To late for dropping to pass English?

Cen92

I was struggling with English from day one. I got a 'D' in my Junior and now in my Christmas tests I got 35%. My teacher said if your not going to get a 'C3' its really not
worth the risk of sitting the honours paper.
My question is, 'Is it too late to drop back to pass English?'
and 'How much overlap is there between both courses?'
Cheers Cen

Orlaladuck

Hm. I know our struggling but I think the best thing to do is do your mocks first maybe and see how you get on in them and if you still do badly you can drop down - it's too near to the mocks to drop down I'd say so you'll probably be better off to just sit the higher then wait and see what you get. What exactly do you struggle with? We might be able to help if that's any advantage to you.

Cen92

Yeah but that leaves 3 months to cover a whole 2 year course.
I've done TY so I really dont want to be in school for another year!
Where am I poor? I dont even know where to start.
Not much I can do Paper 1 wise and not the best at most of paper 2

Orlaladuck

But you've also got to remember you'll be trying to sit a paper of 2 years worth in 3 weeks - you would be 10x better to just sit the higher then drop. You'll have covered a significant amount already on it. Right now all you can do is revise really. I'd say when you go back ask your teacher what's on the pass course and how much of it have you done. But also you said you got 35% in the xmas test. That means your 5% of which Isn't bad at all - you can easily get that 5% and get a pass which may be only a D3 but that's 45 Points. And you can boost that by 20% if you work hard enough.
But still where is it you fall down alot? Do you find you can't right fast enough or you never know what to say or what?

Cen92

Well English probably would be my worse subject ATM.
I'm going to drop to pass German anyway and concentrate more on Irish.
Its just in English I cant seem to write enough and dont know what to write.
He write comments on each paragraph of a answer and the most common would probably be underdeveloped point/paragraph

dozieindublin

Hi,
In 6th year (and 5th) I consistently got D's in Honours English. This really annoyed me and at the parent teacher meeting my teacher told my parents I should be in pass. The course I wanted required Higher English so I stuck at it and guess what... I got an A2! Was delighted and as it turns out, apparently the teacher just wanted me to work harder.
My advice to you would be to stick with the honours. The real deal is always easier than the mocks and it really is worth it for the extra points. In terms of the essay writing, learn something off that you can use for different topics with lots of expressive words (I wrote a sob story about bullying) and for the poetry, just prepare and learn off a few quotes.
If the worst comes to the worst you can always request the pass paper on the day (you are allowed to do this) though i dont reccomend this as you wont have prepared for it.

Please stick with it and Good Luck

Orlaladuck

Hmm. English can always be a tricky subject like this. Right what I always do for ANY english essay regardless of which paper is do a spider-diagram and span it out. Take what it is your writing on - say Longley Poem Badger. Elements of Longley - observational poet rather than involving - how does he show this - describes movements of the animal, personifies it, makes it seem gentle in comparison to human + a quote to prove it 'Handles the earth in his paws, face lit by the moon' That's about 1/4 to 1/2 an A4 right there. Then you can tie it into nature from there. Go each verse by verse, make the points etc.

For the comparative we took 3 key scenes from each one and compared them - you have the main text then compare it to the next text or movie and then use the third to show contrast - these can be as Varied as you like, doesn't always have to be the same texts to compare to. Just keep making comparrisons say 'in Pride and prejudice darcy believes to be unaware of his flaws as opposed to oedipus who is aware of his mistakes and accepts them. Just keep at that.

Next most essential thing : waffling. While if you in a higher stream I wouldn't advise this but tbh i do it and it seems to work very well for me. Even if you think you're repeating yourself just keep writing. The single text you chart it essentially - keep using the diagrams they Really really do help. You can connect them and it makes it alot easier to find little points to write on. If you have problems learning quotes, try watch the movie of texts - just make sure that they are the actual quotes - this has worked Very well for me since JC.

Aisling(",)

If youve the honors course covered then youve everything really done for the pass course the only difference is the modes of comparisson and youve the material already covered even if you dont think you do.

