not focus on the question asked. There is nothing wrong with preparing essays in advance and being prepared to adapt them to a given title. Very few students have the ability to make up 4/5 essays on the spot over 2 exams.


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    #15
    bythewoods
    Registered Users Posts: 2,361 ✭✭✭bythewoods


    Regurgitated answers work quite well from my experience.

    I learned off a few of my own essays for English this year, got 100% on Paper 2. So there you have it.


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    #16
    Lawliet
    Registered Users Posts: 2,761 ✭✭✭Lawliet


    bythewoods wrote: »
    Regurgitated answers work quite well from my experience.

    I learned off a few of my own essays for English this year, got 100% on Paper 2. So there you have it.
    I was advised against preparing answers last year, so I familiarised myself with general notes etc. and adapted them on the day. I got a C.
    Where as it seems that everyone who learned off answers -right down to the essay on paper one- got As and Bs.
    I'm definitely preparing answers this year.


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    #17
    KarlMarx
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23 ✭KarlMarx


    bythewoods wrote: »
    Regurgitated answers work quite well from my experience.

    I learned off a few of my own essays for English this year, got 100% on Paper 2. So there you have it.

    That's anecdotal - as a general rule, the principal is that the majority of regurgitated answers fail that quite important test in an English exam - relevance.

    It's best to keep a relatively open mind as to the angle of the question, and preprepared answers completely hamper that.


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    #18
    implausible
    Registered Users Posts: 3,937 ✭✭✭implausible


    KarlMarx wrote: »
    It's best to keep a relatively open mind as to the angle of the question, and preprepared answers completely hamper that.

    It's not either/or folks, you need a structure that you have practised before and you need to be able to adapt it on the day. You HAVE to prepare.

    The student who hasn't prepared an essay at all will do as badly as the one who chances his arm and writes out a prepared essay verbatim.


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    #19
    KarlMarx
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23 ✭KarlMarx


    Er...I wasn't using angle in the literal sense...as in, I wasn't talking about stucture of an essay - I was talking about the approach you take to answering it substantively.


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    #20
    bythewoods
    Registered Users Posts: 2,361 ✭✭✭bythewoods


    Lawliet wrote: »
    I was advised against preparing answers last year, so I familiarised myself with general notes etc. and adapted them on the day. I got a C.
    Where as it seems that everyone who learned off answers -right down to the essay on paper one- got As and Bs.
    I'm definitely preparing answers this year.

    Yeah, same.
    When i did my LC in '08 I didn't learn off anything, got an A2.

    But last year I memorised my own work and got the A1.
    I didn't learn off a Paper1 essay though, I've always been pretty good at just composing them out of thin air, but for most people learning one off works out for the best.
    KarlMarx wrote: »
    That's anecdotal - as a general rule, the principal is that the majority of regurgitated answers fail that quite important test in an English exam - relevance.

    It's best to keep a relatively open mind as to the angle of the question, and preprepared answers completely hamper that.

    Well, obviously you've to know how to twist the answer slightly so that what you've learned off fits in with the question. THEN slap down what you've learned off. Of course.


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    #21
    KarlMarx
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23 ✭KarlMarx


    bythewoods wrote: »
    Yeah, same.
    When i did my LC in '08 I didn't learn off anything, got an A2.

    But last year I memorised my own work and got the A1.
    I didn't learn off a Paper1 essay though, I've always been pretty good at just composing them out of thin air, but for most people learning one off works out for the best.



    Well, obviously you've to know how to twist the answer slightly so that what you've learned off fits in with the question. THEN slap down what you've learned off. Of course.

    No, I don't buy that at all. That fundamentally does not cater for situations when you are confronted by a question for which you have prepared nothing.

    This can, and does occur, so adaptability is a far better skill to foster than regurgitation!


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    #22
    Jam-Fly
    Registered Users Posts: 549 ✭✭✭Jam-Fly


    I think having stuff learned and memorized for paper 2 is quite a good idea/reccommended. It's people learning answers and applying them to an essay in paper 1 that the dept are trying to crack down on. Knowing a Shakespeare/Comparative/Poetry essay off by heart is a good idea imo


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    #23
    implausible
    Registered Users Posts: 3,937 ✭✭✭implausible


    KarlMarx wrote: »
    No, I don't buy that at all. That fundamentally does not cater for situations when you are confronted by a question for which you have prepared nothing.

    This can, and does occur, so adaptability is a far better skill to foster than regurgitation!

    It's not either/or. Both skills are essential to get through 6 hours+ of writing down everything you've learned in the past two years. You have a ridiculously high expectation of the standard if you think that every student who gets an A1 makes up every essay on the day!


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