If you think you can do it id say to keep it up.
I got a D in the junior cert too and managed an A2 in honors in the leaving despite being a consistant c student.
theres hope for everyone:P

spurious

Take a very close look at why you're getting the low marks.
Poor grammar and/or spelling?
Just not knowing the texts?
Poor style of writing?

Some problems are easier fix than others.
Re 'Underdeveloped points' - treat the examiner/reader as if they are an idiot.
(That works in most subjects actually).

implausible

DO NOT DROP to pass, unless you are abysmal at English. You have most of the course covered. Don't think of dropping now so you can 'catch up' on the pass course, there's simply no catching up to do!

Stick with it, do what your teacher says and develop your points i.e. explain, explain, back up with evidence and explain.

It is extremely difficult to fail honours english if you answer every question. Put a serious effort into developing your answers for the mock and see how you get on.

GLUEY

Friend dropped to pass recently. You'll have no problem adapting, it's basically the same course just much easier. Give it until the mocks and then see how you feel after.

adamshred

A friend of mine dropped to pass English on the day of the exam (not that I would recommend it) and he got an A so it can be done.

If you are unsure about honours then you should have a look at the pass past papers and take it from there.

Cen92

Thanks guys.
I'll have a think about it and ask my teacher on Thursday.

StargazerLily

If you do decide to drop to Ordinary level (can't advise you on that -discuss with your teacher after mocks) there will be a question on every Single Text so whatever you did for Higher Level (probably King Lear?) will be there (easier questions- answered in sections rather than one essay style answer -often more Comprehension style questions asked).

Comparative questions easier -usually only asked to answer on two of your texts rather than three. Modes look different but much easier than the Higher level ones. Social Setting is the same as Cultural Context and the other Modes are Theme, and Hero/Heroine/Villain - both shouldn't be a problem if you were studying Higher level up until now.

Poetry is the only section where you might find it a bit tricky but maybe not. Two of the four poems on the paper will be from the list of poets on both Higher and Ordinary courses so you probably will have covered those poems. But....it's unlikely your teacher will do all eight poets with you (never enough time) so it could happen that the two or three poets you haven't studied for Higher level could be the two poems that come up on this years Ordinary level -note I said poems though not poets! You aren't asked about the work of a particular poet but rather questions on one specific poem. Worse case scenario is that the poems (one poem per question) will be completely unfamiliar to you but the poem is printed for you - you can answer it the way you would do the Unseen Poem and probably give a decent response if you read it carefully several times.

Paper 1 is just an easier version of the Higher Level Paper 1 so don't worry about it.

Hope that helps - speak to your teacher first though!

degausserxo

Stick with it 'til the mocks - you've got nothing to lose. Even if you don't do well in the mocks, there'll still be plenty of time to catch up on the OL paper. I got a D in the JC and an A2 in higher in the LC, so it can be done if you do enough study and don't panic!

Misty Chaos

Hey there,

When I was doing my LC, I wasn't doing fantastically well in Higher English either ( in fact, I failed both exams I took for school, I was absent for one due to doing volunteer work abroad at the end of 5th year ) and was considering dropping to pass after Christmas but my teacher told me to stay on until the mocks, which was also the first time I did the entire English paper together properly.

I ended up getting a C2 in the mocks, which convinced me to do it for the real thing and got a D1. Not fantastic in any ways but a whole lot better than failing, thats for sure!

So anyway, keep on Higher English until the mocks at least then you can decide what you want to do from there. Also, research on tips on how to write a good essay for paper 1, I remember being given a sheet in 6th year that pretty much spelled out to me what I was doing wrong in that regard and made a huge difference.

And may I ask, have you being told about any Higher English revision day being held by near by colleges? I remember doing one in UCC in 6th year, another big help there.

So basically, keep Higher English on until the mocks and get as much help as you can!

implausible

adamshred wrote: »

A friend of mine dropped to pass English on the day of the exam (not that I would recommend it) and he got an A so it can be done.

There is possibly nothing more frustrating than marking an 'A' at OL; from first page to last, you're wondering why the student didn't just do HL and you just feel like shaking them! Anyone who gets an A at OL, could get a C at HL.